When’s the last time you called your doctor’s office to tell them that the treatment worked and you’re no longer ill?
My guess is you’ve probably never done that (unless it was a very complex disease and the line of treatment was uncertain, which merits to help the doctor learn what worked and what didn’t).
Since so many coaches struggle with the uncertainty of not knowing whether their clients got what they needed from a coaching session, our supervision group loved Ally’s analogy above.
What can we learn here?
First of all, you may choose to trust that your clients take what they need from the work, and that we tend only to hear from them when things don’t work out as expected. Generally, the expectation is that the coaching is effective, so “no news” is “good news” (as my parents used to say while I was away on holiday as a teenager).
Also, if you’re in doubt, you can simply ask your clients!
Take stock, request feedback, check into your contract!
Is there anything we can do more of, less of, differently? Are you getting what you need from the coaching? How did [x] go based on what discussed during our last session? Is this a good use of our time?
And hey, maybe it’s time to explore your relationship with uncertainty, which existential(ly minded) coaches and supervisors love to do 🙂
With Love
Yannick
P.S : Can you help me identify the challenges and questions you are currently facing in your coaching journey. I am thinking of putting some resources together and your input will really help me understand how I can best serve you.
New content: Coaching Uncaged with Ilona Boniwell
It was the year 2007 when a young psychology student approached his module leader asking about that one and only masters programme in the world that would allow you to study the science of what’s RIGHT with people.
“That Ilona lady” didn’t mean anything to me back in the day, but it turned out she had just started the first European MSc in Applied Positive Psychology, which shaped the my future path significantly.
Fast forward 17 years and I’m happy to run into Ilona regularly at conferences, we’ve worked together to create a module for the acclaimed ACIC (https://bit.ly/CoachingCertificate), celebrated my 40th birthday together, and I finally managed to sit her down for an extended podcast conversation on why PosPsych is such a wonderful foundation for coaching, proudly produced by Animas Centre for Coaching.
You can watch or listen to our conversation.
And if you’re not convinced yet that this is worth listening to, consider that Professor Ilona Boniwell
-wrote or edited seven books and multiple scientific articles,
-delivered over 150 keynotes and invited presentations,
-teaches at l’Ecole Centrale Paris and HEC Business School,
-founded the European Network of Positive Psychology,
-used to head the International MSc in Applied Positive Psychology (I-MAPP) at Anglia Ruskin University and the MSc in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of East London,
-organised the first European Congress of Positive Psychology (2002), and was the first vice-chair of the International Positive Psychology Association.
“Ilona is passionate about practical applications of positive psychology to coaching, business and education. Her own individual and group coaching clients have included executives and internal coaches from L’Oreal, Microsoft, SNCF, EDF, Sanofi, Bull, Mars, Eric Bompard, Microsoft, BNP Paribas, Sanofi, Sodexo and many others. Nowadays, as a director of Positran, a boutique consultancy specialising in the applications of evidence-based methodologies to achieve lasting positive transformation, Ilona delivers advanced professional training in positive psychology. She has developed her own approach to positive psychology coaching and training and trained thousands of professionals around the world (Japan, Singapore, China, Dubai, South Africa, Portugal, France, UK etc.) She further worked for the Government of Bhutan to develop a framework for happiness-based public policy at the request of the UN. Currently, she consults the Prime Minister’s Office of Dubai around the development of the toolkit for workplace positivity and organisational well-being assessment.”
