Guiding Your Career Coaching Clients Through Self-Discovering Themselves

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Here at the-Coaching Blog-run by Gerard O’Donovan, our aim is to constantly bring value to those seeking to improve their lives. Therefore we have a policy of publishing articles and materials by guest authors whom we value and appreciate. Today’s guest author is Deborah Brown-Volkman (USA).
Self-Discovery, big words that mean different things to different people. The common denominator is clients wanting to know themselves better. And, when they do, they can choose a career that brings them fulfillment and satisfaction.
What assists career coaching clients through the self-discovery process is an understanding of who they are and what value they bring to employers. How we simplify this process as career coaches is by helping clients identify their strengths, weaknesses, talents, and skills. This information is useful whether they choose to stay in their current industry/profession or move to a new one.
Important note: strengths, weaknesses, and talents are inherent. It’s what clients were born with, and in many cases, meant to do. Skills are not inherent; they are learned either through education or experience.
Career Coaching is perfect when it comes to bringing out clients’ strengths, weaknesses, talents, and skills because the foundation of coaching is the answer is within the client. We are just the facilitators.
I. Strengths and Weaknesses: What’s Already Inside
Being aware of strengths can help your clients maximize their potential and get closer to achieving their career goals. Knowing weaknesses, which often walk hand-in-hand with the strengths, can be the key to avoiding self-sabotage or failure in the future.
Here are a few questions to help your clients uncover their strengths and weakness:

• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Why would you consider them to be strengths?
• Why would you consider them to be weaknesses?
• What are your gifts that if fully developed and completely contributed would make a significant impact in your life, your community, and the world?

II. Talents: What You Are Naturally Good At
Talents are just like strengths. They are what you do well as well as what you love doing. Career fulfilment is achieved when your clients pursue opportunities that match their talents. Talents, when tapped into, increase your client’s potential to be successful in their career.
Questions to help your clients uncover their talents are:

• What are your talents?
• Why would you consider them to be your talents?
• What talents do you rely on at work?
• What jobs or activities are you drawn to at work?
• What are your hobbies? What about them brings you satisfaction?

III. Skills: What You Have Learned To Do Well
Skills are your ability to do something well; something usually gained through training or experience. There are 2 different types of skills: 1) Hard skills, which are the things you learn that enable you to perform certain tasks, and 2) Soft skills, which are also learned, are your ability to interact effectively with others.
Questions to help your clients uncover their skills are:

• What are your skills?
• Why would you consider them to be your skills?
• What do you know so well, or do so well, that you could teach it to others?
• Describe something you designed, created, built, made, or fixed up, that gave you a strong sense of satisfaction. Why do you feel good about it?
• Think of a problem that came up that had other people stumped, but you were able to do something about, to improve the situation. What did you do? What does that say about your skill set?

IV. Transferable Skills: What You Can Do Anywhere
Transferable skills are the skills you have acquired during any activity in your life; past jobs, classes, projects, parenting, hobbies, sports, virtually anything, that are transferable and applicable to what you want to do in your next job or career.
Unlike job-related skills, which tend to be used only in one type of work, transferable skills are skills that can be used in every occupation, regardless of the type of work. They are universal skills; you can transfer them from one type of work to another without much effort on your part or training from an employer. Transferable skills include communication, teamwork, problem-solving, intellectual, interpersonal, or leadership abilities.
What Do You Do With Clients Answers?
During your coaching work together, listen to your clients as they give you their answers. Dig deep and help them discover who they are. Use their answers for insight. Use their answers for clarity. Use their answers for planning purposes. Your goal when working with your clients is to get them talking. Once they talk, answers come to them. That’s why there is no pressure on us as career coaches to come up with answers for our clients, because they have all the answers they need; they just need a safe place to discuss their thoughts and feelings.
About Deborah Brown-Volkman
Deborah Brown-Volkman is an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC), career expert, and President of SurpassYourDreams.com, a successful career, life, wellness, and mentor coaching company. Deborah provides Career Coaching for those who want a new job, new career, new way to flourish in today’s hectic workplace, or new way to perform their best at work. Deborah is the author of several books including: “Coach Yourself To A New Career”, “Don’t Blow It! The Right Words For The Right Job”, “How To Feel Great At Work Every Day”, and “Four Steps To Building A Profitable Coaching Practice”, the first marketing book written by a coach for coaches. In addition to running her own coaching company, Deborah is an adjunct professor for Coach Training Alliance where she leads a career coaching introductory and certification program for coaches.
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