Exploring The Client's Brain
Understanding your client's brain is crucial in coaching because it enables the coach to tailor their approach in a way that maximizes effectiveness, fosters growth and encourages long-term behavioural change. The brain plays a central role in how people think, feel, behave and learn, so understanding its workings can help a coach align their strategies with the client’s mental processes and emotional responses.
When you're with a client, a simple question to reflect on is "What is going on in the brain of my client?" It is equally useful to reflect on what is going on in your brain as your thoughts can impact how you show up in the coaching relationship.
When you understand how the brain works you can :
- Create more effective coaching spaces which are high in reward where clients feel valued and psychologically safe, this is crucial if you want to have deeper conversations with clients
- Tailor your questioning techniques to support different systems in the brain and ways of making decisions
- Maximise neuroplasticity, supporting your clients to build new neural pathways through the environment you create and tools you use
- Listen to all cues with your client noticing when they might be in a threat state and supporting them to reduce stress
- Use more creative techniques to help support your clients to get new insights
We believe Neuroscience is core to coaching effectiveness and it runs through our diploma courses as well as being a stand alone module.
Are you wondering how this can show up in a coaching session? We share some examples below which can give you clarity on how you can apply this concept to real life coaching scenarios.
Why Is It Important?
The brain is capable of rewiring itself through neuroplasticity, the process by which it forms new neural connections. Understanding this process is key to helping clients create lasting behavioural change. A coach can guide clients in practicing new behaviours consistently, reinforcing these behaviours through positive feedback and rewards, and creating new neural pathways that support the desired changes.
For example: If a client is trying to overcome procrastination, the coach can help them break tasks into smaller, more manageable steps and support them to consider how they'll celebrate success. You can use questions such as "What would the first step be?" or "What do you feel is achievable" This gradually reinforces the new habit and making it easier for the brain to form new pathways that support productivity. Plus, if you want to reinforce the pathways stronger you can work with the dopamine receptors in the brain so may ask "How will you celebrate your progress" or "What could keep you on track" if a client gets any kind of reward / benefit from behaving in a certain way their brain will release dopamine reinforcing that behaviour.Why Is It Important?
The brain’s executive functions, housed primarily in the prefrontal cortex, are responsible for decision-making, planning and problem-solving. Coaches who understand how these functions work can guide clients to enhance their cognitive skills, leading to more effective decision-making and better solutions to problems.
Example: A coach may help a client who struggles with decision-making by teaching techniques to engage the prefrontal cortex more effectively, such as slowing down the decision-making process, weighing pros and cons, or visualising potential outcomes. This is why we only ask one question at a time as our brain's operating system is mono-focused not multi-focused.
Why Is It important?
Trust & safety are at the heart of coaching. When we're working with clients we need to be aware of how we build connection and create spaces that are high in reward where they feel supported and seen.
For example: Before you start a coaching session you can check in with how a client is doing and build relatedness and empathy. This check in period can frame the coaching conversation. For example if a client shares that they're stressed, they won't be working with their brain's maximum cognitive resource. You may also support them to lower their stress levels by looking at a breathing technique, visualisation or grounding exercise.
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