By Jowanna Daley
How to help your clients achieve life balance and tools for the process.
It’s no surprise that people are seeking life balance. The COVID-19 lockdown caused many to evaluate how they were living, and, as a result, they hired coaches to help them think beyond their careers and learn to enjoy other aspects of their lives. However, balance means different things to different people, and the secret to helping a client is understanding what balance means to them.
What Is Life Balance?
Life balance is prioritizing and managing different aspects of one’s life for well-being and fulfillment. Finding a balance between work, family and personal time is vital to happiness. As a coach, it’s important to always remember that life balance is subjective. For some, it may involve balancing work and personal life; for others, it may mean finding an equilibrium between physical and mental health. Additionally, personal values, cultural background and life experiences can influence how an individual defines and strives for balance.
Life balance is an ongoing process that can be challenging to manage long-term. Luckily, there are coaching tools you can use as you take a client through different phases of a program.
The Intake Process
The intake process should provide insight into a client’s problem. Aside from the basics, such as name, email and phone, pertinent questions will help uncover where to focus during your initial consultation. Then, when you meet with your client, it’s essential to take the time to actively listen and ask open-ended questions.
Of course, you must establish rapport with the client and create a safe, nonjudgmental environment where they feel comfortable sharing thoughts and feelings. Empathetic listening techniques and reflective questions will help you better understand someone’s unique definition of balance and develop a personalized plan with desired outcomes.
Remember, once you and a client decide to move forward, the onboarding process will help refine the plan. The client may give you the symptoms and then need help uncovering the root causes, for example.
The Onboarding Process
When onboarding a client seeking life balance, just as with any other client, make sure you effectively communicate your coaching process and establish clear expectations. It is crucial to begin with a discovery session to understand the client’s needs, goals and challenges. Include a Wheel of Life assessment to help uncover imbalances and reveal where further evaluations are needed.
There are many outstanding onboarding templates available on channels such as Etsy. They can streamline personalization while building trust with clients. However, make sure to update any third-party materials with goals and timelines, and include a clear communication channel for ongoing support and feedback. Additionally, provide tools to help clients articulate and then achieve goals, such as worksheets, goal-setting templates and progress trackers. Regular check-ins and progress reviews also should be scheduled to ensure a client is on track and achieving desired outcomes.
Recommendation: Create a matrix in Excel that allows you to quickly identify the tools your client needs.
Processes to Build Into Each Session
Being able to deliver outcomes requires measuring progress with established metrics. As the coach, you also should align progress with the defined program outcomes. Track progress every step of the way. Here are some activities that will help you update a plan and implement corrective action to keep the client on course:
- Send a pre-session worksheet so your client can report wins, challenges, life events and any other feedback or concerns. This pre-session practice enables you to ask the right questions and prepare for a meaningful session.
- Use an established routine to report challenges and wins so your client becomes comfortable measuring both. They will need to update their plan as they uncover other information, when unexpected life events happen, and when additional activities are required to jump hurdles.
- Assess the client’s confidence in meeting their goals at the beginning and then again at the end of each session. This allows you to measure your client’s perspective and get data that helps with future sessions.
Key Things to Remember
Getting caught up in the details and distracted from overall goals is easy. Life is chaotic, and, as life coaches, we must stabilize our clients and help them build resilience and discipline. Here are key ways to help empower your life balance clients:
- Establish a solid but flexible plan. Your plan will change along the way, and it should include a description of the problem, the approach, the scope, roles and responsibilities, tasks, milestones, a timeline and assumptions. Review the plan every time something changes. This includes milestone achievements, missed deadlines, new steps or steps that are not needed. Make this a habit, and you will spend more time focusing on the client and not trying to figure out what’s next.
- Establish a trail to keep the client grounded. Your client life cycle should make a trail if you map it out (it may look a little crazy, but done right it will tell the story). Your first connection with the client begins the life cycle. Each phase feeds into the next one. You’ll also find that your client will gain confidence along the way and require less guidance as they adjust their plan to ensure they achieve their goals.
- Encourage your client to tackle one goal at a time. Your client will likely have more than one area to address, but focusing on more than one goal can become overwhelming, so prioritize and “eat the elephant one bite at a time.” Take each goal and break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. This makes it easier for your client to reflect on their progress and make the necessary adjustments to the plan. Rememberthat your client is looking for balance, and helping them manage their load will increase the likelihood of reaching their goals.
- Give your clients a personalized experience. Templates are great; however, remember that each client is unique. Personalization should be in the plan throughout the life cycle to stay in tune with your clients and increase synergy and trust.
- Continue to use the Wheel of Life. Periodically, have your client redo the Wheel of Life assessment. This tool allows them to see progress and ensures they work on the right things. Also, it will enable you to notice changes and spot significant shifts.
- Remind your client that life balance is a process. There is no one-and-done solution for life balance. It is a phenomenon that you help clients manage. Make sure you provide tools they can use to help shift as needed. For instance, if a client wants to start a business, they must assess their Wheel of Life to see how it impacts other areas of importance.
- Your client’s life is theirs to manage. It’s easy to get overinvolved in the process, and that can be just as counterproductive as being nonchalant. Your role is to help your client—but not take on the role of a savior or a friend.
Conclusion
Most of us can relate to the quest of finding balance. Having the proper tools and personalizing your clients’ coaching experience will help you understand how to improve your process with each client. The ultimate gift is that you will contribute to a better world because happier people will be in it!
Jowanna is a business and personal coach, consultant, freelance blogger, and personal brand photographer. Jowanna uses her 20-plus years of business, information technology, business analysis, and project management experience to serve solopreneurs, microbusinesses, and professionals through consulting, coaching, training, and workshops. She is also a freelance blogger who serves corporate and non-corporate clients. Visit her website at https://www.jowannadaley.com/about/.