How To Improve Your Coaching Skills: A Comprehensive Guide

“We are what we repeatedly do. Therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit.” These famous lines by the great philosopher Aristotle, emphasizes the importance of continually growing and excelling at what you do!

While coaching an individual is all about helping them to learn, grow and evolve, even coaches need to chisel their skills.  So, what makes a great coach? Is there any golden rulebook for mastering coaching skills?

In this blog, we will explain to you how to be a better coach and level up the coaching game. 

Here are the key takeaways you will learn from this blog:

• Essential skills for becoming a coach
• How to improve your coaching skills
• Effective habits of highly effective coaches
• Ways to continuously grow your coaching skills

What are the Essential Skills to Become a Professional Coach?

Although there are several coaching styles, the skillsets you need as an effective coach can overlap. Every coach has a set of behaviors, approaches, capabilities, which are unique to them. While some might possess these essential skills others require effort, hard-work, and commitment to climb up the ladder. 

Let’s navigate through the essential skill sets to become an effective coach!

Effective Communication

Communication is the most fundamental aspect to master as a coach. It is needed in all the phases of coaching including goal setting, building rapport, offering constructive feedback, conflict resolution, etc.

Leadership

Another important skill to win coaching clients is leadership. Coaching is all about identifying a client’s strengths, weaknesses and guiding them towards their outcomes. Inclusive leadership is essential for goal setting and vision, empowerment and accountability, etc.

Innovation and Vision

Each client has a unique set of strengths, challenges, and goals. Hence, a one-size-fits-all approach won’t help. A prosperous coach ideates innovative solutions, learning paths, and is a true visionary!

Conflict Resolution

It helps coaches to guide clients for navigating through personal and professional conflicts, strengthen relationships, and contribute to their personal growth. 

Empathy 

Coaching is not dealing with the problems, it’s all about transforming an individual. Each client is unique. Hence it is important to put yourself in their shoes and understand their needs and expectations. Empathy helps to foster strong connections, build trust, and establish a strong rapport with your clients.

Active Listening

Reflection and self-discovery is a crucial part of coaching. Typically clients might be knowing the next significant step.  Active listening leaves room for open dialogue and empowers the clients through their self-discovery. Avoid distractions and focus on engaging conversations!

Emotional Intelligence

Humans are social beings. Effective coaches understand how our emotions influence thoughts, behavior, and actions. Emotional intelligence helps them to ask the right questions, correct their negative actions and facilitate their overall growth.

Business Skills

Along with the emotional quotient, you need to know how to create your coaching program. This includes marketing your coaching business, pricing your programs and establishing a credible image.

How to Improve Your Coaching Skills: 10 Killer Strategies

Great coaches continuously hone their craft to make success along their journey. With time, the technology, techniques, methods are constantly changing with time; hence it’s essential to strengthen your coaching skills.

Integrate these 10 proven strategies to maximize your coaching potential:

1. Ask Powerful & Open-Ended Questions

A pull-coaching style where the coach emphasizes the learner’s goals and desires is generally more effective. This is a more learner-centric approach and empowers the client to take charge of their journey. 

And one of the top methods to improve coaching skills is to ask powerful, open-ended questions. These questions can’t be answered with a “yes” or “no” and helps to gain valuable insights from them. 

They help the clients to express their feelings, spark conversations, and challenge assumptions.

Some of the decisive questions are:

• Tell me more about that…
• How’s that working for you?
• What’s holding you back from achieving your goals?
• What does perfect look like?
• What’s the most challenging step for you to achieve this outcome?
• What are the challenges you are facing right now?
• Hmm, that’s interesting…
• What would happen if I suggested this…

The above questions leave more scope for follow-up questions. Listen carefully to your client’s hopes and aspirations, values and passions, strengths and weaknesses, and even inconsistencies and frame your questions accordingly.

2. Coaches Understand, Don’t Judge

We live in a judgemental world and can’t switch the inner critic off! But great coaches don’t judge; they understand. True, this is the axiom of the profession, widely regarded to be true! 

However, coaches are humans, after all. Being nonjudgmental is a hypothetical state. Still, we can rationalize our judgments and realize our thoughts more profoundly. 

