Ever wondered how to challenge your coaching clients without damaging trust or safety in the relationship? In this episode, I explore the art and necessity of being brave as a coach and why challenging clients is essential for genuine growth, and how to do it with compassion, curiosity, and connection.
Drawing from my experiences as a Master Certified Coach, I share powerful stories, practical strategies, and proven techniques to help coaches get comfortable with discomfort, both their own and their clients’. Discover why letting go of the need to always be liked can help you show up more fully for your clients and foster transformation.
What You’ll Learn:
Key Topics Covered:
00:00 Introduction and the need for bravery
00:33 The coaching role, using challenge over collusion
01:11 Establishing trust, safety, and unconditional positive regard
01:52 Why building connection allows for deeper challenge
02:40 Using shared interests or humour to forge strong coach-client bonds
03:18 Moving beyond surface-level curiosity with language that invites clients to go deeper
04:08 The role of humour and getting things wrong
05:11 Embracing curiosity and releasing the ego
07:00 Asking better follow-up questions and encouraging clients to process and verbalise their deeper thoughts
07:37 Coaches can only take clients as deep as they’re willing to go themselves
08:34 Why doing your own work as a coach is essential for effective challenge.
About Ruth Kudzi:
Ruth is the founder of Optimus Coaching Academy and a well respected and successful coach, speaker and author who has worked across sectors including leadership, career and more recently business and mindset. She has over 10,000 coaching hours and has completed hundreds of hours of training and coaching supervision. Ruth is a MCC level coach with the ICF and is our course director and CEO. Prior to becoming a coach Ruth was a senior leader in education.
Find out more here: https://ruthkudzi.com/
Connect with Ruth:
Website : https://www.ruthkudzi.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ruthkudzi2/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruthkudzi/?hl=en
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ruthkudzicoach
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthkudzi/
About Optimus Coach Academy:
Optimus offers best in class coaching training for individuals and corporates.
If you want to know more about what we offer: https://optimuscoachacademy.com/coach-training
We also offer business support as standard at Optimus, find out more here: https://www.optimuscoachacademy.com/
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If you want to know more about what we offer: https://optimuscoachacademy.com/coach-training