Ep 255 Four Communication Techniques to Use as a Life Coach
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Sara Mayer: [00:00:00] Welcome to the bold goal crusher podcast for anyone looking to stop letting life get in the way and start crushing bold goals. I'm your host, Sara Mayer, and I'm thrilled to navigate this journey with you because it's time to start boldly achieving without working double time. So let's dive in.
Sara Mayer: Hello Bold Goal Crushers! I'm super excited to continue and finalize our last episode of how to Be successful as a coach. It can be challenging to form a successful relationship with customers as you enter the coaching business. So today I want to talk about four communication [00:01:00] skills that are truly critical as a coach and some techniques on how you might build rapport with your clients.
Sara Mayer: All right, so the first one Maybe no surprise. The 1st technique is active listening, and this means you should pay attention to what your client is saying and their body language and tone of voice. When you improve your listening skills, you can understand their feelings easier. You also can really dive into the needs and develop a more personal and professional relationship with the client.
Sara Mayer: Also, It makes it easier to put yourself in their frame of mind so you can help them find solutions. So one of the biggest things with active listening is not only listening to what they are saying, but also being aware of nonverbal cues. So coaches can better [00:02:00] understand their client's feelings and needs in active listening helps people understand their own feelings, thoughts, and behaviors better.
Sara Mayer: So when people verbalize their thoughts, Coaches can make accurate predictions about how the client will behave in different situations, but tuning into the things they're not saying really does help a coach to dive into the root of the problem. Now, you may know that I spent 2 years in my master's program, which was counseling based, and we talked a lot about I messages.
Sara Mayer: The 2nd technique is called I messages. So I messages are a way of communicating that in view involves using the word. I. This technique allows coaches. To take responsibility for their terms and actions, while also showing that they are considering their clients feelings I messages allow you as a coach to provide perspective [00:03:00] that enables others to learn and grow without feeling attacked or judge.
Sara Mayer: So you can actually use. I messages to connect with your clients, but I messages are also a verbal clue as to whether or not your client is trying to disconnect from their situation or story. For example, they may say something like when someone doesn't. meet my needs, then you feel like blah, blah, blah.
Sara Mayer: And so they're detaching themselves from the experience, but you, the use of I messages as a coach, but also encouraging that. For your clients, allows people to sit in the feelings and really get into what is really going on. So I messages are a critical part of coaching. Listen for when you are using I messages and also listen for when they are, or maybe [00:04:00] not.
Sara Mayer: Be using I messages, then there's no lose win communication. The 3rd technique. It's called no lose or win communication for a reason. And that means that you should try to find a beneficial solution to the problem that gets both parties involved. This technique is centered on the idea that there's always a way to come to a resolution that leaves everyone.
Sara Mayer: Moderately happy, if not completely happy. And many times clients are in lose or no win situations with themselves or their own decisions simply by failing to act. So it's important that when we use no lose, win communication, we also remember sometimes it's not another person, it's within themselves.
Sara Mayer: The next communication skill, the fourth and last skill coaches need to use is the technique of making [00:05:00] empathetic statements. So those statements are a way of communicating and it involves trying to see the situation from your clear perspective. client's perspective, not just your perspective, and then relaying that understanding back to them.
Sara Mayer: Sometimes clients don't realize what they are experiencing or don't provide themselves empathy. And so your, the, your ability to provide empathy is important. This type of communication can build trust as you would Think between the coach and the client, and it shows that the coach truly does care about the client's experience.
Sara Mayer: So examples of empathetic statements include, I know you must have been struggling with this and I can see this has been a very tasking process. It sounds like you've had a tough time getting through the last few weeks. I can see it's not always [00:06:00] easy to keep going when things get tough. So these communication techniques can help coaches.
Sara Mayer: form strong bonds with their clients. And when your bond is strong with your coaching clients, you'll receive tremendous success with them. So using these communication techniques will help you establish those meaningful relationships. And as we conclude our series on business tools and tips for coaches, I want to recap what we've covered.
Sara Mayer: So first of all, there is a tremendous benefit in starting a coaching business. It's very rewarding to see your clients get bright ideas, understand more about what they're going through and really take down a journey. We talked about several characteristics of life coaches and some tips on how to be successful.
Sara Mayer: And then of course, We talked about video marketing and connecting with people to attract them as clients through video. So I hope that [00:07:00] you've enjoyed this series. I know that many of you are out there very interested in starting a coaching business, and I hope you take that leap so that you can have the tremendous fulfillment that comes from coaching people to achieving their life goals.
Sara Mayer: Alright bold goal crushers, it's time to crush your goals and everything that gets in the way, so let's get to it.
