How do you establish rapport and trust with your clients?

Things you can do to show your actively listening is putting away any distractions and making eye contact to show that you're fully engaged in the conversation.

Most definitely. I have also found it useful to take very brief notes to remind me of anything said. This is so important. And also keeping the client on track. Especially when a particularly difficult question is asked, I have found many clients actually start talking about something else to escape from the issue. Great listening, care and empathy is required to bring the conversation back into focus and on track.

In my experience, be fully present for what is shared verbally and non verbally. Do not anticipate response. Listen holistically to what is being said and how, body language, eye contact etc

I often make notes of what feelings/issues/values clients struggle most most to communicate. The ones clients rush to get past, like hope you don't pay attention to this thing. Sometimes those are goals the clients wishes to achieve but doesn't believe possible. Worth exploring.

As Judge Judy says, "You have two ears for listening, and one mouth. Put your listening ears on." Great approach and so true. As a coach, listening means more than listening. It means hearing what your client is saying, realising what your client is not saying, watching their body language, being non judgemental and open. How can you help your client if you haven't identified from their chat and body language, what's going on. Without understanding that, there is no forward, or sideways moves going to happen for your client.

One thing I find helpful is to acknowledge the other person's feelings, validate their experiences, offering reassurance explaining that they don't have to go through any situation alone and offer practical support such helping navigate their surroundings or introducing them to others who can offer support.

Eye contact is definitely part of this. And also head nodding with a mouthed yes has been useful for me. We should never listen with judgement. Being part of the mind body spirit community, I never listen to problems with judgement. That would mean I am not showing empathy to the client. This is so important. Also showing you care by letting the client know you are beginning to see what they have been through and getting a sense of what they have been through. With my history which has given me a good share of traumatic circumstances, I can usually bring something up in my life that would compare to the clients issues.

As a Life Coach, establishing trust and creating a safe space for your client to open-up is crucial to allow genuine empathy to be felt. Sincerely taking an interest in what your client is saying to you, how they are saying it, reading their body language, whilst keeping ‘dissociated’ is a great way of 'bonding' with your client. It creates a feeling of safety for them so they can be their authentic self. Empathy is the ‘sand which surrounds the rocks’ and paves the way for a fantastic coaching session.

Finding the right balance between sharing and oversharing is a personal choice that will depend on your own comfort level and the situation. By considering your audience, sticking to the facts, sharing the highlights, giving others space to share, and practicing self-reflection, you can find the right balance and connect with others in a meaningful way.

To me, being authentic means many things including keeping your commitments, negotiating in good faith and being considerate, Transparency is also a key feature - nobody likes "hidden" costs, or getting tangled in the fine print of an agreement. Be up front about whatever you are discussing and remember no one is an expert in everything - it's okay to say, "let me look into that and get back to you," or, "How would you like to approach that?" Say what you mean, mean what you say. Show up on time, prepared and ready to do what's needed. Don't play being a figment of some authority's idea of what authentic means and also remember that NICE MATTERS! When you can demonstrate that, you will go a long way towards being credible.

Yes. I agree with this. I do this alot. I would also make this part of the empathy section. Being authentic in todays world is a necessity. With so many people stating things that they are not achieving, it is important to be honest and authentic. And always remember, you have two ears and one mouth. So you should always be listening more than talking. Keeping your dialogue short and punchy helps to keep this ratio in balance.

When I was training to be a Life Coach / NLP Master Practitioner, I was taught not to share my own life stories with my clients. Clients time with their coach is about them, not about the coach. I can see where you might want to add something personal to the conversation if it helps the client. However, oversharing is definitely not on the cards. Being authentic is about showing true interest in your client, listening to what they are saying, what they are not saying and watching their body language to decipher where you can help, as an authentic coach. This can be done without talking about yourself or your experiences.

I think it’s important to make it clear to your clients that coaches are not your therapists. Too many times we can go down the rabbit hole of becoming client’s psychological clutches if we don’t draw the boundaries. It is okay when that happens to do a timeout and redirect the conversation so that we as coaches can continue to exploratory questions. The focus is present not the past. That is the difference between coaching and therapy. Sometimes there’s too much time lapsed between coaching sessions. Clients must know what is a healthy frequency for coaching to be effective right off the bat.

Boundaries are so important. here. Because of my friendly nature, people tend to think I have become their friends. It has been difficult at the beginning of my coaching career, but now I do define the boundaries and keep a professional distance from people.

Boundaries are essential. I have a friend who says "Call me any time". That can be a problem. While most clients understand any time doesn't mean "all the time", some people need clear boundaries. Setting clear boundaries after the fact is much more difficult and can lead to losing the client.

I prefer to follow up immediately after a session with questions and possible activities before the next session so that my mind is still fresh on the conversation. This will also hold your client accountable for work that needs to be done to progress to the next session. I sometimes will throw in a source like a book, Ted talk or a podcast for additional information. At the beginning of the next coaching session I typically recap the previous discussion to bridge this session’s topic.

Emails are so easy to do after a session. I will reiterate the conversation down to key points and always congratulate the client on what they have done well. Also remind them on what they need to be focusing on for the week.

My approach is unconventional in that I teach more along the lines of self-help through online training rather than provide a personal service as a life coach. In my decades of life experience I have overcome many of the obstacles that folks are dealing with today, as those things never seem to change - just the people. The best life skill I learned through all of it was meditation, which is what helped me the most and something I can teach to thousands rather than a few. Time-wise, for a client it takes a minute to learn a simple meditation technique and then it's all about practice as the more one does it the stronger the effect. For me, my time is best spent in continuing to hone my skill and find real solutions to world problems.

I run an online course called the Dream Method along the coaching I give. This makes it a process of steps for the client to see how they are progressing. It works really well because of the landmarks the clients make on their journey.