[One of the elements of conducting a conversation with a client is] refraining from making judgments about what our conversational partner says and, instead, expressing respectful curiosity for whatever is brought up.
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We do, however, have the wherewithal to say what we care about, what we will commit to, and what we will stay true to in the face of any and all difficulties.
The next time youâre in a conversation for action that doesnât seem to be going anywhere, be it with a family member or work team, please consider whether enough depth of relationship is in place and enough possibilities have been explored to give a foundation for the current conversation to go forward.
Perhaps by asking the following questions you can appreciate the way coaching fits into your clientâs array of commitments:
1. What could interrupt this coaching program for you?
2. How does coaching fit into what youâre already doing?
3. How will you respond when the program seems to be going too slowly, or gets boring, or repetitious, or even seems pointless?
The most abstract way to answer the question is to respond that you say to your client something that will allow him to make a new observation. A more everyday way of answering is that you will speak with your client so that he will be able to see something or understand something or appreciate something that he couldnât before.
So another part of the answer is that the coach speaks in a way that frees the client to take action.