The 21 Most Common Coaching Issues and How to Avoid Them (Part 3)
Are you having any of these common coaching issues? I’m sharing exactly what you need to do to handle these issues coaches commonly deal with so that you can become the best coach you can be.
Earning your income as a coach is a dream, but if you’re anything like me, you want to make sure that your dream does not turn into a nightmare coaching business. As a lawyer myself who helps coaches in all kinds of niches like you, I am sharing all the common coaching issues that you might be making and how you can handle them.
You will learn about the common coaching issues in all types of niches, including life, finance, and executive coaching, and help you fix these coaching issues today.
After learning about all the most common coaching issues, you’ll become the best coach you can be.
This post is all about the common coaching issues and how you can fix them so that you’ll turn your nightmare into a dream coaching business.
Common Coaching Issues
All the common coaching issues examples
This post is Part 3 of my 3-part series on coaching issues. If you haven’t already, make sure you read Part 1 and Part 2 first on the other 14 common coaching issues:
The 21 Most Common Coaching Mistakes and How to Avoid Them (Part 1)
The 21 Most Common Mistakes in Coaching and How to Avoid Them (Part 2)
#15 of the Common Coaching Issues: Misunderstanding a Client
The Mistake
One of the biggest coaching issues and something any coach will fear is misunderstanding a client’s goals, needs, or challenges. It will end up in wasted sessions, emotional exhaustion, bad results, and ultimately, unhappy clients and an unhappy coach.
The Solution
But there’s a simple solution to this that you can implement at the very start before a client even becomes a client: The solution lies in your onboarding process!
Not only should you use your onboarding process to weave out potential clients that would be a nightmare for you, but when utilised correctly, you can also use your onboarding process to get a crystal-clear vision of what your client wants and needs.
All you need to do is two things:
Implement a structured intake process with a detailed questionnaire to get a complete view of a potential client’s background, goals, and pain points before coaching even begins.
Then, plan a short intake session during which you can clarify and confirm it all, and you’re off to a great start!
Want to know how to implement such an onboarding process?
I’ve created a step-by-step guide in this blog post on the 7 Simple Steps to Implement a Coaching Terms and Conditions Template For Easy Onboarding.
#16 of the Common Coaching Issues: Not Measuring the Outcome of Coaching
The Mistake
Although you are not responsible for the results (which will get into when we’re at #17 of the coaching issues), you want to be able to measure the results and outcomes of your client in some way.
Without metrics, it’s kind of hard to demonstrate the value of your coaching services.
The Solution
I don’t ever recommend that my coaches include any specific goals in their contracts because you don’t want to be legally bound in any way by those goals. However, measure for yourself in some way at every step of your coaching process where your client is on their goals. Establish what we call in business ‘key performance indicators’ (KPIs) for your clients.
For a fitness coach, it’s pretty easy to measure based on body metrics.
However, even a life coach who helps their client gain confidence can measure how their client progresses. That life coach could measure how well a client is doing by the fact that their client had the guts to walk up to a stranger and have a chat, while they were not able to do this 2 weeks ago.
Create a log of each client’s progress, and surprise them during your next session or at the end of your coaching program with the results you have seen.
#17 of the Common Coaching Issues: Owning the Outcome
The Mistake
That leads me to the next one of the common coaching issues: owning the outcome of your clients. You can not take responsibility for your clients’ outcomes, not emotionally or legally.
The Solution
The simple solution is to remember that you cannot control what your client does and, therefore, you can’t control their outcomes.
The simple solution for both you and your client to understand this is by including a disclaimer in both (1) your contract and (2) your website page or form where your client can sign up for your coaching services that states the following:
The client is solely responsible for their results and outcomes.
You are not in any way responsible for their results and outcomes.
You cannot guarantee the effectiveness of your coaching services.
You are definitely not responsible for any decisions your client makes based on those results and outcomes.
Your comments about the effectiveness of your coaching or the potential results or outcomes are expressions of opinion only.
#18 of the Common Coaching Issues: Rigid Goals
The Mistake
Although you are not responsible for the outcomes, you still want your clients to be happy with any positive outcome. However, clients who have very rigid goals and can’t let go of them will never be happy with anything but reaching those goals.
The Solution
To ensure your clients can still be happy with your coaching services, even if they don’t reach those goals, is to create flexibility.
How? By instilling realism into your clients from the get-go.
During your intake session is the moment to discuss the following:
Discuss what their goals are.
