Overview

Probably more coaching programs flounder here than anywhere else maybe because enrollment demands that we be human; no role or force will fulfill the stage. Manipulation or misrepresentation is quickly shown up. For many potential coaches, managers, teachers, and parents, the idea of stepping out of their accustomed roles and positioning themselves as human beings equal to their potential clients is uncomfortable and disconcerting. Thus, they easily slide out of coaching and into some other mode of interacting managing or teaching, probably. Of course, justification accompanies the slide. Some potential coaches justify themselves by saying the client was resistent or the timing wasn t right. If you find yourself as a coach in this situation, use your discomfort as an indicator that you are on the right path and not as a sign that you must change what you re doing.

Until now, the coach has been doing most of the work solo. In the next stage, enrollment, the coach/client partnership becomes explicit and the work shared. In enrollment, both the client and the coach make explicit what they are committed to accomplishing in the coaching program. The commitment of one member is not sufficient.

The second job in enrollment is to frankly discuss potential hindrances to achieving the outcomes. At this point, the coach can refer to the assessments she made. For example, perhaps the client is already very busy and the additional work of the coaching program would be difficult to fit in. Maybe the client has a boss, a...