When Is It Time to End the Coaching Relationship?
Posted on January 29, 2010 by Maia Berens, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
A good coach is responsible enough to know that the life of a coaching relationship is not a lifetime. There is a natural end that both decide.
Good Communication Skills, Life Coach
As a life coach, it is important to know when it is the best time for your clients to move on and continue working on their own. A good coach is responsible enough to know that the life of a coaching relationship is not a lifetime. Knowing that is how the best life coaches build their business. Not by keeping clients forever, but by letting them go when the time is right and generating more referrals based on their outstanding service.
In the beginning, clients are unsure. They may be testing the relationship and feeling the waters to determine if life coaching is really for them. Or if you really are the right coach for them. Soon, if it’s right, they will start to become a little more trusting and may feel it may benefit them to continue. As things start to come together for your client and some of the small goals seem to be falling into place, the client will begin to expect the life coaching to work and for things to continue to progress in the right direction. When the client has mastered all the skills you have to offer and is doing well towards their goals, you will see that it is time for them to continue on their own.
And it goes both ways. If you have a coach and feel it is time to move on – either to another coach or onto your life by yourself – test your communication skills and have the courage and courtesy to yourself and your coach to give at least a month’s notice. Some coach’s will talk to you about this in the beginning or along the way but they may not and it’s good for you to know. Since you have built up such an intimate connection, be fair to the coaching relationship and build in a few sessions for closure.
