Overconfidence in coaching

A common bias is confusing confidence and competence. For example, if your GP examines you and then says: “I am not quite sure what this rash is, let me look it up”, most people would assume they are junior doctors and not very competent rather than (correctly) appreciating that they are taking care and resorting to the latest research rather than what they learnt in medical school potentially decades ago.

For coaches, this bias can be relevant in their relationship with their clients. A coach who is their humble self when having a chemistry call with a client might not be as successful as a coach who seems confident that the client’s issue will be solved. And then, if the coach has listened to themselves talk about the great things they can do for their clients, might even develop some overconfidence themselves. The consequences may be:

1. Unrealistic expectations

Coaches who promise results to clients may set unrealistic expectations. Clients end up buying the result rather than the process and expect solutions from the coach rather than working on their goals themselves. Coaches might start blaming clients for lack of progress and a blame game may ensue.

2. Not listening to feedback

In this blame game, the coach can become deaf to their clients trying to tell them that something is not working. If you have to pretend you are the “hero coach”, it is hard to assume a stance of listening to and partnering with the client.

3. Co-creation and collaboration is destroyed

Need I say more? The search for “whose fault it is that the client is not progressing” is one of the worst places you can be in coaching!

So, what to do instead of promising the moon in your chemistry calls? How about collecting a few client success stories in which you highlight how you collaborated with the client (of course, in an anonymized way) to help the client grow. Stress what the clients did and which results the client was able to achieve during the time you were coaching them. That way, you come across as confident and competent but already position the accountability and responsibility for the client’s progress where it belongs.

If you would like to explore how to create great chemistry calls, talk about our courses or have anything else you would like to discuss with likeminded coaches, why not come to one of our free meetup and exchanges?

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