Check your biases; instead, empathize with their circumstances – consider what led them to make a specific decision or act in a certain way! Ultimately, it’s your job to guide them towards progress and not force a decision.

Avoid making self-imposing statements like “You didn’t do well.” Sticking to the oft-quoted “Why?” questions is a better approach. It helps to gain a deeper understanding of their behavior.

3. Master Goal-Setting

Goal-setting is pivotal in coaching and helps develop resilience, self-awareness, and strategic thinking. Your client’s journey essentially revolves around goals. In fact, goal-setting is one of the initial coaching sessions, where you work along with your clients to map goals. 

Consider using SMART goals, the WOOP method, or the GROW coaching model to create a focused goal direction. With goal-setting, you can break the main goal into small, attainable goals. 

Consider the pointers while setting goals:

• Set realistic goals
• Ensure measurable goals
• Define achievable goals
• Align goals with objectives
• Focus on establishing time-bound goals

4. Provide Positive Feedback 

Feedback is an essential tool of coaching. Coaching is a transformational journey; without feedback, clients cannot evolve and attain their goals in the long run. However, constructive feedback promotes a safe environment, fosters learning opportunities, and creates self-awareness. 

Here are the aspects for providing positive feedback:

• Discuss your precise goals and expectations in advance

Define what your sessions would be like — coaching goals, expectations, and challenges in advance. 

• Illustrate Concrete Examples rather than generalizations.

While discussing strengths and weaknesses, exactly where they got it right or could have improved. For instance, if your client didn’t achieve a goal, then you could say, “I had set a challenge to complete it by Tuesday, and it would have been great if you would have finished it.” rather than vague statements that you never do your work on time.”

• Focus on their behavior, not their actual personality.

Clients consider comments on their real personalities to be personal attacks. Hence, it’s better to give feedback on their coaching behavior, which is often more actionable.

• Start with a positive comment.

Coaches use the “feedback sandwich” technique, starting with a positive aspect, followed by actual feedback and once again concluded with positive feedback.

For instance, you could start with, “I appreciate how attentively you listen to my coaching sessions” or “how regularly you attend coaching.”

5. Embrace a Growth Mindset

Coaching is not only your client’s journey; it also demonstrates how you evolve as a coach over time. So, what is a growth mindset? It is essentially a belief that you can build your skills with hard work and commitment!

If you have a fixed mindset as a coach, you will face a catch-22! 

Here’s how you can cultivate a growth mindset as a coach:

• Celebrate “Wow” moments

Along with the feedback, it’s essential to acknowledge and encourage clients for their accomplishments. Highlight even small accomplishments and motivate them to maintain their pace. 

• Help people embrace challenges as opportunities.

Challenges are inevitable in any pursuit! As a coach, you need to train your clients to take risks, embrace challenges and see them as opportunities for growth. 

• It’s not about the destination but the journey.

Value the overall learning curve rather than the final outcome. Be patient and connect the dots as you learn new techniques, methods, and approaches over time.

• Use growth-specific language

Be mindful of the language you use in coaching sessions. Use words like “learning” instead of “failure” to avoid clients from feeling offended.

6. Think like a Coach

“Discovery of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. ” These famous lines emphasize the importance of expanding your horizons and possibilities as a coach. 

The most important thing is to live in the present moment. Coaches know the value of now, and all that matters is the current moment. Although your coaching program may be for a prolonged period of time, coaches always think about the next significant step to serve clients best!

Another essential aspect of coaching is self-awareness of behavior, which helps coaches act in a way that encourages clients. 

7. Accountability

Accountability fosters deeper relationships between clients and coaches. It helps recognize goals and fulfill commitments. Create a specific accountability framework and define the expectations beforehand for demonstrating accountability.

Here’s how you can show accountability as a coach:

• Be punctual and show up on time for coaching sessions.
• Correct negative actions and give constructive feedback. 
• Respond to questions and doubts in a timely manner.
• Offer the proper guidance, and don’t give false promises or define unrealistic outcomes. 
• Create a coaching contract that defines precise goals, limitations and liabilities, payment terms, cancellation and rescheduling, etc.
• Track the client’s progress by revisiting their goals and measuring performance based on the KPIs. 

Focus on building trust, testimonials and establishing credibility in the long run!

