Rhonda Hess:
Hey coaches, I’ve got something special for you today. Find the full transcript plus helpful links and specific words to say in coaching sessions at prosperouscoach.com/193. Also, there’s a link to a free downloadable infographic that you’ll want to have on that page.
I don’t know if you got to listen to the previous session that I did with my good friend and amazing coach, Laurie Cameron, where we talked about Powerful Questions (Episode 139 – The Art of Crafting Powerful Coaching Questions.)If you have not heard that one, go get itbecause it’s really, really good. And this one’s also going to be really, really good. We are going to talk about something different having to do with coaching skills today. So let me first introduce you to Laurie.
The world that Laurie Cameron wants to leave our children is one where we feel safe, valued, and connected because that’s when we can accomplish meaningful work together. Her part in creating that world is to help people communicate with kindness, respect, and compassion. Laurie’s been coaching and training since 1998 and her company WAKE UP! Enterprises helps leaders integrate the coaching mindset and heart into their everyday communications in order to build a sustainable coaching culture from the inside out. She’s also a senior faculty member of one of the oldest coach training organizations in the world — that’s Coach Training Alliance, and she has trained over 1200 coaches through CTA.
Laurie also works with coaches applying for their ACC credential with the ICF to get their 10 hours of mentor coaching. Visit her at wakeupenterprises.com or ACCmentorcoach.com.
Laurie, thank you so much for doing this again, and it’s always so fun to collaborate with you on anything.
Laurie Cameron:
Oh, I feel exactly the same. I’m really thrilled. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Rhonda Hess:
My absolute pleasure.
And so, we are going to talk today about aimless coaching sessions. Everybody’s had one, probably everybody’s experienced one. We are going to take a look at it from all angles and uncover the best way to recover from <laugh> an aimless coaching session as a coach. So first let’s just start with this. I thought about this:
What do you think, Laurie, is a single word that describes the best coaching sessions with clients?
Laurie Cameron:
I think FOCUSED is a good word — because you know … there’s purpose, there’s meaning, there’s safety — all of that. And yet, if I were to pick one, it would be focused — not just focused on what the client wants to take away, but really focused on the client. Fully focused on the client for the entire session because coaching is client-driven.
Rhonda Hess:
It also means that it has an aim. So I really like that one. I think that’s really good.
What does an aimless coaching session look and feel like to the coach?
Laurie Cameron:
In the classes that I teach at Coach Training Alliance, we come up with this a lot — an aimless session. I have an analogy for that, Rhonda, and it’s kind of like watching a dog, chase a family of squirrels.
Rhonda Hess:
<laugh>
Laurie Cameron:
That, you know, is a pretty strong mental image, isn’t it? Because the squirrels are running all over the place and the dog can’t decide which one to chase. So it just kind of tries to, you know, to chase this one, then chase that one, then chase this one.
And what a newer coaching session sounds like is that the client is the family of squirrels — their thoughts. Because part of the (client’s) job is to be all over the place, right? They’re sorting through their thoughts and what they want to create and where they want to go and how are they going to get there. So it’s really part of their job for their thoughts to kind of be all over the place.
Rhonda Hess:
Well, it sounds hugely chaotic and I, you know, having been a new coach once myself and remembering that, yes, I did do that. You’re going to have a few of these, right? And the idea is just to learn and do better.
What does an aimless coaching session look and feel like for the client?
Laurie Cameron:
I’m not quite sure that a client would notice if it’s aimless during the session, because like I said, they’re the family of squirrels and they’re kind of all over the place. However, once they got to the end of an aimless session and don’t really have anything tangible to walk away with, and they’re just kind of left in that chaotic mental and emotional space. I think that some kind of let down or feeling of frustration or left hanging is something that they might experience.
Rhonda Hess:
Yeah. That takeaway is all important. So let me ask you this first, we’ll talk about takeaway in a minute.
Does that mean that any meandering in a coaching session is not a positive thing?
Laurie Cameron:
I would question the word ‘meandering’ <laugh> and ‘meandering’ implies that it’s kind of wandering in and out of a couple different thoughts or ideas or things that the client might be thinking about.
A good coaching session is still going to leave room for what I would consider exploring, exploring is different from meandering in that there’s an awareness and a presence and an intention about noticing if a client goes down a particular path with their thoughts. If the coach is aware and willing to explore that or check in with the client to ask: Is this worth exploring?
Rhonda Hess:
I like exploring, and I think what might be explored in this coaching session may lead to something else in another coaching session. Or what doesn’t get explored in this coaching session might get noted down by the coach and get explored in another coaching session. (Laurie Cameron: Mm-hmm.)
