How can you evaluate your own biases as a life coach?

Awareness of any thoughts and feelings is a first step towards personal development. Confront it and check if it's real or artificial. Self Development is a life time project.

Recognising our own biases can be difficult because we are asking ourselves to look from outside-in. However, the biggest tell-tales are avoidance and dislike. For example, think of the last time you avoided speaking to someone or joining into a specific discussion or conversation - what did you feel? What was it about that person, discussion or conversation that made you feel you wanted to avoid it? By understanding the underlying reasons we can open up our own awareness to our biases, name them, and then start to dislodge them from our mind. If we are willing. If we want to!

Acknowledging and addressing biases is an ongoing process. As a life coach, I believe that self-reflection and creating a space for honest feedback from our clients can help us improve our basis.

Being a life coach means continually addressing biases. Self-awareness: Reflect on beliefs and preconceptions. Cultural competence: Learn about diverse backgrounds. Seek feedback: Listen to clients' perspectives. Lifelong learning: Stay updated on social issues. Accountability: Acknowledge and mitigate biases. Continuous bias evaluation empowers clients, ensuring inclusive and ethical coaching.

By having your own life coach. Nothing proves self-evaluation better than walking the walk and talking the talk. Any life coach without their own life coach is someone I'd highly question.

As a coach, you should never let judgement and biases interfere with the relationship you have with your clients. The key is in putting your biases in discussion by looking for what originated them and what still feeds them today. Once you do this, you will find out that the beliefs that limited you did not actually exist at all, except that in your own mind.

One common challenge new coaches face is resisting the urge to offer solutions or ask leading questions, and avoiding internal judgments thinking, "This is easy to resolve." Never belittle the client’s issues or objectives; the focus should always be on them, not us as coaches. For instance, avoid asking closed and leading questions like, "Is dealing with your narcissistic boss making you want to give up?" We won’t know how our clients feel until we inquire. A better question would be, "How do you feel about the recent incident at work?"

Another form of questioning is referred to as Socratic questioning. It's the basis of CBT and deals with looking at the belief and then questioning its validity. For example, I may have a dislike for cats (which I don't - let me clear on that), but I have no real memory or basis as to why I feel that way. By asking myself a variety of questions, such as: Where did I get that belief from? What evidence do I have to believe in that belief? What would be the consequence of not having that belief? I can begin to see another perspective, which begins to put doubt on the belief I currently hold about cats. The doubt is a bouncing board to overcome a belief.

The question is about bias. No matter how committed one is about removing one's own prejudiced beliefs, there will be an element of bias in our thinking. The professional response is to maintain discipline in being aware of this and taking account of the negative impact even as one works to dissolve it. The worst scenario is being blind to our bias - this is why supervision sessions are vital for a life coach, or at the very least, co - coaching sessions.

Before challenging the biases, remember that these biases were once upon a time adaptive and protective of you. Making the decision to let go of the biases can take some times because they have become a part of who you are. Be compassionate as you give yourself the permission to move forward without clinging on to these old biases. Find new narratives that are more appropriate for you now and identify how these new ones are more adaptive and supportive of what you want to achieve in the current season of your life.

Managing biases as a coach takes time. After recognizing your biases, consider what changes are needed in your approach to coaching clients on these matters. A person from a challenging family background may empathize more with clients trying to mend family relationships. However, unchecked biases can hinder progress, leaving both coach and client stuck. If necessary, temporarily pause coaching certain clients if biases clash with your values. Take this time to reflect and make necessary adjustments to your coaching practice.

When you do notice a belief re-emerging, go back to the method you used last time to overcome it. In other words, repeating the pattern to overcome the belief, reinforces the new belief in our mind. We strengthen the neural connections in our physical brain, which strengthen the belief. The same thing was occurring with the old belief, so why not use that already available process to strengthen the new one.

I think the first step here is to acknowledge that everyone has biases. Then, to be mindful that as a coach you need to be non-judgemental and ethical at all times. After each coaching session, I reflect on how the session went, how I felt and was there anything I feel I could do better. This is a constant evolving process, but one which I feel makes me a good coach as I am mindful of my own thought processes.

Here are some questions you can ask your clients or supervisors to help you learn from any potential biases: "What aspects of the coaching sessions do you find most beneficial?" "Are there areas in the coaching process you feel could be improved or modified?" "What specific skills or knowledge do you believe I could enhance to be a more effective coach?" "Do you feel that my coaching approach is supportive and client-centered?" "Is there anything you feel is missing from our coaching sessions that could help you progress further?"

In the event that you have been called out by your clients for imposing your own biases unintentionally, be bold to apologise and also extend self-compassion and kindness. What is more important is to learn from the mistakes and grow from it. Beating oneself up for something that you weren’t aware of is unfair. Humility and the courage to move forward after having learned the lessons will allow you to be a more competent and understanding coach.

Asking myself "what did I assume about this client" and further reflecting on how my assumptions may have influenced my coaching or the types of questions I asked is a critical component of my personal practice and development as a better human, and ultimately as a Coach. These practices help me uphold one of my professional and personal priorities of staying curious and in service of the client.

First step is to identify your biases. This can be achieved through self-awareness and reflecting on your thoughts, feelings and actions. Once we identify our biases, try to figure out the root cause. Ask questions to yourself and figure out your own answers. It's difficult to deal with unconscious biases but with consistent efforts it can be achieved. Reverse engineer your beliefs and see everything from diverse perspectives. We can uncover many things when we genuinely try to help others solve their problems. So always try to help others selflessly.

Don’t ignore your biases; be mindful of them, but don’t be too hard on yourself when you notice them. No coach is perfect, but what’s crucial is to remain open to continuous learning and growth, and to address biases throughout your coaching journey.

To manager biases, life coaches, who impact people's live, must work on their own belief systems and values. Understanding oneself is the first step to understanding our strengths and challenges that come in the way of being a great coach. Beliefs and values are the roadmaps that every human has, navigating their lives through those markers. These beliefs are necessary to move ahead, feel confident and yet these can also become roadblocks to success. Checking our reactions, to know where they are coming from is a good way to check on our biases.

Evaluating biases as a life coach is crucial for unbiased guidance. Insightful techniques help in this process. Self-reflection is the cornerstone; regularly questioning preconceived notions about different groups, fosters self-awareness. For me, engaging in diverse learning by attending workshops and seeking varied perspectives to expand my knowledge and recognise hidden biases. I encourage receiving client feedback, as it offers unique insights into your approach, helping unveil unintentional biases. I believe that by applying these techniques, you can continually evaluate and address biases, resulting in a more inclusive and effective coaching practice, enhancing your client relationships and ensuring impartial guidance.

First step for coaches or anyone to curb their biases and create effective changes and relationship is to identify the biases. Ways I like to use to identify my own biases include: 1) Take inventory when the words or phrases I use are being corrected or challenged by my audience. This could mean I was bringing my assumption to the situation when it's being perceived differently. 2) Be mindful when I use close ended or leading questions which could mean I was unintentionally taking the conversation to a certain direction. For example, instead of saying "did not being recognized make you sad?", say "what feelings come up when you weren't being recognized?" 3) Observe and reflect on how my audience react for cues of potential biases.