Knowing what to do and doing it are not the same thing.
Insight and behavior change are two different things.
You know, you have an aspiration to exercise more, speak up in a meeting, or give feedback, and then don’t make it happen.
Understanding that distinction is one of the most useful things I can do as a coach for my clients.
Knowing how to help clients go from aspiration to action with less judgment and more compassion is part of what I do in coaching.
Clients repeat known behaviors because they are the mind and brain’s best bet for staying safe, accepted, based on prior experience.
For example, someone who avoids uncomfortable conversations might know avoidance doesn’t help, but when they need to address an issue with an employee, they hesitate.
They have become good at predicting that avoiding conflict is safe, through repeated experience where speaking up was frowned upon, or where conflict escalated.
So in coaching, we become curious about those predictions and assumptions.
What does this person expect will happen if they speak up?
Where did that expectation come from? Is it true?
How else could things unfold?
These questions make the client’s beliefs visible, so they can be examined, tested, and changed.
Emotions play a big part in behaviour change as well. Matthew Lieberman found that when participants in a study labeled the emotion they regulated their emotions more effectively.
When I help a client name what they are feeling at the moment, that is helping the client go from responding to regulating.
In their meta-analysis, “Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context”, Tim Theeboom, Bianca Beersma and Annelies E.M. van Vianen examined 18 studies about coaching.
The studies featured quantitative data, used professionally trained coaches with no formal authority over the client and took place in work or educational contexts.
Their results showed significant positive effects of coaching on:
- Performance and skills
- Well-being
- Coping
- Work attitudes
- Goal-directed self-regulation.
These findings show that coaching is an effective tool for improving the functioning of individuals in organizations.
Coaching works because it brings insight, it helps clients understand their thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and creates safety to do things differently.
What’s the thing you want to do, but keep putting off?
Message me and let’s make it happen.
Source:
Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context -Tim Theeboom, Bianca Beersma and Annelies E.M. van Vianen.
