Are you good at coaching people who are being vulnerable?

People are now rightly being encouraged to be more open and talk about how they feel and while this is an important forward step in terms of our mental health, we do need to ask, how good are we at coaching someone who is being vulnerable?

A big (and important) question and here are some thoughts in case this is relevant for you…

• Acknowledge don’t judge their emotions – if someone feels worried or upset, you telling them not to be probably isn’t going to help!
• Don’t be too quick to make comments – avoid filling silences as allowing them to sit with their emotions to try and make sense of them can be very useful.
• Know the process to use if you feel they need to talk to a qualified professional – this will allow you to still feel useful if it becomes clear you are not the best person to talk to.
• Clarify, clarify, clarify – continue to ask them, “what would be most useful now?”. They may not know but it’s not your job to decide what they need in the moment.
• Become VERY aware of your filters. As humans we’re conditioned to interpret what we hear based on our beliefs and experiences (“they need to toughen up”) and being aware of how this might play out in how you try and help them is VERY important.

I think it’s hard to coach people who are being vulnerable so keep this on your agenda as part of your coaching development as this isn’t going away any time soon…

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