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.

[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.

The next time you’re in a conversation for action that doesn’t 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.

The second job in enrollment is to frankly discuss potential hindrances to achieving the outcomes.

Perhaps by asking the following questions you can appreciate the way coaching fits into your client’s array of commitments:

1. What could interrupt this coaching program for you?

2. How does coaching fit into what you’re 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?