Barnabas File

Christian Coaches Network International’s MAXIMIZE 2016 e-Summit will be presented online September 29 to October 1. This year’s virtual conference brings together the Christian Coaching industry’s top speakers and leaders sharing their best-kept secrets on how to maximize your coaching practice.  I have been invited to present a seminar on “Creating Opportunities to Coach Clergy” on Saturday, October 1.   The conference will highlight faith-based strategies on: •    How to find your own niche and define your services offered •    How to best market your services through the latest technologies •    How to strengthen your personal coaching skills and styles •    How to keep your business thriving toward greater success …AND MUCH MORE! You can get more information or register here . 

In a coaching context, encouragement plays an important part, but it must be done authentically in a way that the person can both receive it and use it for further growth.  Insincere or “canned” encouragement does little good and can, in fact, harm the client’s progress.  There are several ways that a coach can do this. First, affirm who they are.  In the coaching relationship, the coach will often pick up something that is an innate part of the client’s personhood.  This may well be a reflection of the person’s core values whether he or she recognizes it as a core value.  When the coach has such an insight, there is the opportunity to affirm the client’s “human being” rather than “human doing.”  The coach is affirming the personhood of the individual rather than something they have done.  An example might be, “Bill, you have a wonderful ability to identify with people going through times of loss.” Second, affirm their capabilities.  Ra...