Coaching: What's In It For Clients?

Written by: Jodi Flynn

Published: July 2014

One of the most common questions I hear from people who are thinking about working with a coach is "How will this benefit me?" To answer this, I want to cover two important topics:

Why people choose to work with a coach
How your coaching skills benefit others

Why people choose to work with a coach

The reasons people choose to work with a coach are as diverse and varied as the world we live in. For our purposes, I'll go over some of the most common professional reasons people seek out a coach below.

Many business professionals want to:

Develop a plan to successfully accomplish goals
Reignite a passion for their work
Become better decision-makers
Build stronger relationships with others - employees, team members, colleagues
Increase productivity - learn how to delegate, communicate better, and focus on what's important
Simplify life while establishing financial freedom and regaining time for hobbies and other activities

The reasons why my own clients choose to work with me are also varied. In general, they may:

Have goals that haven't been realized yet
Notice lagging enthusiasm for everyday tasks
Need more energy than usual to get through the day, necessitating more down-time at night and on the weekends just to recover from work woes
Feel stressed about stepping away from work and taking time off - even when they're working harder and harder on tasks they're not particularly passionate about
Experience difficulty relating to employees, colleagues, or other professional associates
Want to boost awareness of potential opportunities and the ability to take advantage of them

The business leaders I work with are usually very committed to the growth of their business and the financial freedom that it can offer. They know that there are real solutions that exist to the issues they're experiencing - but they need guidance to develop greater self-awareness and open to new possibilities and opportunities.

How your coaching skills benefit those you work with

Most people find it difficult to offer a clear, calm response when they're very close to a person or situation. But when you've developed into an experienced coach, you have the ability to be objective and avoid the pitfalls often associated with being too close to a situation.
The unbiased feedback you provide can support and encourage clients to learn more about themselves, open to new growth opportunities, and achieve goals and objectives successfully.
Here are a few ways your coaching skills benefit those you work with:

You see the positive in others when they may not see it in themselves - this allows you to guide those you work with to achieve greater self-awareness of inner potentialities.
You challenge the client to develop new ways of thinking or to consider a situation from a fresh perspective.
You help the client focus on the goal and on following through with a plan of action.
Your experience allows you to offer relevant, useful insight that the client can begin applying to his or her life immediately.
With your guided knowledge, clients can define and maximize their resources to establish true balance.
You use your expertise to help the client strategize ways to get more done and increase efficiency at the same time.
You call it like it is, even when the client doesn't want to hear it. This impartiality can help your client identify roadblocks that hinder advancement.
You listen.

That last one is particularly important - never underestimate the value of listening! I once considered listening to be the most uninteresting skill anyone could have. Today, it's my superpower. The relief that a client experiences just from having a non-biased person listen can be the catalyst necessary to facilitate growth and change.

Coaching is a very personal journey, so each person's experience will be different. Coaches may use different styles and ways of interacting with their clients, but one thing many coaches share in common is a passion for bringing out the very best in every client they work with.

Jodi Flynn

Jodi Flynn of Luma Coaching coaches entrepreneurs and small business owners around their mindset for success. She helps them to identify the default tendencies that are getting in the way of growing their business and/or their enjoyment of their business.
Luma Coaching