3 Accountability Tips for Creating Lasting Change

Today I'll give you 3 accountability tips to help you create more consistent, sustainable change in your client's life.  As a life coach our ultimate goal when we work with clients, is to make a positive impact on their life. And doesn’t it seem that the faster our results arrive, the more skilled we believe we are?

Many of us would love to be known as the king or queen of rapid transformation. But most change does not happen this way. In fact the best, most lasting change usually happens slowly and deliberately.

And within a coaching relationship, change often happens because of accountability.

In my own coaching practice, discussing accountability with my client almost never happens. It's an unspoken understanding. And after the desired results were achieved, many clients have confessed that a major component to their motivation was the accountability.

Here's how it would work within my coaching sessions. The client would decide on their action plan and we'd measure their level of motivation to accomplish the steps needed. If the goal was desirable and the motivation high, we presumed the action steps would happen. And usually they did.

I always found the topic of accountability rather mundane and uninteresting yet … it created a framework for my clients' success. Maybe you'll agree that accountability is rather unglamorous.

But regardless of what our opinion about it might be, accountability has to be at the center of our work if we want to create consistent progress in our coaching relationships.

Expressing our enthusiasm to achieve our goals and dreams is pretty easy but sticking to the changes needed to get us there can be extraordinarily difficult.  This intersection is where accountability becomes super important.

Here are 3 accountability tips to help you create greater progress in your coaching relationships:

1) Reinforce your clients goals and desires. Remind them what is at stake.

2) Tell your client that you will be checking in with them to learn whether they accomplished the task they agreed to do.

3) After each coaching session send your client and email as a coaching session follow up. In the body of the email you'll ask questions to reinforce what you did in your session and support your client in their mission.

Experienced coaches are well aware that the true power of coaching has very little to do with arriving at breakthroughs quickly, but rather creating a path for consistent forward movement. This is what leads to changes that will last.

When you act as your client’s accountability partner and they know you will hold them responsible for accomplishing their agreed on tasks, something remarkable takes place.
This is the juncture where your coaching relationship can birth lasting change that leads to increased fulfillment and joy for those you work with.

In our dual-certification Certified Christian Life Coach / Certified Professional Life Coach program at this Academy, I give you the coaching session debrief form I have personally used for over a decade with clients.  

In fact, you receive as a BONUS, professional coaching forms valued at $497+ to customize with your contact information and use in your coaching practice.

If you found value in these accountability tips and you're looking for coach training and certification from a Spirit-Led, Biblical worldview without the integration of secular humanism, psychology or other man-made philosophies, you will love this life-transforming course.

Now it's your turn. What challenges or wins have you had with propelling your clients to their success? Please tell us in the comments section near the bottom of this page.

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Copyright 2018 by Leelo Bush, PhD, All rights reserved.

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