What are the key steps to identifying problems in a coaching session?

1 Establish rapport

The first step to identifying problems in a coaching session is to establish rapport with your client. Rapport is the feeling of trust, respect, and understanding that creates a positive and supportive relationship between you and your client. Rapport helps you to create a safe and comfortable space for your client to open up and share their thoughts and feelings. To build rapport, you need to show genuine interest, empathy, and curiosity, use active listening and mirroring skills, and match your client's pace and style of communication.

3 Use the GROW model

The third step to identifying problems in a coaching session is to use the GROW model, a popular framework for structuring coaching conversations and facilitating problem-solving. The GROW model stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Way forward. It helps you to guide your client through the following stages: defining what they want to achieve and how they will measure their success; assessing the current situation and the gap between where they are and where they want to be; generating and evaluating possible solutions and strategies to close the gap and overcome obstacles; and agreeing on a specific action plan and committing to taking the necessary steps. By using the GROW model, you can identify problems in a coaching session by focusing on outcomes, facts, choices, and actions.

4 Provide feedback

The fourth step to identifying problems in a coaching session is to provide feedback to your client. Feedback is the information you give to your client about their performance, behavior, or attitude, based on your observations, impressions, or evidence. Feedback helps you to reinforce what your client is doing well, highlight what they need to improve, and suggest how they can do it. To provide effective feedback, you need to be clear, specific, constructive, and timely. You also need to balance positive and negative feedback, and use the sandwich technique, which consists of sandwiching a negative feedback between two positive ones.

5 Check for understanding

The fifth step to identifying problems in a coaching session is to check for understanding with your client. Checking for understanding is the process of verifying that your client has understood what you have said, what they have said, and what you have agreed on. Checking for understanding helps you to avoid misunderstandings, confusion, or miscommunication, and to ensure that your client is on the same page as you. To check for understanding, you can use techniques such as paraphrasing, summarizing, asking for confirmation, or asking for feedback.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?