Co-Active Coaching summary

In order to conduct a fruitful conversation with your client, you must first design an effective coaching environment. In co-active coaching, we like to encourage our clients to take risks. But remember: risks are only taken by people who feel safe.

The best way to foster a nurturing environment that encourages risk-taking is to ensure confidentiality, trust, honesty and spaciousness.

Think about the last time someone was totally with you, truly listening to what you were saying. This powerful experience is surprisingly rarely, isn’t it?

Well, as a coach, it’s your job to deliver that kind of experience to your client. Meaning, you have to learn to read between the lines, listening deeply for the meaning behind every story. To help you do this, the authors distinguish three levels of listening:

As a coach, your intuition is one of the most valuable tools at your disposal. Intuition is a gut feeling that can’t always be backed up by evidence or facts. And to act on it, you first need to interpret it.

Start by simply noticing your intuition and drawing attention to it. That way, you create space to talk about any hunch you have, without letting it fly under the radar.

Imagine a dinner party: you’re seated next to a stranger who is infinitely curious about your life, your work, your instincts. For most of us, that level of curiosity is not only flattering – it’s also encouraging.

And expressing curiosity when you’re with your client is exactly what will allow her to let down her guard and open up, creating a deeper connection between the two of you.

Who doesn’t want fulfillment? Fulfillment is like a delicious dinner: satisfying, tasty and profoundly filling. And yet, unlike a great meal, fulfillment can be difficult to achieve and scary to pursue.

As a co-active coach, your number-one goal should be to challenge clients to chase their fulfillment – to find a path that allows them to fully express their true selves.