Coach the Person Not the Problem: A Simple Guide to Coaching for Transformation

by Chad Hall

The point of the book you’re reading is simple: where the coach focuses his or her attention determines the power of the coaching conversation. Will the conversation produce no results, mediocre results, good results, or will it promote transformational growth?

To put it very bluntly, this style of coaching is built on the assumption that the coach is somehow smarter or more capable of solving the problem than is the client. The coach asks information-gathering questions because the coach needs the data from the client in order to solve the problem. The coach’s listening is tuned in to the problem because the coach is trying to figure it out and each question gathers one more important piece of the puzzle so the coach’s problem-solving brain can do its work.

While this approach can produce good results, there are also real drawbacks. The downside of this approach includes: The client will not have a high sense of ownership since she didn’t come up with the solution Since the solution came from the coach, it might be a poor fit for the client’s strengths, gifts, and overall reality The client doesn’t grow or develop or learn to solve her own problems

Many clients will just “go along” with suggestions from the coach, even if they know the suggested solutions aren’t right for them

This kind of coach might ask these kinds of questions: How significant is this for you? What about this is most challenging for you? How would you like things to be? What options can you create? How would one of your heroes handle this? What would you like to try?

Here’s some of what you can expect from this level of coaching: The client’s thinking gets a boost The client experiences a shift in perspective

The client formulates new and better options for solving the problem The client unleashes her best thinking on the problem The problem gets solved by the client The client grows in her ability to solve problems

However, it does have limitations: The client doesn’t really grow that much Incremental change occurs, but not transformational change Surface solutions get applied to deeper challenges The coaching can feel a bit mechanical or “by the book” and lack the flexibility and fluidity needed to respond well to the client Client emotions often get ignored or “solved” rather than explored

When you coach at this level you are sensitive to the fact that sometimes the goal of coaching isn’t just to solve a problem but to help the client grow, develop, and even transform. The hallmarks of this style of coaching include: The “problem” becomes a mirror for client self-reflection and growth The coach helps the client focus on herself

The coach invites the client to allow the problem to reveal new insights about herself The coach creates space for the client to experience “internal shifts”

Internal shifts could be: A change of attitude Dropping an old belief Picking up a new belief Seeing oneself differently Adopting a new identity Developing new forms of self-talk Establishing new boundaries Recognizing and dealing with tolerations (those distractions and destructions the client has just put up with instead of dealing with) Recognizing true values and giving them the attention they deserve Stirring up the motivation to make change stick

Coaches can help create space in a number of ways, including: Inviting the client to dwell on an idea or concept and really take time to notice all there is to notice Pressing the pause button on problem-solving and forward movement Noticing emotions and inviting the client to linger long enough on the emotion to name it and learn from it (more on this later) Using models, exercises, tools, and assessments to help the client look inwardly and learn about herself Going against the grain of the client’s typical thinking patterns

time to the example of the client who has a problem with her boss. Transformational coaches ask very different kinds of questions, such as these: What does this challenge stir up inside of you? How do you wish you could experience this? What does this reveal about you? It sounds like maybe a switch needs to flip inside you; what’s the switch? What has to change inside you in order for you to deal with this? Who do you need to be in order to do what you need to do? What new belief (value, strength, assumption, identity) is necessary? How does this change the story you’re living?

capacity to not only change her surroundings, but to change herself as well. This type of coaching produces dramatic results, including: The client learns about herself The client makes commitments related to personal change The client addresses personal beliefs, assumptions, tolerations, character, virtues, strengths, etc. The client makes internal shifts and develops the capacity to make additional internal shifts The client experiences the highest level of change: transformation

Not every coaching conversation is the right time for transformation and if all you do as a coach is try to foster transformation, your clients are likely going to fire you. After all, clients do want to solve problems and move forward. And even when there is transformation, that new person must show up in reality.

Be sure to help the client live her life out of the transformation she’s experienced. To do less will not only get you fired, but also will lessen the good in the client’s life and in the world. We coach in order to make the world a better place, so it would be a shame to get stuck in a transformation tailspin that never translated those inner shifts to the everyday life of the client.