How does a coach create a safe place for the client?
One of the Best Practices in coaching is creating a safe place for your client where the client is free to share hopes, dreams and yes, even fears with the coach. Here are 3 tips to help you create a safe place for clients:
1. Establish trust even before the client signs up for coaching. You can start by setting expectations right up front so there is no guess work about how you work with clients. Review your coaching agreement with your client and don’t assume they have read it just because they signed it. If you have a 24 hour cancellation policy, make sure you explain this right up front. Set clear expectations.
2. Confidentiality is critical. Coaching is a profession and just like other professions, we abide by a clearly defined Code of Ethics. Share a copy of your Professional Coaching Code of Ethics with your client and you can find the IAC Code of Ethics, ICF Code of Ethics, the CCE Code of Ethics and the CCN Christian Code of Ethics by clicking on the links in this post.
3. Listen with your ears, eyes, and heart to truly hear what your client is saying. As an IAC Mastery School, we train the art of “engaged” listening. I love the definition of “engaged” as “joined, linked together, meshed”. In coaching, you want to hear not just the words the client speaks; you want to hear the emotion or lack of emotion, and words that are said, and words that are not said.
How else do you create a safe place for your clients? What do you do to ensure they can dream, learn, and stretch?
