How to Use Client Feedback for Effective Coaching Check-Ins

Angie: 00:00:01

Hey everybody, it's Angie John and I have been talking about what

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would be most beneficial for you all.

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how do we keep this going and how

do we keep bringing the value?

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And really what we've talked about

is there's always a business thing.

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There's always some business.

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to practice or experience that

we have that we can bring into

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our recordings with you for you.

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but you know what, like our

experiences I think are so invaluable.

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Like that's what he and I really

kind of came to in, in terms of our.

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Hey, what do we do?

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how do we really bring it?

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And it's to bring our experiences to you.

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And for me, one of the things that I think

a lot of coaches veer away from is making

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the client part of the big equation.

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So let me explain.

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What do I mean by that?

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One of the things I learned with a company

that I used to work for, they used to do

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like metrics after every single session

that were sent to the client to rate

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the session, which I think is great.

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I love a rating system.

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It was quick and easy,

zero to 10, which is.

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To me the most visual that you can give

to somebody, so that was happening and

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that was a great way for the company

to keep their finger on the pulse.

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What's going on, how is it going?

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Not waiting until, and

this is the key, right?

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Not waiting until the 11th hour.

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So even in my own business, I decided

that it's very important for me to

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empower the client to be part of the

equation, be part of their own journey.

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We have to listen to them beyond,

what do we think we have to do?

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what are their challenges,

what are the blind spots, and

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that's all very important.

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Obviously that's the.

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In and out of, of how we

coach what we're looking for.

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I think though, interestingly is sometimes

we miss certain signals and because we

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don't do a check-in, we wait and I hope

that you're doing something if you know,

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at the end of an engagement, sending out

some type of a survey to them and say,

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Hey, I want you to be completely honest.

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it's not to give myself a pat on the

back or for you to pat me on the back.

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these are the tools that I, as a coach

use to be better, to just become better.

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Now, obviously as a coach.

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We should all be doing things

actively and consistently that

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are going to expand us as coaches.

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At the same time, we have to listen

to the market and the market.

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Those are the people that were, that

are had chosen to already work with us.

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They've already put their faith

into us and hopefully Right.

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We're hopefully giving them.

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A great return on their investment

because they're looking for that.

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This is their money, their income,

their hard earned cash, if you will,

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and that's what they're looking for.

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So what are the practices?

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I mean, I think first of all,

putting some type of metric into

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practice be before the end is.

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Like just, it's just the no-brainer.

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It should be done.

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Now does that mean that you do a rating

at the end of every session, perhaps?

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Do you do it perhaps like, a third

in thirds, like, at the thir third

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of the way through, two thirds,

and then you're finally at the end.

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And, and why do we do that?

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You can do that.

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You can do anything you want.

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you can do a halfway point depending if

they have like a, a shorter engagement.

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I do think the longer the engage.

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The more often you should have the

check-ins, even if it's just, five

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minutes and you say, Hey Angie, hey John.

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I just wanted to reach out before

we, before we end today's session.

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It's really important for me to know

what really resonates, with you.

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Do you like the more cheerleading?

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Do you, do you want me to be

a little more tough on you?

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a little more probing.

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Ask them what they want.

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They may still not yet

know, and that's okay.

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And just say, be prepared to talk

about that at our next session.

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I think in the moment it's

hard for people to answer.

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So if you give them these kind of probing.

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Questions at the end of a session

and say, and just be prepared.

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I'd like to discuss that for five minutes

when we come into our next session.

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It's really important

that we empower them.

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That's what you will be doing.

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So again, you could, you

could send them a zero to 10.

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Hey, how much did you

love the session today?

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I mean, I, I don't use love a lot

when it comes to, my sessions.

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If you, just not my word, but

there are other words that you

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can use just to get the gauge.

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And it can change.

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So if you wanted to do something

every week, you could actually ask

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a different question every week.

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how empowered were you?

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How challenged did you feel?

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How uncomfortable did you

feel in our session today?

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What was the greatest aha for you today?

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So again, I'm just, I'm kind of rambling

off just some obvious questions and the

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reason that I think there's a value in

asking a different question every week is,

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and you wanna be very strategic about it.

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You don't wanna just randomly pick

questions, but you want to start

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getting that broader idea of what

is actually helping the client.

