Encouraging Change

Coaching is all about encouraging change.  Whether it is to help a client change an attitude, hurtful actions, limiting beliefs or destructive relationship, it all comes down to our ability as a coach to encourage change in our clients.  Every coach who is a reflective practitioner wants to be the catalyst for positive change.  Often clients will need to make a change just to experience the effect of change.  As their coach we don’t get to make judgments about our clients’ actions, so we will indeed have to let our clients make the good and the bad changes because we know that they will learn more from their experiences than they ever could from someone telling them what to do or not do.

Encouraging change is a very important part of coaching and can take place anywhere in the coaching process.  For those coaches who have and use a coaching model, it is often easier to engage in reflective practice which allows us to assess our effectiveness as coaches wanting to encourage change.  Everything we do as coaches in the coaching process should be geared toward empowering and encouraging our clients to move beyond their road blocks and to take action to move forward.  The process of thinking in and of itself is a vital exercise in encouraging change.

Encouraging Change is vitally important for all “people helpers” who make it their purpose to help others in a formal or informal way.  It is important for them to reflect on their actions and interactions with those they serve, to determine whether they are being effective at encouraging change.  Anyone can be a change agent but not everyone can encourage change without imposing themselves on the other.  If you are a professional who wants to explore the concept of encouraging change, please consider attending our Encouraging Change Coaching Workshop on June 15, 2009.

Workshop Details

The Life Coaching Centre is holding an Encouraging Change Coaching Workshop on June 15, 2009 from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.  This workshop is also available in a teleseminar format for those of you outside of Winnipeg.

Workshop Cost is $115.00 plus GST       Pay here

Workshop Description: If you are interested in improving your ability to encourage change in your clients and in your staff at work, children or spouse, this coaching workshop will help you create inspired dialogue to do so.  Learn how to inspire change without causing harm or “entering the other” without their consent.  The three hour workshop will include strategies, tools and coaching practice to help you master the art of encouraging change in your clients.

To download the workshop outline or to get a pdf registration form go here.

Forgiveness Versus Reconciliation

Almost all us have been hurt or betrayed by the words, thoughtlessness, actions or inactions of another person.  This stirs up anger, frustration, and disappointment in us and often a sense of betrayal and a desire for revenge.  At times our hurt is so deep we decide to expel that person off from our life.  Often the ones who cause us the greatest pain are the ones we have trusted the most, hence the depth of our hurt, distrust, resentment and feeling of betrayal.

It is safe to say that this is the case for many individuals and coaching clients. Most are looking for ways to move forward in their lives, to overcome obstacles such as past hurts as they strive to grow or to set and reach new goals. Many are unaware that forgiveness of past hurts could be the key to their moving forward and reaching their goals. The coaching process provides an excellent structure to help clients assess the cause of their roadblocks and to examine issues of forgiveness and other “Underlying  Commitments” that may be holding them back.

Acknowledgement is a very important coaching tool to help clients with issues of forgiveness and reconciliation.  Acknowledgement of past hurts and the resulting perspectives and shift in thinking can be addressed in the coaching process if the purpose is not to relive but to move forward.  This can be instrumental in helping clients become aware of the various stages of grief and their need to acknowledge and move forward to a place of personal reconcilement with the past. When done well this may lead to forgiveness for self and at times even reconciliation of the relationship.

1. Are you struggling with issues of forgiveness? 
2. Is it holding you back?
3. Do you want to move on from your past?