8. Be Open to Feedback

Great coaches don’t develop their craft overnight; they refine their skills with time. An effective way to evolve as a coach is to be open to feedback. You can incorporate a quick feedback after every session. 

Ask your clients about your coaching style and how they found their session. An excellent approach is to ask open-ended questions and specify what kind of feedback you expect from your clients.

Once you get the feedback, create an actionable plan to improve your coaching skills and never judge their opinions

Tips from Successful Coaches

• Setting goals and purpose

“Set clear and compelling goals for clarity and purpose that give you a target for your coaching sessions. Without targets, your coaching sessions can be aimless, and progress can be stalled.” – Tony Robbins , renowned life coach and business strategist.

•  Be hungry, be curious

“You should be always curious to hone your craft; explore different disciplines. Don’t be hesitant to explore new paths. Pick an effective mentor. ” – Myke Celis, celebrity life coach

• Build skills and work on building a stronger will

“First focus on building your skills,then work on building a high-level will.” – Rich Litvin, a thought leader and author of the Prosperous coach

• Feedback is critical element of coaching business

“In a coaching relationship, both parties should make clear expectations from the initial phases. Hence, good feedback is one of the most essential elements of coaching business.” – John Mattone, top executive coach

• Give significance to key stakeholders

“Adopt a stakeholder-centric approach.Identify the key stakeholders, choose the key areas of improvement.” – Marshall Goldsmith, leading executive coach

How to Continuously Grow Your Coaching Skills?

There are several coaches in the industry, and it is essential to continuously improve your coaching skills to stay at the top. Stay adept with the best tools, techniques, coaching models, and methods to scale your coaching business.

Best Coaching Books

If you are looking for ways to improve your coaching skills, coaching books are excellent resources for continuous growth. They are written by leaders and experts in the field who have mastered the principles of coaching.

Here are our top picks to help you across your coaching journey:

• “Co-active Coaching” by Karen Kimsey-House, Henry Kimsey-House, Phillip Sandhal and Laura Whitworth

Considered the “coaching bible” by mastermind Stephen R. Covey, this book provides an overview of the widely accepted coaching skills, practices, exercises, examples and more.

• “Coaching for Performance” by Sir John Whitmore

Summarizes the basics of coaching and how it works to find your purpose and maximize an individual’s performance. 

For more coaching books and resources, refer to this article by the CoachingToolsCompany.

Take Online Courses

Online courses are the best way to advance with the learning curve. You can learn the best skills and strategies to build your coaching business. And the best part is that you can learn them at your own pace. 

These are the different course types 

• Niche-specific courses in executive, life, career, or real-estate coaching
• Courses to improve your business skills, like marketing or business planning
• Other course types include time management and stress management.

Advanced Certifications

Accredited coaching certifications aren’t necessary but offer the essential foundation for coaching. You can take courses that strengthen your coaching skills as a seasoned coach. 

Here are the best certification programs to get started:

• Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
• Coaching Training Alliance
• International Coaching Federation
• Coach U

Get Your Own Coach

Coaching can be overwhelming, and sometimes, you might need a mentor to guide you through different areas of improvement. Hiring your own coach can help you through career challenges, well-being, and personal or business growth. 

Conferences and Virtual Events

Apart from the above resources, coaches can benefit from industry events like conferences or virtual events. These create opportunities to learn from industry experts. Popular coaching groups, organizations, and institutions also host major events.

Conclusion

Coaching is a long-term journey where each client adds to the unique experience. No matter how certified or qualified you are, the best way to gain coaching mastery is through experience! This blog has covered the top ways to improve coaching skills.

Most importantly, you must adapt with a growth mindset and be patient throughout your journey! Lastly, follow the industry experts and continuously update yourself with the best courses and industry trends. 

FAQ-Related to How to Improve Your Coaching Skills

1. How can I improve myself as a coach?

Communicate effectively, ask powerful questions, provide constructive feedback, develop active listening, and revisit your goals to improve your coaching skills.

2. How can I coach more effectively?

First and foremost, build a credible and trustworthy relationship with your client. Listen actively, refrain from judging, create a safe environment, encourage and provide enough motivation.

3. What types of coaching styles are more effective?

Transformational, autonomy, democratic, mindset, holistic, inspirational, etc., are some of the effective coaching styles