Have your clients understand that any progress is good progress and that sometimes certain goals can’t be reached in a small timeframe.
Also, make them recognise what kind of obstacles they may need to overcome and what setbacks they can expect, and teach them to view those as opportunities for growth.
Your goal with this kind of realism is not to discourage them but to ensure they can realise moments of growth and progression even if they don’t hit their ultimate goals.
#19 of the Common Coaching Issues: Telling Others What to Do
The Mistake
Obviously, you become a coach because you want to help people achieve their goals. However, this often turns into one of the major coaching issues, which is telling others what to do instead of coaching them.
Your clients need to develop their own problem-solving skills instead of becoming completely dependent on you.
This will also ultimately blame you if something goes wrong because you told them to do exactly that.
The Solution
Encourage self-reliance by shifting the focus to a collaborative relationship with your clients instead of telling them what to do.
Here’s something that helps. Every time you think of saying, “You should do [...],” ask questions like, “What about doing [...]?” Use brainstorming sessions to allow clients to generate their own solutions and offer them supportive feedback instead of directives. Learn to provide examples or frameworks without dictating the answer to your clients.
That way, the client keeps their autonomy, becomes more confident, and actually grows.
#20 of the Common Coaching Issues: Trying Too Hard to Be Liked
The Mistake
Of course, you want your clients to be happy with your services. You also want your clients to feel comfortable sharing all their issues with you and to trust you.
But that could result in another one of the common coaching issues: trying too hard to be liked.
That could turn your professional coaching relationship into a very unprofessional, toxic friendship, which can only lead to disputes and bad results.
The Solution
The solution is to set professional boundaries, like the following:
Use only one communication tool, like email, and prohibit any other sort of communication. This ensures your clients won’t be sending you DMs on Facebook or Instagram.
Set a maximum number of coaching sessions and check-ins per week/month and clearly state in your contract that more than that will incur extra fees so the client won’t try to call you or plan more sessions for free.
Also, set a maximum number of minutes for each coaching session and make clear that if a coaching session does not last as long, that does not entitle the client to more of your time next time. That way, the client understands that this is your job and you’re not a friend who’ll hang on the phone for another 30 minutes because you like them.
Make sure you stick to those boundaries, and be prepared to reinforce those boundaries when necessary.
#21 of the Common Coaching Issues: Working Too Hard
The Mistake
Another one of the major coaching issues is working too hard. You started this career because you’re passionate about helping people, but don’t let it consume your entire life.
The Solution
There’s a few simple steps to stop working too hard:
Decide on how many days and hours you are comfortable working and during which hours and on which days would be convenient.
Set your working days and availability in your coaching contracts so they become legally binding on you and your clients.
Now, just shut your laptop when you’ve finished your day and do something else.
By setting these boundaries and using the other 20 tips, you avoid the most common coaching issues and actually become a better coach!
The other 14 of the 21 coaching issues
In this blog post, I discussed 7 of the 21 coaching issues. If you haven’t already, make sure you read about the first 14 common coaching issues in coaching in Part 1 and Part 2:
The 21 Most Common Coaching Mistakes and How to Avoid Them (Part 1)
The 21 Most Common Mistakes in Coaching and How to Avoid Them (Part 2)
How to avoid major coaching issues today with 1 solution
As you’ve just learned, many coaching issues can be easily solved with a solid coaching contract that protects not only your coaching business but also your boundaries.
Want a coaching contract template that includes all the terms you need to solve most of the major coaching issues today?
My coaching contract template is the ultimate template that will help you avoid coaching issues, create clear processes, and protect your business and boundaries!
Learn more about my coaching contract template on this page of my contract shop!
More tips on overcoming the toughest common coaching challenges
In this series, we’ve discussed all the coaching issues many coaches create themselves and how you can fix them.
But what about challenges in coaching and mentoring that might not be your fault?
Learn about overcoming the toughest common coaching challenges in this blog post on the 7 Major Mistakes to AVOID in Your Coaching Terms and Conditions (No One Talks About).
This post was all about common coaching issues and how to handle them so that you can build your dream coaching business.
Find out about the boundaries you need to avoid major challenges in coaching and mentoring in this blog post on the 10 Vital Boundaries Every Online Coach Must Set in a Coaching Contract Template.
Are you looking for a coaching contract template to prevent or stop most of the common coaching issues? Learn more about my coaching agreement template on this page of my contract shop!
