You have a new coaching client. What’s the first step to building a strong relationship?

My first step is to understand why they want to be coached, understand their needs and outcomes. Once I have a clarity, we set expectations by prioritizing the client’s needs i.e; Immediate needs, Short term needs, Long term and finally nice to have. In my experience, coaching is not about me but the focus is my client.

First need to be sure that client need coaching session. For coaching session client should be ready for changes. Coaching session just coordinate changes. As example if client focused on past and mentioned "I used to lose as in past", "I will not able as it happend last time" here is client for psychotherapist. The person for coaching is ready for changes, understand his/her interests and very clear about vision.

The nuance of coaching is in being mindful of not solutionising but enabling, equipping & empowering your client to realize the problems they would want to solve by themselves. This will require fostering a sense of trust. Which in my opinion starts from self. Before even engaging, I will take time to reflect on 1.Why this relationship is important for me at the first place? 2.How excited and committed I am to this relationship. Once, there is clarity at a level of self, I feel that would evntually yield conviction to ensure as sense of trust, belonging to strengthen the relationship. While engaging with individuals, it is imperative to have your own skin in the game to ensure you listen to understand & not respond to be compassionate.

Asking questions. Shutting up. Listening. And doing your best to guide them to finding the right answers... themselves. Taking yourself and your ego out of the mix.

We use a simple but significant method with our clients to make sure they know what the expectations are. It’s called “My Job, Your Job”. Asking them to articulate all of the things that are their job to lose sure it’s a successful engagement. Then, for them to share what their expectations are of me, or their coach. This way, you can backfill what’s missing and really hold them accountable for the things they have said are “their job”.

I asked a client recently, what made them decide to work with me. "simple - your honesty, openness and genuine interest in me." I am curious about people, what lights them up, what do they love doing and what do they want more of in their lives. It's genuinely fascinating! This, for me, goes beyond active listening, it's much deeper than that. A desire to want to connect and be present with someone, invite them to drop facades and masks so you can both discover who they really are. Lights bulbs are often triggered during this process, which is part of the job I love. Seeing clients see themselves and situations in a different way is simply brilliant. The 'quick way' to get to this is showing genuine interest in them.

Zuhören, zuhören, zuhören und zwar auf allen Ebenen. Die eigenen Gedanken loslassen, sich selbst aus der Kommunikation rausnehmen. Zuhören, aufmerksam sein und erspüren, was der Klient wirklich sucht und braucht. Und dann das eigene „Konzept“ anpassen.

Showing genuine interest in someone involves: *adjusting your body posture to face them with a similar stance * being relaxed like you have all the time in the world * having no personal agenda - not trying to take the conversation anywhere. * listening, repeating the odd word but not adding different words * asking an occasional question for more detail * allowing space for them to think or come up with more.

Coaching is about communication. Communication is about listening. Listening is about attending. Attending is about caring! 😉

It's very crucial to build trust and rapport even before closing the prospect as a client. It's also very crucial to be genuinely interested in guiding the client to come up with their solutions and move their focus from problems to solutions.

In my experience, the most important step in building a strong coaching relationship is to be authentic. Building a trusting connection takes time and energy and it can only happen when you bring our authentic self to the table. You can do that by sharing your own experience, your ups and downs, every success and failure, anything that is relevant to your client and can create that rapport. Always be consistent in this approach, as any lack of authenticity will be felt by the client and it can shed doubt on the relation. Trust is gained through authenticity and real presence that comes from it, so a great coach should keep this in mind in order to have a successful process.

If you want to build a strong relationship, one fundamental thing is to be authentic. But authenticity is something cannot happen if you aim or desire. You need to let go off yourself and your ego. You should not forget, the coachee is the focused person in coaching relationship. You don’t need to prove anything or pretend as someone else as a coach. Consistency and sincerity is key and your genuine interest to your client and their issue is compulsory to build trust and strong relationship.

I recommend interviewing 3 coaches before deciding who is the right coach for you, as connection is important for both parties. A few years back a coach colleague asked if she could add me to her list. "Love to." At the end, she asked when she could start. Knowing that she had already interviewed 3 others, I was curious as to what made her decide that quickly. "Your humanness" she replied. "You're not reading from a sales script and are genuinely interested in what I want from coaching." I trialled many approaches in that initial call with prospects, only to discover the best way to connect with people is be yourself. Be honest with what you can offer and if that doesn't match their needs, that's great clarification for both of you!

Being 100% authentic is the key as they are buying you, your confidence, and tools to assist them in achieving what they want. Sharing vulnerability about your past challenges and how you overcame them also connects a common thread of trust. As coaches; it's never about us as we are there for them. However, be authentic while not being afraid of asking the right and tough questions for them to get clarity of where they are in their own growth journey.

Trust starts with a genuine smile, positive regard, and active listening based in curiosity about who your client is as a human being. And deepening that trust continues throughout every coaching session and throughout the duration of the whole coaching relationship.

