“The value of a coach does not stem from what they know. It stems from what the coach makes others believe they can achieve.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)
“3 New Negotiation Tips To Help
Increase Your Coaching Skills”
People don’t realize they’re always negotiating.
What makes a person a good coach, and how can a coach become excellent? Good coaches understand that they enter into negotiations with clients and mentees. Excellent coaches have the negotiation ability to shift sessions based on the negotiation strategy required to produce the outcome they seek.
The following are three-how-to negotiation strategies excellent coaches use and those that good coaches should consider using to negotiate more effectively with clients.
1. Client Coach Challenges
If you have been a coach for any considerable time, you have experienced a client that did not want to adopt your suggestions; some may have been hostile about implementing your advice. From a negotiation perspective, how did you handle such situations, and how might you have addressed them more effectively? Depending on the circumstances:
A.) As a coach, people perceive you as the leader. Sometimes coaches need to exert their authority by being firm with dissenters. At those times, recognize that you are negotiating for power.
In times of conflict, like excellent negotiators, excellent coaches know to argue facts; they do not get personal. Your client is challenging you because they may have a strong opinion about a point that stems from other possible underlying situations from their past. You will not know how to alter their perspective unless you uncover that.
B.) Never set yourself up to be challenged based on your position. Some clients love the role of a contrarian; they thrive in the attempt to display the knowledge they possess to display that they are equal to you.
When a client confronts you during a coaching session, understand that the push-and-pull for power may be at hand. By understanding what is occurring from a negotiation point, you can reposition their perception of your authority. You may consider relinquishing it to see what your client does next or bolstering it; you can do the latter by asking the client what outcome they expect from the session and what they perceive they are currently receiving.
The point is, as a coach, you should constantly seek feedback on how your client perceives the value they are receiving versus what they thought they would receive. Without that feedback, a coach will not know how or what adjustments to make.
2. Coaching Psychology
As stated, about coaching a client, you must understand the client’s mindset to be effective. And when coaching in group situations, you must become more aware of the dynamics that make up the group – group dynamics will always be different from those of an individual. Nevertheless, in both environments, the better you can negotiate, the greater will become your success rate.
So, from a psychological view, how might you negotiate more effectively? Consider the following:
A.) What You Said vs. What Others Heard
When a coach speaks, their words are interpreted based on the meaning a client gives those words. Thus, miscommunication may occur unless a coach validates how their words are perceived.
To overcome the possibility of miscommunication, use the phraseology the individual or group uses. It will allow you to bond with them quicker; it should also enhance the trust factor with them because, from a psychological view, people like people that are like themselves. And using the same phraseology as mentees and clients will make you appear like them.
B.) In group dynamics, someone will always attempt to be the group’s leader. To sway the group, consider making that individual your ally. Do that by positioning that person to agree with your pronouncements.
If that person is someone that challenges your authority, ask what they would do in particular situations – remember, you are negotiating with this person. And one way to foul a foil is to draw their perspective out in the open. Once there, you know better how to address them. And that is also the way you can regain control of the group.
3. Communication
There are several components that a coach should adhere to, to enhance the chances of a successful outcome. And as most coaches are aware, how you communicate with mentees and clients is essential to that end goal.
Earlier, I mentioned that a coach could use the same phraseology to connect psychologically with those they coach. The following are additional strategies used in negotiation to do so through how a coach communicates.
A.) Conveying Different Degrees of Listening
During negotiation, a negotiator can emit silent signals based on how they respond to what is said – and so can a coach. To become a more effective coach, display by your actions that you are more attuned to some of your client’s pronouncements while not displaying any gestures or comments on others. That will convey a sense of what you think is essential. It will also signal matters that have less urgency.
B.) Using Questions To Ask Effective Questions
In every negotiation and coaching environment, the questions and statements drive engagement. To use questions to affect your coaching abilities, use them to answer a question you would instead not address (i.e., so, what do you think about that?). You can use the same strategy to answer your client’s or mentee’s statements.
Reflection
As is the negotiation case, coaching is about controlling your environment. And to be an effective coach, you must always give the allusion of control in the manner that best suits your goals.
Adopting the negotiation insights mentioned in your coaching repertoire will increase your coaching skills. Your clients will be the beneficiary of that. And everything will be right with the world.
Remember, you’re always negotiating!
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