5 Coaching Styles and how you can use them to positively impact your clients
Coaching and mentoring is a one-on-one relationship between a coach and client; the person being coached, and a coach who helps them improve their performance. This relationship provides direction, support, and accountability in various aspects of life.
As a professional coach, understanding different coaching styles will help you to be more effective when working with your clients.The mindset of your coaching style determines if you are more of a leader or interested inbuilding more trusting relationships.
Knowing this may help you learn how to reach the type of people that are not open to the approach of your coaching style.
It's common to be taught that coaching is a one-size-fits-all thing, but in this article, we'll explore the five different coaching styles and explain to you how you should consider making your own style a unique blend of the ones that work for your clients instead of relying on a one-style-fits-all approach.
The Five Coaching styles
The Autocratic Coaching Style
The Autocratic style is ideal for use in a business setting with one clear goal to achieve. Autocratic coaching helps to create a positive experience where you lead with openness and transparency, while also giving your team more room to participate
- resulting in a more confident and productive organisation that other styles do and, therefore, should be used (if at all) when there isn't much wiggle room for changing course or direction.
The coach sets the goal and creates an action plan, and the coachee needs to stick to it.The order is top-down from the coach, and most situations have little room for discussion or changing course. This creates an oppressive environment where the coachee doesn't have much say in what happens.
This is generally used by sports coaches and team managers and in other areas like higher education as it's focused solely on reaching a particular result.
The Holistic Coaching Style
Holistic life coaching means helping you look at your coachee’s life as a whole and identify growth areas.
It is the most commonly used style by life coaches who help their clients share anything, even the most sensitive issues and help them see the correlations between the different areas of their lives.
Holistic coaches look at the whole person, focusing on their client’s separation between work and personal lives. They assess professional, spiritual, and social aspects of a client's life and well-being.
Holistic coaching explores relationships, family, sexuality, and spirituality rather than just focusing on professional aspects. That's why you have a holistic style; you can organise the client's health data with a Holistic Coach by using the Dashboard and Access Services or any coaching software.
The Inspirational Coaching Style
An Inspirational coach is the cheerleader of coaches. They're almost always positive and help people see that their challenges are just moments to break through and become something more.
As a coach, you do this by helping your coaches assess the issues they face, deconstruct them, and then, together with you, come up with solutions to help them transform their attitudes into more positive ones in your coaching platform.
Doing this as a life coaching job will help your coachees curb feelings of fear, self-demotion, and anxiety.
An inspirational coach is a friend and advocate to help a coachee stay positive, patient and persevering through the times when it seems impossible to continue.
From making decisions about where to go and questioning why you are helping with the process of self-identification – an effective coach empowers you to take charge of your actions, leading you towards achieving your goals.
As a coach,you will also hold regular 'check-in' coaching sessions via online coaching, where your coaching clients will review their progress against agreed goals and objectives.
Because their coaching style is highly positive, it's a great fit for beginners who are also looking for a motivational boost in their lives.
The Solution-Oriented Coaching Style
A solution-oriented coach helps clients find solutions to any problem they might have. They aim to solve the problem with different resolutions and help the client decide on the best one.
A coachee will feel motivated and energised by positively directing energy, focusing on strengths, and working towards a solution.
Solutions Focused Coaching is a friendly and accessible coaching style that has been proven to work for almost any coaching challenges, including health, performance & well-being.
The Mindset/Transformational Coaching Style
This coaching style is about discovering your client’s limiting beliefs and other areas of their belief system that need more clarity.
By asking powerful questions, you help them see the bigger picture. You'll help empower them to discover answers to their most burning questions.
As a mindset coach, you won't simply offer solutions to what is going on in their life but instead, help them uncover the bigger picture so they can make their own choices on how they want it to turn out. This will empower them more than just having answers handed to them.
Working with a coachee gives you the space, insight, and guidance to discover your purpose and design a unique path to achieving it. But there are several different coaching styles, so which one’s right for you?
