The variable outcomes of individual coaching

I like to think of individual coaching as a structured conversation rather than a repeatable method that guides the coach and client to a defined outcome.  

As coaches, either the paid professional types or those that include coaching as a fundamental part of their management practices, we always want a positive movement toward growth in the client’s personal and professional life. However, we also must recognize that starting – and sticking with – a deep and sustained effort to get to the heart of things means that sometimes the result of coaching is not a neat and clean win for either party.  

I think any coaching relationship's primary goal should be to create clarity. Achieving clarity may, at times, result in a decision on the part of the client to leave their job or in a decision on the part of their sponsoring organization to cut ties with them. This conversation may also result in the client facing intractable problems that cannot be solved and require accepting the massive imperfections of existence.  

In other words, creating clarity can either create sunshine guiding us on a path forward or it may illuminate the dead end that the client is headed towards.  

The coaching conversation may also uncover a client’s sense of victimhood, lack of self-discipline, or immaturity. In these cases, the coach may be limited in their ability to affect the client’s fundamental worldviews or character defects. The coach is then either helping the client face their contributions to their problems or walking away from the coaching relationship knowing the client was not ready to do the work they needed to do.  

Coaching is not so different from the core aspects of any working relationship. We work hard to help one another succeed but know we are not rescuers. We cast light where our clients are willing to see it, and then we accept the outcome that results from that clarity, even if it means there is some pain or difficulty that results from the conversation.