Answering the “What Do I Need to Do?” Question
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Everyone who enters into coaching has to grapple with some variation
of the question “What do I need to do?” To become a coaching
client, a person has to have the desire to further his or her personal
and/or professional development in some way and must have the
willingness to make the necessary changes to realize development
goals. Asking this question, or some variation of it, initiates the
coaching engagement and opens the door into the coaching space.
Sometimes clients answer the “What do I need to do?” question
with a list of outcomes designed to alleviate symptoms that are
plaguing the person. Joe may feel that he is not getting enough done
with his time, so he wants to become more organized, or Patty realizes
that her relationship with her team members is a little rocky,
and she wants to improve her ability to work effectively in a team
environment. In these cases, it is the coaches’ role to help clients
uncover and address the root causes for these problems. Some clients
are uncertain what they need to focus on. They may have a sense
that something needs to be changed to improve their effectiveness,
address feelings of being overwhelmed, or rekindle their enthusiasm
for their work, but they are uncertain as to what that something may
be. In these cases, the first work of the coaching relationship is often
to explore this question “What do I need to do?” in greater depth to
gain an understanding of the path coaching will take.