Big Coaching Myths that are keeping you from highly effective coaching.

It is so important to have effective coaching. Of course, we want to help our clients, and that is why we are in the coaching business. Effective coaching also impacts your business's bottom line and is more impactful than you may have realized.

Effective Coaching: Results Get Referrals

According to a Nielsen Trust in Advertising Report, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family over any other form of advertising.

In order to grow your business, you do not need to be a master of marketing. Marketing is a very important part of the equation, but when you are providing truly effective coaching that is creating real change in your client's lives, it opens the door to more meaningful connections through referrals.

Effective Coaching: Results Get Renewals

PricewaterhouseCoopers (one of the largest professional services networks in the world) conducted a global study that found that 96% of clients are likely to repeat a coaching experience if they achieved positive results.

Not only does creating results for your current coaches open the door for new referrals, but when you are working with a coach and able to help make meaningful changes in one area of their business, they will likely not want to let your relationship go. They will want to continue your work together. And you get to continue to watch your coaches grow.

What is Coaching Effectiveness?

There are many myths about how to gauge your effectiveness as a coach, which, if you are stuck in the cycle of believing, can actually prevent you from becoming a more highly skilled coach. Here are a few of these myths and how to break free of those thoughts.

Myth #1: You can't control your client's results

Truth:  You have more of an ability to influence your client's growth than you realize.

A Gallup study on workplace performance shows that 70% of the variance in team engagement is directly related to the quality of the manager or coach.

The more skilled you are as a coach, the more progress your clients will make. In turn, you will get more referrals and renewals.

Myth #2: Every problem is a thought problem

Truth: Thought-work/mindset work used in isolation can be detrimental. (link to that previous blog post)

If you are only focused on thought work with a client, you are missing out on key information that will lead you to effective coaching. Being a safe and skilled coach requires you to look at the "whole person," taking into account your client's thoughts, emotions, nervous system, and behavior patterns and looking at how they all intersect. Looking at thought-work in isolation can be detrimental.

Myth #3: You don't need endless training to be a good coach

Truth: Your income, effectiveness, and integrity as a coach require continued education.

Forbes reported that 87% of high-performing employees and leaders attribute their success to ongoing learning and training. According to ATD, companies that offer comprehensive training programs have 218% higher income per employee and 24% higher profit margins.

Coaching is an unregulated field, and as part of effective coaching, it is our responsibility to ensure that we are learning the latest developments in the field. We are responsible for keeping our clients safe and learning how to continue helping them reach their next goals.

Myth #4: All you need to succeed as a coach is confidence and belief in yourself

Truth: Confidence without competence is an empty facade of a business.

Being confident in your abilities is a great skill to have as a coach. But you need to have those abilities first. The idea that confidence is all you need to succeed as a coach is creating a lack of integrity and professionalism in our industry. When someone is coming to you for coaching support, the whole fake it until you make it philosophy is not going to provide them the quality help they are searching for, or that is part of the effective coaching that I know we are all striving for.

That is not to say that you need to know everything to begin your coaching or to be effective, but you do need to continue your education and be committed to learning about the "whole person" to support effective change in your clients. Continue learning about multiple modalities, including cognitive approaches, emotion-focused modalities, and the type of action-focused strategies that actually support your client in creating change.

Myth #5: Don't invest in more training until your marketing is working

Truth: You will waste money spent on marketing if your coaching isn't working.

If you ask any honest, successful marketing professional for help, they will tell you that you need proof of concept before you want to invest money in paid advertising. 

Think of it like building a house without a foundation. Imagine spending money on decorating a home without ensuring the foundation is strong.  No matter how beautiful the decorations (marketing) are, the house will eventually collapse if the foundation (your product or coaching method) is flawed.

Marketing is an excellent tool to bring people into your coaching practice, but if your coaching program doesn't work or you lack the skills or knowledge for effective coaching, clients will not stay or refer you to others. You will continuously be spending money on marketing to bring new clients in instead of having your work speak for itself, and your clients be the ones to refer you to others. 

According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. 

Don't waste money on your marketing efforts; build your effective coaching practice before investing in marketing to new clients.

Conclusion

Effective coaching begins with honing your skills right from the beginning so that you can be grounded in your approach. I have seen this firsthand with coaches who have worked with me. The results you create begin with learning highly effective skills and then serving your clients with those skills. Results get referrals. Results get renewals. That's the beginning of a simple, profitable business.  

And the best part is that you are leading your business with a focus on your clients and giving them the help they need. 

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