So it’s really about using sort of your best sense of what’s going to take the client in that best direction so that they get the takeaway they want from the session.
Laurie Cameron:
Yeah. That’s I think that’s totally on track.
Rhonda Hess:
Okay, cool.
What’s the first thing that a coach can do to prevent aimless coaching sessions?
Laurie Cameron:
Yeah. First and foremost, it’s having a really clear agreement with the client about the coach/client relationship before they have any sessions. It’s really imperative that every coach help every new client understand exactly what they’re getting into …
- what coaching is
- what it’s not
- what the coach does
- what the coach doesn’t do
- what’s expected of the client
… so that when coaching starts, both the coach and the client are really clear on their roles and expectations.
And if the client starts wandering around, then it’s important for them to trust that their coach is going to help them stay focused on what they want to accomplish in that session.
Rhonda Hess:
Yeah. And I think that it’s so important that basically as a coach, you need to teach your client and help them understand and make sure they understand (Laurie Cameron: Mm-hmm) that they need to bring the agenda. They need to bring the takeaway they want to get from the session.
Laurie Cameron:
Well, also when a client hires a coach, generally they will hire them for some larger goal that they are reaching. And each successive coaching session is a step towards manifesting and realizing that larger vision.
Rhonda Hess:
Yeah. That ultimate goal.
Laurie Cameron:
Mm-hmm. A lot of coaches, including me use a call prep form to give the client. So the client has an opportunity before a coaching session to organize their thoughts. So things like, you know
- what I accomplished since our last session
- what I thought I was going to, but didn’t
- what’s in front of me right now
- what would be really helpful in this coaching session
So a call prep form is really a lot less for the coach and a lot more for the client to really prepare and organize their thoughts.
Rhonda Hess:
That’s hugely helpful. And I’ll just say, as someone who likes to have my own clients fill out what I call a session prep form. I have a few questions in there that are also for me and them things like
- what did you learn over the last week?
Laurie Cameron:
I love that.
Rhonda Hess:
- what’s challenging you?
- what are you ready to do now?
Things like that, because that helps me as well as them. I want to be sure they get the most they can out of it. And sometimes it’s just by saying what they learned or saying what they’re challenged by or saying what they’re willing to do, that they get that juice.
Laurie Cameron:
Oh yeah. Well, and it also helps them and the coach track their progress — a really powerful tool for staying motivated.
Rhonda Hess:
Yeah. So, so, so true. And I also ask for feedback on my session prep form to me, you know,
- what do they like about the program?
- what do they like about working with me?
- what don’t they like
- what do they wish were different?
That’s really helpful too. Yeah. All right. Okay, good.
How can a coach get an aimless session on track?
Laurie Cameron:
Well, it starts with when there’s a really clear takeaway for the session that both the coach and the client are clear on, they agree on and they can kind of drill it down to one succinct sentence. “So what you’d like to take away from this session is a strategy to have this difficult conversation with this person.”
Rhonda Hess:
Mm-hmm.
Laurie Cameron:
What it does is it acts as a compass for the coach. So, at some point, if the coach is thinking, “Oh my gosh, where in the world are we?” All over the place back to chasing that family of squirrels.
Then it makes it a lot easier for the coach to maybe freeze frame the session a little bit and say something like: “You know, it seems like we are kind of all over the place or we’ve gotten a bit off track. So your original takeaway was to create a strategy to have a difficult conversation with this person. Where are you now with that?”
Maybe the coach is noticing that the client has a lot of energy or pull in a different direction. “What I’m hearing is a whole lot of energy around this other thing that you’ve been talking about. Which direction would have the most value for you for the rest of the session?”
Rhonda Hess:
Beautiful. And I just want to say to everybody listening, you know, if you want to see what are these words that Laurie just said, they’re is going to be in the transcript of this. Okay, well, so this has been fabulous.
Laurie Cameron:
Oh my, thank you! It has!
Mentoring Program with Laurie Cameron for ICF ACC Application
Rhonda Hess:
Well, that was really fun interviewing Laurie — who is this incredible coach and coach trainer — about aimless coaching sessions. But the end of our session got cut off before she was able to share something really important with you …
As a qualified ICF mentor coach, Laurie offers a 3-month program that satisfies the 10 hours of mentor coaching that’s required by the ICF for ACC application. It includes
- 7 hours of small group sessions and
- 3 hours of individual coaching
So, if you’re ready, you can apply at ACCmentorcoach.com.
Here is where you can get an infographic that Laurie created of what you need to have done before applying for the ACC with ICF: https://bit.ly/accappinfographic
So go get that ACC mentor coaching with Laurie. She’s fantastic!