by Karla Dennis

As coaches, there are many things that can be challenging at times. Sometimes it’s coming up with those powerful questions, other times it might be marketing and how to build your business. However, in this blog I wanted to dive into a challenging issue we face as Coaches that we don’t often talk about and that is, “No Opinion”! In the first track of our Dream Releaser Coaching curriculum there is an acronym that we use for coaching which is PLANS. Plans stands for Powerful Questions, Listening, Accountability, No Opinion, and Silence. I would have thought that out of these 5 things the hardest one for me would have been silence, and if you know me personally you would have said the same thing.  However, I find that not having an opinion while coaching is a challenge. According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary the meaning of OPINION is a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter. When considering this definition, I am not sure if it’s possible for us to not have an opinion.  The moment your client begins to share their story, their why, or what they hope to accomplish we have already begun to form an opinion. Our goal as a coach however, is to not allow our opinion to invade the coaching session. At the end of the day, as the coach, my thoughts, feelings, and opinions are irrelevant. So the question and the challenge is how do I coach a client without my opinion getting in the way?

Several months back the issues of having “no opinion” became so real to me as I was coaching a new client. In our first session they mentioned losing large sums of money to gambling. As I heard the staggering amount of money they gambled not just once but twice, I just knew they wanted me to help them to stop gambling. At some point later during the session, to my surprise, it became apparent we were not on the same page. Here I was trying to coach this client to stop gambling, but they wanted coaching on how to gamble in moderation. I allowed my opinion to lead me to an assumption.  I mean who would still want to gamble after losing that kind of money? As a coach it is not my job to coach clients on what I think is best or right, but on what they are asking us to coach them on. This is why having “No Opinion” as a coach is not only beneficial but imperative. I am so thankful for this client and situation because it taught me how easy it is to allow our opinions, feelings, judgements, and thoughts to cloud the coaching session and that I need to proactively safeguard my sessions from them. How can we do a better job of safeguarding our sessions? By going back to the basics of coaching. Listen to what they are saying and what they want coaching on. Making sure those powerful questions revolve around what they hope to accomplish and not what we think they should do.  Lastly, as a coach be aware and adjust when your opinion, thoughts, feelings, and judgments start to get in the way.  I hope this helps you as it has helped me to be a better coach.