Self coaching as an outcome of coaching

One of the often overlooked outcomes of coaching – what you might call a by-product of coaching – is when clients unconsciously adopt coaching behaviours and begin coaching themselves.

 

Throughout the process of coaching, and more so, toward the end of long-term relationships, clients typically display an increased ability or willingness to listen to themselves. Coaching clients begin to listen to or hear themselves as they speak to their coaches, and also in the absence of a coach. They begin to catch their own inner dialogue, and hear their own patterns, and start making conscious decisions rather than running on auto-pilot.

 

Similarly, coaching clients often adopt the processes of self-questioning and self-reflecting, as a result of coaching, and many clients begin talking to themselves in the absence of their coach!

 

Thus, coaching tends to continue for some time after a coaching relationship has ended, as clients’ integration of self-listening, self-questioning and self-reflecting habits facilitates their ongoing self-discovery and learning.

 

Reference:

Griffiths, K. (2008). Discovering, applying and integrating self-knowledge: A grounded theory study of learning in life coaching (Ph.D). Centre for Learning Innovation, Queensland University of Technology.

 

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