96: Can You Want Too Much for Your Coaching Clients?

This episode is part of the series called Manage Your Coaching Clients. I clearly remember a moment in the first few years of my coaching business where I was sharing with my mentor coach some feelings I was having about a client.Then she asked me a powerful question:Do you want more for your clients than they want for themselves?That woke me up! I began to examine my motivations and set healthier boundaries for myself with clients.Have you ever sensed that you might want too much for your clients?Most new coaches fall into this trap on some level.The trick is to let go of your desire to effect change ON your clients. In other words, don’t try to fix them or heal them.Build up within yourself the belief that your client alone drives their desire and ability to change and grow. They have to want it!2 More Powerful QuestionsYou can never know the path of another person.If you try to anticipate and course correct for your client’s potential mistakes, are you keeping them from valuable experiences that may bring success more quickly?Or, if you jump in to solve their problems and salve their hurts too vigorously, are you diminishing your clients personal power and inflating yours?You can only answer this if you stay aware during your sessions and regularly examine your own motivations for what you say and do with your clients.It comes down to The real beauty of coaching is the co-creative relationship. Both coach and client focus collaboratively to draw out and utilize the client’s wisdom toward high payoff actions. You, as a coach must trust that your client is creative, resourceful and whole. In other words they are fully capable of taking care of themselves.But know this … you don’t have to hold back a well-placed and well-worded challenge to your client to shift their mindset or take a more powerful action. That’s excellent coaching! After you do that, let go of attachment.In fact, I think that having a coaching business and working with clients is a never ending life lesson in letting go of your attachment. It’s a key to happiness!3 Symptoms and Causes to Watch with Coaching ClientsLet’s explore the symptoms, causes and side effects when we want too much for our coaching clients.Symptom #1: Over-deliveringCause: You’re to find solutions for every issue raised, rather than focusing on one coachable moment that will move the client toward a perspective shift and the takeaway stated in their agenda.Side effect: The client is overwhelmed.They are overwhelmed by your desire to help them beyond their current level of commitment to help themselves. How are big problems solved? One small integrate-able step at a time. Support your clients to make leaps in their perspective and to make more progress on their own between sessions.Symptom #2: You feel drained after a sessionCause: Read about the other two symptoms, side effects and the solutions here.