It’s Not Me, It’s You
I recently ended a coaching relationship with a client. It's not something I want to do but it needs to happen from time to time. Let me tell you the details:
Just over a year ago, I had a client approach me and ask me to coach them in their businesses. They owned three small businesses but weren't seeing success in any of them. We met every other week and spent the first couple of months figuring out what his goals were and what was going on in his business.
By the end of the first two months, we had a game plan mapped out and the plan was to implement it, making small tweaks along the way. Month after month we'd meet and it was always the same: There was some reason why he couldn't quite keep up to the plan we'd mapped out. He was busy with his day-job. Christmas. Spring break. His car broke down. He and his family went on vacation. Month after month. We tweaked his plan, made adjustments, but the story was always the same.
Due to some family commitments, he couldn't meet over the summer. So when we met again at the end of September, almost a year after our first meeting, there was no noticeable difference in his businesses. "We need to update the plan," he told me in a recent meeting.
And that's when I told him what the real problem was. I said, "We have a plan – it's a good one. I know it works because I've coached many others to success using a similar plan. The problem is with implementation." He tried to counter with various excuses and, as professionally as possible, I pointed out that they were just excuses.
We talked about how to fix it and I promised that I would coach him through implementing his plan but he needed to commit to action.
He said he would. But, two months later, he hadn't done a thing. At our last meeting he pointed out that Halloween was busy for him and he wasn't sure he'd be able to do anything until after Thanksgiving. And that's when I decided enough was enough.
As coaches, our job is to help our clients. I know that most of you would bend over backwards to help your clients achieve their goals. But we also have a responsibility to our clients in another way, too: If they are wasting their money and their time, we need to tell them. A coach is still a coach if he or she ends the relationship with someone they can no longer help. In some cases, you might pass on their name to another coach who specializes in a different area, or you might follow up with them 3 months later with the view of signing them on in the future if they need your help again. But, as professional coaches, we have a responsibility to our clients to help them – either by coaching them or by NOT coaching them!
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