How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 134

Have you ever tried giving advice to a teenager? If you haven’t, you can
imagine that everything you say is going to go in one ear and out the
other. Of course rebellious teenagers are an extreme case but most
people don’t respond to unsolicited advice. It’s a waste of good
intentions.
In order to save you some effort, here are 3 tips for giving advice when
you are coaching someone.
Just to be clear, at a fundamental level, coaching is not about giving
advice. It is about asking questions and engaging the coachee in
discovering their own solutions. But coaching doesn’t always work that
way. Every now and again, you will have a nugget of information that
can really help a client and here are some helpful tips to get your
message across.
Tip 1: Switch between a coaching “hat” and an advisor “hat”
As
previously
mentioned,
coaching is primarily focused on
asking questions and wearing
your coaching “hat”. When the
conversations leads to a great
opportunity for you to share
advice, it helps to be clear that you
are going to switch to an advicegiving “hat”. Make sure you know
the difference.
When you switch to an advice-giving hat, the coachee may no longer be
using their active thinking and will zone out. Look for signs that the
coachee is not really listening or paying attention. If they are not
engaged in what you are saying, it will be a waste.
Tip 2: Be transparent when you are switching “hats”
If you are going to be switching “hats” and giving advice, it never hurts
to be completely transparent with the coachee. Say things like “I am
going to take off my coaching hat for a minute. I want to share a
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