Many executive coaches find it of immense benefit to hire a coach to develop business skills; to discuss client needs; to gain an additional perspective and to sharpen their coaching skills.
Another approach to improving your coaching skills and developing your coaching competencies is to search for the residual benefits in leadership coaching engagements.
Project after project, client after client, year after year - we tend to rely on our own tried and true methods and tools for engaging clients, coaching clients to achieve leadership development goals, and assessing the impact of our coaching endeavors.
From time to time, we all take courses, obtain additional accreditations and attend conferences as part of our coaching practice development goals.
However, when was the last time you took a few days and reviewed your client files; assessed what worked and what didn't; identified innovative approaches that might have provided a better outcome; or called former clients and asked them to identify the residual effects of the coaching program? Effective coaching is the gift that keeps on giving.
Checking back after three months, six months and one year and asking key questions will benefit your leadership coaching delivery in unimagined ways.
Some questions you may want to ask former clients include the following: o What additional or residual benefits have you noticed from our work together? o How are you now incorporating any breakthrough knowledge and acquired leadership competencies into the ways you lead on a daily basis? o Looking back, what additional needs did you have that we didn't address? o Have you coached others using some of the knowledge you gained from our work together? o Looking forward, what additional coaching might you need? Reconnecting with former clients and identifying the residual benefits of your coaching engagements may provide you with additional breakthrough insights into your coaching delivery and may also provide a way for you to re-engage with former clients.