The Top 3 Mistakes Coaches Make When Facilitating Growth
From The Heart
As you may know, I am an assessor for the ICF credentialing process for all three levels. This work is something that I am very proud of and came to me as a result of my deep interest in the ICF Core Competencies and my desire to give back to the community of Coaches who make this an amazing profession.
Lately, I have noticed, in all three levels of assessment that the coach often either completely skips the last competency of Facilitating Growth, or if they do show evidence of Facilitating Growth, it is often plagued with missteps.
While it is never the goal of the coach to hit every marker (when coaching at the PCC level) or every definition (when coaching at either the ACC or PCC level) of every competency, it is the goal of the coach to cover ALL of the competencies well, including the last competency Facilitating Growth.
If we skip using this competency at the end of our coaching conversation, it leaves the client somewhat unaware of their own brilliance. Your client is not listening to themselves the way you are. Therefore, this competency is extremely useful in guiding your client to understanding the journey and applying the information gathered.
That is why I wanted to share with you the...
TOP 3 MISTAKES PROFESSIONAL COACHES MAKE WHEN FACILITATING GROWTH.
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The first mistake Coaches make when Facilitating Growth is not leaving enough time to work with the client using this last competency.
I like to think of it using this metaphor. During the coaching conversation, my client and I are walking down a path together. I meet the client where they are, I hook arms with them so that they are leading just one step ahead of me and we go on this walk together. When we are getting the agreement, we are asking the client to tell us where we are headed. Once we are both clear on the destination, we walk observing the surroundings and the clients observations of the journey, along the way. We only have so much time and when we have a few minutes left, we pause, turn around and talk about the path we have been on and what the client will do with the information they have learned from the journey. The amount of time you need to discuss what the client has experience is dependent on the amount of time you have agreed to for the session and the level of verbosity of your client. I highly suggest setting a timer when you have 5 – 10 minutes left in the conversation and let the client know that when it goes off, you will have that 5 – 10 minutes to debrief and set up the actions. I like so say something like: “Ok, we started with 45 minutes and we only have 10 minutes left, so let's begin looking at what you have learned and what is next, what do you think?” At that point, I will ask something like: “So, what have you learned about yourself in this situation?” (of course you want to add context like: What have you learned about yourself as a leader in this project?) The most important aspect of this ideal is to be sure to leave time to work with your client to become aware of their growth and learning, then work towards actions, barriers and resources that stem from that new awareness. -
The second mistake Coaches make when Facilitating Growth is closing their questions.
I have assessed countless coaching conversations where the coach stops asking brilliant, open-ended questions when they get to this competency and begins asking stacked, closed questions that lead the client to action. The reason this happens has to do more with the agreement in the beginning than anything. You see, when you are getting an agreement, you are not promising that you will deliver what it is that the client wants to work on. In fact, when we are getting an agreement, we are just working towards a target. So, if in the agreement, you and your client decide that they what they want to walk away with from the conversation is work/life balance, you are not promising that they will have work/life balance when the session is over (wow, that puts a lot of pressure on them and on you) but what you are promising is that you will walk with them on their journey towards understanding their
work/life balance and what to do about it. That is why I usually say something like this when I believe we have an agreement. “So, what you want to work on is work/life balance, is that correct?” if they say “yes”, then I say something like: “Great, let's see how far we can get with that.” This takes the pressure off of them and off of you. So, at the end of the conversation, you are literally checking in with them on how far they have gotten and what next steps are.
This alleviates the need to drive the conversation using closed-ended questions and allows you to remain observant and use your partnering skills. -
The third mistake Coaches make when Facilitating Growth is not really understanding the difference between accountability and responsibility.
The second definition of the Facilitating Growth Competency reads, "partners with the client to design goals, actions, and accountability measures that integrate and expand new learning." However, the third definition of the Facilitating Growth Competency reads, "acknowledges and supports client autonomy in the design of goals, actions, and methods of accountability."
In addition, the word accountability can be confusing in this definition because what we mean by it is that the client is accountable to themselves and their own journey, rather than to you. This makes them responsible to themselves. Automatically assuming that the client is accountable to you is a mistake that causes your client to see you as an authority figure, rather than a partner. If your client wants to send you something to look at or report back to you, that is fine, but we don’t need to set up a situation where they do that as an accountability measure to you. Ask them questions like: “What can you do to hold yourself accountable.” AND, I would only ask about accountability if it was in relation to an action step that your client might find difficult to achieve.
One of the reasons I decided to master the Core Competencies, is that they were designed to make coaching EASIER for the Coach and more effective for your client. That to me is a win/win. So, pay attention to these pieces of the core competency puzzle and see how much more easy coaching is for you.
With Love, Jille
P.S. Read the infographic below for the complete definition of this competency and use the behaviors associated with this competency to help your client move forward.
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Join us on Thursday, November 11th, 2021, at 1 p.m. eastern (CLOSED) for our monthly discussion around the New Core Competencies. This month we will take a deep dive into the third section of the Core Competencies: Section C. Communicating Effectively. This section includes two Core Competencies, Listens Actively and Evokes Awareness. You could say that without this section, Coaching would not be very effective and would be much more like Mentoring or Consulting.
Each month we look deeply at one of the 8 competencies, one of the Sections of Competencies or one of the new markers so that we can all grow and learn together. Participation in this conversation is FREE to all and if you want to purchase the 1-hour CCE the cost is just $25.00. What a great, educational, growth-oriented, easy way to earn your CCE’s. I am a big fan of the Core Competencies, and I am excited to dig in deep with you especially to learn and apply the new Core Competencies.
To join us, just come to the session on Thursday, November 11th, 2021, at 1 p.m. eastern at this zoom link. If you would like to purchase the CCE, I will provide instructions during the meeting.
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Time: November 11th, 2021, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Original email sent 11/2021