Can You Mesh Different Coaching Styles?
Yes, you can blend coaching styles.
You won't always know what's going on in your client's mind and body until they speak to you, but there are many ways to get a read on the MoFa (Motivating Factor) for wanting change.
Have some questions about their health, past experiences, and future goals. Take in every word they say, and don't miss a nuance in their voice or body language.
What Coaching Style Should I Use?
Coaching sessions can have several different focuses, so you need to decide what your focus should be.
Maybe your clients aren't struggling with personal development goals, but you want to help them navigate a challenging workplace environment or out-of-work life.
Or maybe they struggle with career indecision and don't know how to define success. Whatever their situation, continually evolving styles can help you guide them towards more productive outcomes.
Your Client
When you're coaching someone, you must understand their style and level of comfort. Some people love to vent, and some like a lighter approach.
In your discovery meeting, determine how your coachee wants to receive information and follow through with the coaching process accordingly.
You are going to be your coachee's coach, or counsellor. The role of a coach or counsellor is to help your coachee find solutions to problems. It's not about getting people to do things; it's about working together with people in order to learn how they can live their best lives.
For Example:
"What do I want in life?" is a question that can be answered in therapy.
You deal with feelings and emotions as they arise, rather than letting them build up inside you until they overwhelm you.
You grow as a person by finding ways to understand yourself better and resolve difficult situations. Whether you're coaching clients, helping them achieve their own goals, or working to improve and transform their organisation, coaching softwares can help.
As a coach, you work with your client to improve their project or program. You help them understand what they can change and how to improve.
As an organisational coach, you help the company’s leadership team communicate better and move the coaching company towards shared goals and values.
Focus on what matters most to your client and situation to find the best coaching style for you.
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The coach that has a good understanding of the client will be better able to make adjustments with client personnel as needed, maximising their chances for success.
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Look to Coaching Principles
For example, if you’re working as a professional coach or you’ve taken any coaching training before, these coaching principles probably aren’t new to you, but let’s have a recap of them, just in case.
So remember to always:
Request Consent
Make sure to ask permission before coaching your client. It's always great to check in with them before beginning a coaching session and make sure you are doing it in a comfortable environment without pressure.
Also, be sure to personally call them at the start of each session to confirm that you have permission, as this is also important for their emotional well-being.
Maintain Confidentiality
When you take an online coaching session with someone, the most intimate parts of their personality will likely come out. You need to understand and handle this information in the best way possible.
If you're coaching someone who was sexually abused or exploited by someone else, I’ll call the police on them instead of sharing the client's secret.
It isn't about violating confidentiality; it is about helping your clients get closure if they want revenge by harming their abuser.
Abstain from Making a Decision
During your coaching session, it's important to be non-judgmental. It can cause destructive and hard feelings, preventing people from getting their needed help.
Coach them through their feelings before you second guess them or tell them what they need to do,because, otherwise that is “judgement”.
Build a good rapport
Always focus on the client during a coaching session, especially when giving advice. Remember that you're not an expert, and they won't seek insights from you until they are ready.
Avoid pushing your thoughts or opinions down their throat because it can feel intimidating if they don't know much about it and aren't confident.
Always listen to and reflect on clients during conversations with them.
FAQs
Is There A Dividing Line Between Coach Types and Coaching Styles?
There are many coachees out there and a lot for you to consider.
To differentiate yourself from the crowd, pick any style that matches your personality and style.
If you are interested in becoming not just a coach but a brand identity who provides great value in your specific niche, check out our free online coaching course.
A coach must remember that there is no right or wrong coaching style.
Each style benefits different clients differently, and you may gravitate toward one style more than others without being sure why. It's natural to experiment with styles until you find the best fit for your client, which can take some time as you build momentum together as a coach.
No matter what style or combination you use, you'll be able to help all your clients improve faster with any of the coaching styles here:https://www.delenta.com/coach-blog-post/favouritefeatures
