The CoachAccountable Perspective – Page 4 – An authentic view of what works from the receiving end of being coached

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Psychology

Harness The Power of Your Client’s Desire to Look Good

For better and worse, we are all at least partially driven by a desire to look good to others, or to at least avoid looking bad. Because they trust and respect you, your clients are dying to look good to you. You can turn that…

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Psychology

The Positive Side of Seeking to Look Good

Seeking to “look good” to others often distorts our behavior, and not in good ways. I heard a tale of school-aged twin sisters, one popular, one not. They both knew their Shakespeare from home. If teacher would ask a question to do with Shakespeare, the…

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Action Planning

Something to High-Five About Next Time

Who doesn’t like a high-five? Seriously, that may sound like a trite thing, but a high-five is great. I’m not talking about the watered-down, patronizing variety; like an over-excited camp counselor who’s giving out enthusiastic high-fives to eight-year-olds for managing to put their shirt on…

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4 min 0

Showcasing Style

Being a Blank Slate Isn’t Good Customer Service, It’s Lazy

There’s a certain allure to starting off a coaching session with an open-ended question, like: “So what do you want to talk about today?” or “What are you working on now that you’d like my help with?” If this is how you start your sessions,…

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4 min 0

Psychology

Coaches, you’re in the Caring-as-a-Service Business

The tech industry is currently rife with acronyms describing business types ending in “aaS”, which stands for “as a Service”. Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and so on. If you’re a coach, I humbly submit…

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2 min 0

Showcasing Style

Your Job is Just the Sessions Is But One Way to Do It

What is the precise scope of work for a coach who is faithfully executing on the promise of a coaching engagement? Many think it's the sessions themselves, no more, no less. You can do far better.

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2 min 0

Metrics

The Numbers of Now and Last Time Do Not a Trend Line Make

In practice, client is generally count-on-able to be aware of what their number is today, and MAYBE recall where things were last time. That top-of-mind awareness and recollection is the default state, meaning unless coach puts in place some structure and practice for doing better,…

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1 min 0

Therapy

Therapy Isn’t the Villain, Therapy Posing as Coaching Is

Throughout The CoachAccountable Perspective can be found the occasional mention of therapy or psychotherapy as an unwelcome presence in the mix. Is that because I’m anti-therapy? Nah. Here’s the issue: When elements of therapy make it into coaching, it cheapens coaching. And not because therapy…

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1 min 0

Therapy

Sports Coaches or Psychotherapists: Who Do You Resemble?

The two represent opposite ends of a spectrum when it comes to the power dynamic, and coaching (outside of sports) seems to fall somewhere on there. It’s “Shut up and do the reps” versus “Let’s explore those feelings”. It can be (and has been!) argued…

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2 min 0

Psychology

Giving Airtime to Feelings Isn’t Always a Gift

Coaches are often eager and willing to explore client feelings. That might be okay for psychotherapy, but that is not the path to giving great coaching.

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