Qualities That Every Coach Should Possess

A coach is an individual who can unlock your own potential. So, how can you be great at it?

Over the last few years, various people have wondered whether coaching really works. This skepticism comes from people’s lack of knowledge. Coaching is a concept that is gaining popularity now, and many people are seeking coaching programs. Still, the majority of people don’t know what coaching is or what its functions are.

While many people associate coaching with training or mentoring, others think it is similar to therapy or consultations. Coaching is, in fact, different from all of these other fields. Even though coaching, training, mentoring, therapy, and consultations help an individual or a team grow, they are all distinct and serve different purposes.

A coach actively listens to their clients, helps them overcome their work or personal roadblocks, and strives to strengthen their skills and become more competent individuals. One of the most challenging things about becoming a coach is that they cannot advise or guide people on what to do next in their personal lives or careers. Their primary focus is to encourage the clients to come up with their own solutions to problems or challenges.

Becoming a good coach takes several years of practice reading people’s body language and coaching them to reach their true potential. There are several qualities and competencies that you need to possess to become a respectable coach. Let us look at the top qualities you should possess as a coach.

1) Asking empowering questions.

Empowering questions are the building blocks of a good coaching session. Asking probing questions to clients helps them generate creative ideas.

Asking the right questions gives the client a new perspective on their issue and allows them to break their challenges into smaller segments. Gaining a clearer vision of their hurdles helps them become innovative with their solutions and feel more confident about their skills and capabilities after finding reasonable solutions to their own problems.

Seasoned coaches know they should not interrupt a client while speaking or dwell on a single idea during the coaching session. They keep asking questions such as ‘What else can you do?’, ‘What other method would you use?’, until they have a repository of new ideas for their clients to implement. A coach should aim at getting as many solutions or ideas out of the client as possible. If the coach accomplishes in doing that, then the coaching session in itself can be considered a success.

2) Deep listening.

A good coach knows the difference between passive and deep listening. When you focus on the client when they are speaking, you are not only listening to their thoughts but also paying attention to other non-verbal forms of communication, such as their body language and the tone of their voice.

If a coach does not keenly listen to the client, they may miss out on essential information that they could use to ask inspiring questions. Every client walks in with unique challenges or issues they need to overcome, and listening and taking notes of everything they say allows you more information to work with to make your coaching sessions productive.

Taking notes as the client speaks and allowing them to finish speaking before asking them the next question is the best way to extract all the information the client provides. Deep listening makes asking questions easy once you have a detailed understanding of your client and their key concerns.

3) Encouraging your clients.

One of the essential qualities of a good coach is their unquestioning belief in their client’s skills and capabilities. An experienced coach understands that every client has the potential to grow and that it is their job to ask the right questions and make them engage in specific exercises that help them build confidence in themselves.

Unless the coach believes in the client’s potential, they will not be able to make the client believe it either. This is why a coach should encourage their clients and enable them to explore new avenues and grow more in their personal and work lives. Using coaching tools such as whole-brain thinking and self-reflection helps the clients reassess their perspective about themselves and build more confidence in their abilities.

Providing them with a safe space to vocalize their ideas and get creative with their solutions gives them a sense of accomplishment which boosts their confidence significantly. A person’s confidence is essential to personal growth and success. A coach plays a titular role in encouraging their clients and rewiring their brains to a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset allows them to face challenges and failures in a positive light and get discouraged on their journey of self-growth.

4) Verbal and non-verbal Mirroring.

Verbal and non-verbal mirroring is one of the easiest and most effective ways to make your client feel comfortable during the coaching session. Mirroring is the process of imitating the other person’s verbal and non-verbal behaviors. It helps build a strong rapport and credibility with your client.

Mirroring non-verbal behaviors like their posture or eye contact puts them at ease, and they feel more confident opening up to you. Deep listening and reiterating what the client just said is one of the best examples of mirroring. It portrays that you are interested in what the client is saying and makes them feel valued. Your keen interest in their issues builds your trustworthiness, which makes the coaching process easier.

5) Spotting their strengths and weaknesses.

As a coach, it is crucial for you to be able to identify your client’s strengths and weaknesses. Correctly identifying these attributes gives you a clear picture of what you need to focus on and which factors you need to help your client improve.

You can identify these strengths and weaknesses by listening to the client, conducting coaching exercises to determine the same, or asking probing questions. Some client approaches a coach with the vision of improving themselves and growing their skillset. In such cases, it is critical to efficiently identify their strengths, skills, and talents.

Once the strengths and weaknesses are noted, you can engage them in coaching exercises to help them sharpen their assets and improve on their weaknesses. This acts as a catalyst for developing your client’s skills and talents faster.

Coaching enables you to bring the best out of an individual’s personal and work life. The qualities mentioned above fine-tune your coaching skills and will distinguish you as an efficient coach. If you aspire to become a coach, the Grow More Avenues Coach Training Program provides you with all the basics of coaching and teaches you various tools and techniques to become a confident coach. The one thing you should never forget is that every client has the potential to improve. With the help of deep listening and by asking the right questions, you will always be able to help them come up with creative and unique ideas for their problems.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *