When I was building my coaching business, and the practice of being a coach, gathering feedback was an important part of my client agreement – it still is.
There are different ways to gather feedback and I thought about what would feel useful to me, and also in a format that was shareable with others, to help them understand what the career coaching experience of working with me might be like.
For the last few years, after every coaching engagement I ask my client:
What 3 words would you use to describe the benefits you received from working together?
There are so many words that are shared with me, and all of them are a small insight into the experience of the client. I have found it insightful, valuable and fortifying to hear the positive experience even in such a short format.
Below are the words that are shared with me.
The most frequent benefits that clients experience in working together are:
Clarity. Courage. Confidence. Insight. Motivation.
When I think about it, working with clients who come to me feeling stuck, demotivated, disengaged, lost and uncertain, knowing that they go on to feel Clarity, Courage, Confidence, Insight and Motivation over our work together really does speak volumes of what can be achieved in a coaching relationship and the career coaching experience overall.
The difference between what someone feeling stuck and lost can believe and do, to when they are feeling confident and motivated, is significant.
This in turn can lead us onto trajectories that we never thought were possible.
These are the moments that demonstrate character and define futures.
What a shift to experience.
If you are struggling to find clarity, courage, confidence, insight or motivation, or any of the other words you see in the word cloud, we will find them together.
Here are some more detailed definitions that clients share with me:
Confidence
“The ability to reframe a belief – a lot of our discussions centred around confidence. Our conversations have sparked an interest in reframing an ‘idea’, e.g. how can I turn this around, what is possible?”
Courage
“This could also be replaced with self-belief. You helped me own my future, and step up to things like it was my responsibility to change the way things were going, because as an adult, nobody else is going to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself.”
Insights
“You helped me look into things in a new way, seeing connections I hadn’t seen before. I found it invaluable going into such depth on some things like values that are typically handled so superficially.”
Self Awareness
“This has developed considerably in such a short space of time. I am starting to recognise behaviours that I can address.”
Acceptance
“I felt valued throughout our sessions. I was able to use the time to reflect on how I react in certain situations. You were able to accept this and challenge me to think of a way forward or how I could react differently. “Feel the fear and do it anyway” style!”
Counselling
“You are a fantastic listener and guided me through some very difficult emotions and experiences when I truly needed it – and without judgement to boot. It really helped me feel like someone cared, which meant a lot to me.”
If you’re considering working with a coach and can relate to what I have shared here, do please get in touch and I’d be very happy to talk more with you. Book in a call and let’s get going.