Active Listening
Really listening to your client can mean the world to them. It also gives you a lot of information. Here are some tips to become an active listener:
Powerful Questions
By creating some powerful questions for your patients even before your work together begins, you can not only learn their health history, but you may gain some powerful insight into their motivation, and confidence to move toward better health.
Ask open-ended questions about where they are, where they want to be, and what they believe they can do to get there is a great way to get started. It will help you discover their expectations and it will help them to reflect on what they can be responsible for improving their health. Furthermore, questions about how they feel now versus how they would feel in better health will increase their awareness on how powerful it would be to be in a better state of health. Lastly, by asking powerful questions you may discover any barriers that may have been stopping them from success in the past that could continue to get in the way. They could be external barriers (e.g. money, access to transportation, etc.), in which case you may be able to help them access resources to overcome these obstacles. There could also be internal barriers (e.g. negative self-belief, fears, etc). If this is the case, it may be helpful to talk these through with your patient or refer them to a coach or other support that will help encourage their momentum.
Here is a list of powerful questions that may help your patients increase their awareness:
A powerful question has the ability to bring mindfulness to a situation and allow the patient to reflect on how they can take responsibility for their health. The key is to keep it open-ended so that they have to dig a little deeper and give you more information!
Empowering Choice
As a patient, I believe that one of the best feelings I could takeaway from an appointment with my health practitioner would be that I had a choice in what to do to move me forward. As in the example above, I could be given a list of options and I choose which exercises (and how many) I could commit to incorporating into my daily routine.
Here is another example of a tool that could be given to a patient. It allows for choice, but also clarity on how to incorporate the change and how to ensure its success:
What can you do to take care of your liver?
This is a list of many different ways you could improve the function of your liver. Please circle any that you feel you could incorporate into your lifestyle:
| Avoid/eliminate alcohol | Avoid/eliminate caffeine | Drink 8-10 cups of water/day | Add lemon juice to your diet |
| Drink green tea | Eat more fruit | Eat more vegetables | Avoid/eliminate processed food |
| Eat more dark green veggies | Eat garlic | Eat grapefruit | Eat avocados |
| Eat walnuts | Take supplements | Practice meditation | Do yoga |
| Use natural cleaning products | Use an air purifier | exercise | Avoid eating 3hrs before bed |
| Incorporate flax seeds into diet | Avoid/eliminate use of sugar | Eliminate synthetic sweeteners | Avoid large meals |
| Avoid fatty foods | Eat carrots | Eat beets | Eat onions |
| Eat broccoli | Eat veggies raw or steamed | Do a cleanse | Quit smoking |
Of those you circled, please list the three easiest to incorporate into your lifestyle (#1 being the easiest of the three):
- __________________
- __________________
- __________________
Would you be willing to commit to incorporating #1 into your lifestyle between now and our next appointment? Y N
Describe how incorporating this action item will look?
What do you need to have in place in order to ensure that you are successful in incorporating this into your lifestyle?
*PLEASE NOTE: This form was created strictly as an example. As I am NOT a health practitioner, I cannot recommend or endorse any of these health suggestions. You could replace this with anything from how to increase bone density to how to decrease back pain. YOU are the expert!
The Accountability Factor
Lastly, as you well know, you have no control over your patient after they leave your office. So how can you support them in being accountable for themselves? Here are some tricks that may help keep your patient empowered in between appointments.
Conclusion
The knowledge, guidance, and support that you offer your patients is integral in their success. You are the expert in your field and you know how to get your patients where they want to go. I am hopeful that you have discovered a few more tricks and tools as to how to help empower your patients and keep them accountable for the changes that they seek. Coaching is a powerful process that takes people from good to great, and I truly believe that by blending some coaching into your work, you can provide your patients with an unforgettable experience!
Resources
“Core Competencies.” coachfederation.org. Stable Transit, Jan. 1998. Web. 21 June 2015.
“Power Listening.” learn.icoachacademy.com. ICA, Feb. 2014. Web. 22 June 2015.
“Powerful Questions.” learn.icoachacademy.com. ICA, Feb. 2014. Web. 22 June 2015.
“15 ways to boost your liver for great health.” care2.com. DYNECT, Nov. 2014. Web. 23 June 2015.
“How to cleanse the liver.” wikihow.com. DNSMADEEASY, Nov. 2014. Web. 23 June 2015.
“Accountability.” learn.icoachacademy.com. ICA, Feb. 2014. Web. 22 June 2015.