Healthy criticism and honest feedback is the crucial component of growth in a coaching relationship. Acknowledgment of coachee small steps towards their goal and celebrating with them does not only reinforce posts its or behaviour but also ensures consistency and motivation on the coachee part . The feedback also involves authentic analysis from the coach to support the coachee on their path to progress

I prefer constructive feedback: with positive points with points to develop And finally development plan This approach is valuable for client and for sure could be first step in transformation.

Positives Feedback ist selbstverständlich hilfreich, wenn es angepasst ist und nicht nur gegeben wird, weil man es vermeintlich geben sollte. Manchmal ist es ein konstruktives Feedback, manchmal ein stärkendes, motivierendes Feedback und manchmal ein Entwicklungsimpuls.

Perguntas que podem ser feitas para avaliar a qualidade do feedback e da Comunicação: Pergunte em todas as reuniões/sessões Como foi e está sendo o feedback entre o coach e o cliente. A comunicação é eficaz e aberta ao longo do processo.? É possivel avaliar através da percepção e observação as mudanças nos comportamentos do cliente? As mudanças são sustentáveis a longo prazo?.

Todo feedback é sempre positivo. Inclusive, deveria também ser realizado este procedimento no momento da demissão trabalhista como forma de informar, principalmente, os pontos de melhorias. Se o feedback tem tanto poder no momento da demissão imagina no momento em que se está fazendo Coaching Education? O primeiro contato com a(o) nova(o) Coachee tem a finalidade de informar o que é o Coaching; logo, além de criar rapport serve para aumentar a autoestima, a motivação e a satisfação. Portanto, ao invés da(o) Coach dar o feedback faça o contrário, peça ao Coachee dar o feedback de como foi a sessão e também como foi em relação ao Coach isto aumenta em muito a conexão e reforça o grau de comprometimento.

Gleich zu Beginn sollte ausgelotet werden ob coach und coachee eine gute Beziehung aufbauen können. Ein Coach muss von Anfang an authentisch sein. Natürlich ist Vertrauen aufbauen Arbeit. Aber eine grundsätzliche Sympathie muss von beiden Seiten aus gegeben sein um daran arbeiten zu können

Durante la sesión es importante tanto la igualación de gestos y palabras como la igualación semántica para reflejar (espejear) al cliente y se de cuenta de lo que esta haciendo y pensando, pero también para crear el ambiente de confianza en la sesión. El uso del humor puede ayudar al cliente cuando sus metaprogramas usan palabras como siempre, nunca, todos, nunca, para que se de cuenta de y pueda modificar y flexibilizar. También al inicio de la sesión es adecuado pedir permiso para retarlo o incomodarlo de manera que cuando use estas herramientas el Coachee este preparado. Este es un principio de la PNL, cuando nos ponemos serios nos ponemos tontos.

The first step is to design your coaching relationship in every necessary aspect for both parties. You can do it through a design meeting or exchange of very detailed contact too.

At the start of the coaching session, you must show keen interest by actively listening to your client. Focus on what they are saying without interrupting. Encourage your client to share more about themselves by asking open-ended questions. This helps create a conversational atmosphere and allows your new client to express him/herself more freely. Also pay attention to your body language. Maintain eye contact, use open and welcoming gestures, and convey warmth. In order to make your client at ease and frank to share more, acknowledge and celebrate your client's achievements, no matter how small. Remember, building rapport is an ongoing process, and it may take time to fully establish a strong connection with your coaching client.

Mirroring is an important element of Coaching to comfort the client and help them be open to accepting change. Though the coaching strategies might be the same for every client but the tone of delivery definitely has to be personalized.

When building a relationship with a client, honesty is the best approach. Be honest about your expertise - don’t disrespect your client/potential client by implying you have qualifications or expertise you do not have. Be hones about your expectations of the effort you expect from them - if you expect them to take actions between sessions and report back, let them know up front. This will help them realize the nature of the commitment they are making. Create an open and honest communication channel by letting them know you want their honest feedback about how the coaching sessions are working for them so that you can change your approach if necessary.

For me, the relationship with the client starts well before we begin 1:1 coaching calls. I take the time to get to know them (sometimes months) before we decide that my work is what they need to advance their career. I give my potential clients unlimited opportunities to interact with me before they commit to themselves with a coaching relationship. These interactions take the shape of linkedin relationships, webinar connections, email opportunities. I love my approach because I love my (current and future) clients!

At our Holistic Life, Career and Executive Coach Training we like to remind our students of the 3 points of trust based on the Core Competencies of the International Coaching Federation (ICF): *Trust in yourself (as a coach) *Trust in your client (they are experts at their lives), and *Trust in the coaching process (industry-proven, rooted in rudaments of coaching)

Always be very open and clear with your client , create healthy boundaries and keep checking on them throughout the process . This is a great way to build psychological safety for them.

The first thing I do with any coaching client is establishing working agreement that sets expectations for both of us. It is fundamental so we can have an honest conversation when those agreements are not met.