I love a good coaching call, don’t you? A good coaching call is when client leaves with any or all of the following:
- A newly created game worth playing
- Clear, intentional action steps by which to move forward
- A breakthrough insight that shifts their context
- New awareness of what’s working and what’s not
- A new, compelling, and bigger future to live into
Any one of these suffices as meaningful: a milestone that is the next evolution in playing and fulfilling on whatever they’re up to. Meaningful, measurable milestones indeed.
If they aren’t, what are you doing? I’ll tell you what you’re doing:
Therapy. Therapy sessions are often NOT meaningful milestones. Oh sure, sometimes you do get the Good Will Hunting miracle moment of a true breakthrough. But more often than not it’s another bout of rumination on feelings, or to discuss and unpack whatever bits from the past (be it from childhood, last week, or any time in between)1Don’t take my word for it. If you ever do even just a half dozen sessions of therapy, it’s a strong bet you won’t distinctly recall the substance more than two when it’s all a month in the rear view mirror. And if notes were taken and shared (they probably weren’t), it’s a strong bet you won’t have any lasting takeaways from more than two..
OR
Managerial Progress Updates. Just going through the motions of how things are going, what’s done, what new progress, what new measures, and perhaps some superficial surfacing of how everyone feels about it and what’s next. Boring.
OR
You’re Failing to Write Anything Down. The gems of those conversations should be captured, and whatever action plans should be set in motion as something more than a “Yeah, that’s a great idea!”, no matter how enthusiastic. Let’s not waste those primo insights, now. They are highly perishable if not captured in some form or fashion.
Tell your clients that calls with you are going to be meaningful, memorable milestones. If they aren’t already, think about which of those 5 elements above could easily be made part of the mix. You’re closer than you think.
CoachAccountable’s core features of Action planning, Metrics and Session Notes all work in concert to leave a client with those 5 items mentioned above:
- Creating a Metric means your client has a new game to play at, either a habit to develop or a number to track with a target to aim for. CoachAccountable makes it simple to track these over time.
- An Action Plan means your client has clear steps (and deadlines!) by which to move forward.
- Shared Session Notes is the place to capture and keep present any breakthrough insights and compelling futures.
- A review of past Metrics and Action items provides the awareness of what’s working and what’s not.
Notes:
- 1Don’t take my word for it. If you ever do even just a half dozen sessions of therapy, it’s a strong bet you won’t distinctly recall the substance more than two when it’s all a month in the rear view mirror. And if notes were taken and shared (they probably weren’t), it’s a strong bet you won’t have any lasting takeaways from more than two.
