Research Paper: How To Find The Right Balance Of Control

What do clients want?

A qualitative questionnaire was sent out to a small number of clients with a list of questions. Below are some comments made by clients about the expectations they have of coaches:

1. To be supportive, encouraging and provide different perspectives; to be understanding but firm.
2. To support and challenge me so that I can better perform and achieve my goal.
3. Interest, commitment, preparation and investigation, human/ intellectual/ heart qualities.
4. I expect my coach to offer a strong coaching framework for each session, based on experience, intuition, knowledge and ethical guidelines and to practice professionally and sensitively at all times.  I expect a coach to mirror the investment I make in the coaching process in respect of trust, honesty and respect and to stimulate my thinking and challenge my perspectives.
5. I expect my coach to listen deeply to what I do and do not say, reflect back what they hear and ask questions to help me reveal the path I need to take to effect change in my life.

To summarize, clients benefit from coaches displaying the following characteristics:

There are many other characteristics that clients can benefit from that haven’t been mentioned above, however, attention needs to be drawn to the characteristics which empower clients and those which empower coaches. Rayburn and Rayburn (1999) state the following characteristics which empower employees, and potential clients, with a sense of control:

What do coaches want?Now if coaches are to be seen as employees of the coaching profession, we can conclude that coaches need to experience similar freedoms in their roles in order to feel empowered to reach their potential. This means having a look at what empowers employees and turning it into what empowers coaches, thus the following is an interpretation of what enables coaches with a feeling of control:

The following are comments made by coaches about how coaching empowers them:

1. [Coaching allows] me to see new perspectives and to challenge my limiting beliefs.
2. [Coaching gives] me the courage to look at my own life and discover who I am and where I want to go.
3. [Coaching has given me the opportunity to] learn tools to support myself in making changes.
4. It empowers me by reminding me that I am a part of the whole and ALL parts are needed to fill it. I am just the coach in a client’s life. One part in that person life, but I have to be there 100%.
5. Just the mere thought that this person is asking/trusting me to be ‘there’ for them, is enough for me.

Finding the balance

Balance in your life between work and your personal life is very important. Without balance, you eventually burnout, negatively affecting your performance at work. Byron Pulsifer

As stated at the outset, coaches need to support clients and/or companies during their change from directive to non-directive management styles. Since this change is a direct result of the need to increase productivity, and thus motivation in the workplace, coaches have to learn what motivates employees/clients.The above research has shown what empowers employees/clients, which in turn has revealed what motivates coaches. What needs to be established is how to balance the client’s needs with the coach’s needs. In many ways, having similar needs will allow clients and coaches to relate easier. However, there are bound to be points where these needs conflict. Certain boundaries will need to be set up to dictate what actions to take when such conflict occurs.

Too much support can hold us back from achieving our goals and stepping up to be who we are meant to be. Jennifer Purrenhage

For example, a coach must provide support for their client. This support is aimed at nurturing a client’s belief in their abilities. Too much support, however, would enable the client to become dependent on the coach for this belief. The client would therefore be unable to sustain him/herself in the event that their coach is unavailable.

The coach should therefore only offer support on the condition that the client learns to support him/herself in the long run. It is logical to conclude that for each need the client has, the coach fulfils that need only on the condition that the client recognizes their own responsibility to fulfill it, acquires the skills to do so, and then practices those skills. This in itself will be an ongoing process between coach and client, to determine the correct balance that suits each individual as well as the coaching relationship. This is supported by the results of the questionnaires, where clients and coaches displayed their unique needs which they want filled.

Coach and client needs might not necessarily align, so their relationship must be navigated so that both can attain a satisfactory level of empowerment.

Conclusion

This research paper has explored the motivational factors that empower both clients and coaches. Using both research into corporate employee motivation and self-conducted questionnaires, it was discovered that clients benefit from having support, control, empathy and fairness, amongst others. Through deductive analysis, it was concluded that coaches can be seen as employees themselves, and are thus subject to the same motivations as their clients.

To conclude, both coaches and clients need to display support, control, empathy and fairness, amongst other qualities, for the coaching relationship to flourish. The precise balance in these qualities between client and coache will need to be negotiated, as the questionnaires revealed the unique nature of clients’ expectations. Coaches, similarly, will have unique needs which need to be met for empowerment and motivation to be optimized.

References:

Bacon, T., & Spear, K. (2003). Adaptive coaching: The art and practice of a client-centered approach to performance improvement.

Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black.Purrenhage, J. (2011). Are you getting TOO MUCH support?

Get Well Grounded.com. , J.M., & Rayburn, L.G. (1999).

Empowering Workers to meet Global Competition.