Your coachee is facing personal barriers to change at work. How can you help them break through?

To help your coachee overcome personal barriers to change at work, start by helping them identify the specific obstacles they face. Clarifying these barriers makes it easier to tackle them effectively. Encourage setting achievable, incremental goals to create a sense of progress and momentum. Foster a growth mindset, promoting a positive attitude towards learning and adapting. Emphasize the importance of developing a support network, including seeking feedback and guidance from colleagues and mentors. Finally, encourage regular reflection on progress and adaptability, allowing them to make necessary adjustments along the way.

To help a coachee break through personal barriers to change at work, first identify the specific obstacles they face, then set clear, achievable goals. Develop actionable strategies together, focusing on leveraging their strengths and building confidence. Provide ongoing support and encouragement, and regularly evaluate progress to ensure they stay on track and adjust plans as needed.

Ask your client some initial questions to get an idea about where they feel stuck and why. Afterwards, you can use probing questions to dig deeper and really find the root cause. Challenge them to ask themselves "why". Example: 'I don't like talking in meetings.' 'Why?' 'I don't want to take up time?' 'Why would it take up time?' 'Because people might want to go home quick.' 'Could you ask them if they wouldn't mind if you shared something quickly?' 'Yes.' 'Can you try that out in the next meeting and let me know how it goes?' 'I guess. Why not?' See, asking probing questions can help you get to the root cause and ultimately benefit your client. This is just a simple example of many! Feel free to find other ways.

It takes a team effort to support, mentor, and motivate a coachee to overcome personal obstacles to change at work. The following are some tactics to help people get past these barriers: Build Confidence: To create a safe atmosphere where your coachee feels comfortable talking about their struggles, establish a trustworthy relationship with them. Determine Obstacles: Collaborate to pinpoint certain individual obstacles impeding their capacity for transformation. Establish Specific Objectives: Work together with your coachee to establish attainable goals for getting through these obstacles. Offer Materials or Resources: Assist your coachee in overcoming these obstacles by providing materials, tools, or resources.

Identifying barriers is crucial in coaching. Start by asking your coachee open-ended questions to understand what’s holding them back. For example, if they say, "I don’t like talking in meetings," ask why. They might respond, "I don’t want to take up time," leading to further probing: "Why do you think it takes up time?" This can uncover underlying concerns, such as thinking others want to leave quickly. Suggest practical steps, like asking colleagues if a quick comment is okay. This approach not only helps identify the root cause but also builds confidence. Regular check-ins and adjustments ensure continued progress and support.

Once you have found the barriers and the cause of them, ask your client about their strengths. Then you can have them choose which barrier to work on first based on importance and priority. Ask them how they can use their strengths to overcome the obstacle. You can use a goal setting activity, decision making activity or both from your coaching toolkit to help them get started. This is just one way of many that you can help.

To set goals effectively, ensure they are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Collaborate with your coachee to define clear objectives that align with their personal values and professional aspirations. Break larger goals into manageable steps, and establish a timeline with milestones to track progress. This structured approach will provide clarity, motivation, and a sense of accomplishment as they work toward overcoming barriers.

Play on your client's strengths. You can have them go through a change-fear activity. Ask them what's the worst that could happen. Next, ask "then what?" How can it be prevented? If the worst case did happen, what would be your next step to regain control of the situation and move forward? This is a good strategy for creativity and overcoming fear of the unknown and general fear. This is just a start, there are more strategies and ways you can help of course.

Help your coachee establish a gratitude practice. If they stick with this habit, it will help them shift their perspective in powerful ways. We have found that this relatively simple daily step can have a transformative impact on our clients' professional and personal lives.

I have always found that journaling helps with self-reflection. Penning your thoughts is a great way to understand ourselves better. One can easily understand things while they are on paper rather than in one's head. Doing this daily can help them overcome barriers easily. When things are on paper, they are just problems to solve. But when things are in one's head, it adds emotion to the mix, making it more complex.

A couple of years ago, I coached a nurse who was struggling with confidence after returning from a career break. At first, she was hesitant to take on new responsibilities, fearing she wasn't up to the task. However, with consistent encouragement and regular goal-setting, she began to see her potential again. As she continued to grow, we adjusted her goals to match her increasing confidence and skill level. She began taking on more complex projects and even started mentoring new nurses herself. Our regular check-ins became a space for her to reflect on her progress and set new challenges. Maintaining momentum isn't just about pushing forward; it's about recognizing and celebrating every step of the journey.

In addition to setting SMART goals, encourage your coachee to develop self-awareness by reflecting on their strengths, weaknesses, and triggers. Foster a growth mindset to help them view challenges as opportunities for growth. Identify and utilize available resources, mentors, and support networks. Emphasize the importance of flexibility, being open to adjusting goals and strategies as circumstances change. Establish regular check-ins to maintain accountability and ensure continued progress.

Discussion and brainstorming with them will help to understand the barriers and bring confidence in them showing empathy whenever needed and give them time if they need to adapt.