Cathy Liska This is 5 of 6 in the blog series.
After building a solid foundation with the full awareness and understanding of what the client wants, and then providing tools to support their focus and motivation, the next step in the coaching process is to strategize and develop specific action steps. By session 3, the Certified Professional Coach is asking the client what specifically they want to focus on – typically about three goals. Then the coach asks questions that explore timelines, prioritization, barriers, resources, and specific action steps.
The client experiences increased awareness, strategizes moving past their barriers, and commits to action steps they choose to move them toward their goal. This sounds relatively simple and in many ways it is simple. At the same time, the simplicity of working through these questions is profound for the thinking of the client and impactful for developing their plan of action.
The role of the coach is to be aware of the client’s personality in the moment and how they are thinking and processing. The coach adjusts to the client and expands or challenges thinking based on this awareness. For example, if a client is focused on the big picture, the coach will explore detail. If the client is focused on details, the coach will also ask about the big picture. Because the coach is completely focused on the client, the coach knows when to probe and when to move on in the coaching process.
