How to apply NLP learning to Coach?

Finished with NLP Practitioner and Coaching workshop. What next? How to apply NLP learning to Coach?

Ok, you have attended an NLP and Coaching Workshop, which is the starting point, and the easy part of getting into NLP and Coaching Business. What next? Do you have nagging questions, and you are looking for answers?

• How to find Coaching clients?
• How to Start a Life Coaching Business or How to start an Executive Coaching Business?
• How to introduce NLP and Coaching benefits to clients?
• How to apply NLP learning to Coach?
• How to introduce yourself as a Coach: Life Coach, or as Executive Coach, or a Results Coach, or as Peak Performance Coach?
• If you have found a potential client, then what do you do in a Coaching Session?

These are normal questions, and every NLP Trainer and Coach would have gone through this period when Sales/Marketing/Planning takes over after ‘NLP and Coaching capability building’.

How to get more Life Coaching Clients and How to get started as a Life Coach?
Please read the article already published, which will help address that question.

Provide background ~ How to apply NLP learning to Coach?

How to introduce NLP and Coaching benefits to clients?

You have to listen and pay attention to what the person (potential client) is talking about during the conversation. Ask an easy question, “Currently, what are the projects that you are working on? What excites you?” Strike a conversation and during the conversation ask, “What is the biggest challenge that is currently stopping you from moving forward in life personally and professionally.”  This is not the only way to start, the idea is to start and help the other person to start talking about themselves and for you to listen more. The person will tell you what are the key areas in their life that require attention, and these are the Coaching benefits for your clients. There is no set benefit, you have to work with the real goal and the real problem that your potential client is dealing with in his/her life.

Also, the ‘Wheel of Life’ tool will come in handy to do a quick assessment of your potential clients. The ‘Wheel of Life’ is a great free (Readily available on Internet) coaching tool, to help your client see how balanced their life is. This will provide a person an idea in terms of what areas of their life will need immediate attention, and coaching around that will be handy. As a Coach, this ‘Wheel of Life’ tool will help you get started with a potential client/Coachee. This tool will help you break the ice with them, and will provide a starting point to discuss Coaching requirements.

How to introduce yourself as a Coach: Life Coach, or an Executive Coach, or a Results Coach, or as a Peak Performance Coach?

This question is again unique in its own way. You have to sit and ask yourself what is it that you really want to be recognized as: A person who works with everybody, on any issue in any area of their life, or A person who works with top executives in various organizations, or A person who works with professionals to get results/improve their performance levels. This is something that you have to ask yourself, and then based on the long-term vision that you have for yourself, brand yourself accordingly, and find clients accordingly.

 If you have found a potential client, then what to do in a Coaching Session?

Ah, here comes the big question.  Well, there is no fixed way to go about a Coaching Session. Depending on their style and methodology, a Coach has to be flexible and ready to adapt. If there is one single answer – that will be to – ‘Listen to your Coachee/Client’. Rapport building is an important part of a Coaching Session, quicker the better. Once you have a good rapport with your client/Coachee you can ask Coaching Questions (Starting with What/How) to get more clarity and employ NLP Interrupts, so that you can move your client/Coachee from ‘Current State/Problem State’ to ‘Desired State’ quicker and faster. As a Coach, you have to be flexible to see what can provide instant value to your client/Coachee.  You can read how to build rapport with clients to know more about that.  Also, get a basic awareness about what is coaching, and grow model for coaching.

From an NLP perspective, there are a number of tools that can be employed towards learning How to apply NLP learning to Coach?:

Listen to your client – heads the chart. Listening is a very key element of a Coaches’ repertoire of tools.  Caution: Make sure that you interrupt your client/Coachee when they are moving towards Problem State, or when they are Deleting/Distorting/Generalizing the information. So as a Coach, you have to strike a balance between when and how much you have to listen, and when you have to interrupt.

Meta Model: This is a Coaching tool that can be used to bring to the client/Coachees’ attention – any Deletions, Distortions, and Generalizations that they are doing as part of their thinking process, and hence are not getting results or getting into an un-resourceful state.  NLP Meta Model is the most important, considering this helps you as a Coach to explore the deeper structure (of language) of your clients/Coachee, using simple questions. Go through the NLP Meta Model examples, to understand this concept better.

Outcomes/Well-formed Directions: If the client/Coachee is working towards a goal, make sure that it is well-formed as per NLP Well-defined outcomes/directions criteria.

Neurological levels of change/alignment: If you feel that the client/Coachee will benefit by alignment of his/her, goals/direction then ‘Neurological levels of change/alignment’ is a good NLP Coaching tool to be explored.

Timeline Coaching: If a client/Coachee is working towards a goal or an outcome, then Timeline Coaching can be a good NLP tool that can be introduced for the client/Coachee to get clarity with their actions and what has to be done to reach to their goal/outcome.

Coaching with Values: Coaching using values is a good tool to bring clarity to the client/Coachee in terms of what is important to them and how realignment of values can bring a different perspective and can get them unstuck from a situation that they are dealing with.

Perceptual Positions: This comes in handy during relationship issues. You make a person look at the situation from a first person’s (their own perspective, then the second (other person involved in the relationship), and then third (neutral). This enables the person to get a different perspective about the issue and helps them resolve the situation.

New Behavior Generator:  New Behavior generator is an application of NLP modeling, which can be used by your client/Coachee to learn new behavior from a model of their choice for a particular situation where they feel stuck and un-resourceful.

Anchoring:  Anchoring enables you to get your clients/Coachees into good States, and enables them to get into resourceful states (Confident, Peaceful, etc.) whenever they want to.

Collapsing Anchors: ‘NLP Collapsing anchors technique‘ is an effective technique to remove or lessen the impact of an unwanted anchor. An unwanted anchor can be an unwanted response that the client/Coachee wants to get rid of.

NLP Strategies: A Powerful way to make the client/Coachee be aware of those times when they are motivated, excited, making good decisions, and getting results. If you bring that to their conscious attention, this gives the client/Coachee a chance to learn from these and apply them to areas where they are less effective.

NLP Sub-modalities:  Sub-modalities are key components of many NLP techniques. Sub-modalities, by themselves or as part of other techniques, have been used to facilitate the change process: help people to stop smoking, alcohol addiction, change negative or limiting beliefs, enhance motivation, move from stress to relaxation states, address anxiety issues and phobias, etc.

Swish Pattern:  A powerful NLP technique that can be used to change negative behaviors (e.g. changing bad habits).

Reframing: NLP reframing technique, is based on the idea that all meaning given to a situation by a person depends on their point of view. As per NLP, ‘Map is not the Territory. To reframe something is to change its meaning by putting it in a different setting, context, or frame. Hence, by providing an option to the client to look at the situation by changing the content or context of a situation for a client/Coachee, as a coach you can provide a different perspective to the situation for the client/Coachee to consider. This invariably makes them reconsider the situation and provides an option to get into a more resourceful state.

Visual Squash: A technique to reconcile two conflicting parts. E.g. The Client/Coachee will say something like this, “A part of me is saying go ahead and make this decision, but another part of me is saying don’t take this action”. The moment you as a Coach feel that there are conflicting parts, Visual Squash is a good NLP Technique that can be used to Coach.

Storytelling: Use of stories to change a state or move to the desired outcome.

Fast Phobia cure: For any dissociation situation. A very good NLP Technique, which can be used where the client/Coachee is having anxiety level issues, or phobia about certain situations.