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They may not know, they are not,

well, maybe they are, but generally

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they are not coaches themselves.

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And even if they are, that

self-awareness is, is challenging

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because we're always human first.

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So.

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Maybe that is a way that you could do

it, is to ask some questions to ensure

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that they are part of the process,

that you are truly understanding them.

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Why?

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Well, I would say this.

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There's nothing worse as a coach to

hear at the end of any engagement.

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I don't care if it's, done on a monthly

basis and you see them once a month for

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a year or it's a million sessions, like

I'm exaggerating, but it doesn't matter.

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The worst thing that can happen is you

come to the end of the, of the engagement

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and they said, this was good, but, or

This was great, but I really valued this.

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But, but what We should be making

sure that at the end there is

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no, but that there's an, and

this was great and this is why.

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and now that doesn't mean that

there is an opportunity for them

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to do more, grow more, all of that.

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And you wanna make sure that

we're, you're incorporating that.

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John and I had, we did a

recording last year around that.

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Like, how do you get people to re-enroll?

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Without it being like salesy, pitchy.

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I mean, we all know as coaches,

there's always, always room to

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grow and it doesn't matter, right?

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The, I always say this, the

horizon's always moving.

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So if that's the truth, then

we need to understand that.

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There's always that opportunity.

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So with that in mind, and not to

turn their necessity of coaching

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into like a gimmicky, salesy

thing, I, I'm just not that person.

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Bad, very bad.

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But that's another, that's another

recording for another time.

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But it's okay to look for

the challenges and say.

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if, if you're coming to that final

session, if you had more coaching ahead

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of you, what would you love to focus on?

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What would be your primary focus given

the journey we've already been on?

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Because hopefully they're not

at session X, Y, Z, right?

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The end of the engagement.

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That they, they, they're grown since

then and they have a, a broader

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lens from which they are looking at

themselves, their lives, whatever.

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So we wanna make sure we stay in touch

with that and we want to intentionally

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put them in touch with that.

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I think that's really the key.

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I think that's the most important

piece, is letting them feel

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like I am still the authority.

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I am still the PACE car.

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I'm still the coach.

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I'm the expert.

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but at the same time, letting

them know that they are being

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heard and it's not just you.

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Like, well, I think this is what everybody

needs, so this is the program I follow.

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There is value in that.

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There's definitely value in specifically

planned out topics for sessions.

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But again, this is an opportunity

to give them the rein.

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So give them one, right?

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You hold one, they hold one, and.

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Allowing them to be a part

of their own outcomes.

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So I'm curious, as to what people do.

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Do they actually do this?

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Do they do any type of metric?

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I believe metrics are invaluable.

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And I, again, we can even talk

about other ways in another, in

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an, in another episode, we can talk

about ways to, kind of analyze.

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How well the coaching is actually

going beyond saying, Angie, that

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was great and I loved it and it was

all of these wonderful things, like

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we wanna put some more specific.

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Metrics to that.

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So we'll talk about that another time.

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But I think for today I've covered it.

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It's just really empowering your client

to be a part of their outcome, be a

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part of their own story, and asking

the right questions so that you are

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create, helping them to even understand

how to create challenge for themselves.

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That sounds a little crazy too, right?

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Why are we trying to create challenge

when we're trying to, address challenge?

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Because it's just never ending.

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There's always something,

someplace new to step.

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So I love it.

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I would love to hear back from

you, what do you do as coaches?

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Do you, as a new coach, is there

anything that you've already

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thought about as a seasoned coach?

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Are there opportunities

that you might have missed?

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I wanna hear the good, the

bad, and the ugly on this.

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Like, how do you know

it's really going well?

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Because I do believe that

co, that clients only know.

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What's right in front of them, and

it's our job, our responsibility to be

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able to help them also see the entire

engagement from a different lens.

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So, would love to hear back.

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Talk to you soon.

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Speaker 3: Do you have a

question for the coaching clinic?

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Speaker 4: Reach out on LinkedIn

to connect with Angie and John.

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Speaker 3: Leave us a voicemail

or video message and we will

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feature you on the show.

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Speaker 4: You can also leave

up to 92nd voicemail for

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free on www.speakpipe.com/the

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Coaching Clinic podcast.

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Speaker 3: We'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 4: See you next time.

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Speaker 3: Bye for now.