Goal Achievement Case Studies In Life Coaching
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Are you a goals coach? Of course you are. Goals are about taking your clients from where they are to where they want to be, do or have both personally and professionally, whatever their niche.
These three case studies show some of the more subtle and creative strategies I have used to help clients with setting goals and achieving them as well as overcoming things that got in the way of their success.
I've also included a template for creating your own case examples.
*Of course names have been changed to protect the client's confidentiality and privacy.
Amelia's Goals Were Doing A Tug-O-War
Amelia was 33 when she came to me for goals coaching.
She loved to travel and her career goal was to be National Sales Manager for her company. This goal would involve a lot of interstate and overseas travel and being away from home for days, even weeks, at a time.
The other big goal she shared with me was that she and her partner intended to have started a family by the time she was 35.
In our first session she shared with me that she never seemed to have the real motivation and drive she needed to achieve her career goal and it was never quite the right time to start a family.
Coaching Breakthrough: Amelia recognised her barrier to achieving her goals
With coaching Amelia came to realise that her barrier to achieving either of her goals was she was being pulled in two directions. If she carried on like this, her career goal would stall and the goal of having a family could become one of those "some-day" goals that might never happen.
I asked Amelia: "What in your heart of hearts, do you really want the most? Your career/travel goal or starting a family? If you had to let one of these goals go, which would it be." Starting a family easily won out as the priority.
She chose to reorganise her career goal to something just as stimulating and rewarding but without the travel component. Her love of overseas travel could now be satisfied by family vacations.
When you are coaching a client on goal achievement make sure all their goals align with and do not conflict with each other.
Jack Had Never Celebrated His Achievements
Jack, a successful lawyer, came to my group goals clinic.
When I asked the participants to share the goals they had already achieved, Jack gloomily said he couldn’t think of any.
I knew he must have a law degree, so in the break I asked him if he had ever really acknowledged achieving the goal of getting his law degree and all the hard work it took.
Jack told me that he had studied long and hard at university with the goal to get his law degree first time around.
With more questioning Jack revealed that when he passed with honours, he did not really acknowledge himself or celebrate his success. After all, it was only what was expected of him by his high achieving family.
Rather he immediately moved on and put all his energy into finding a position within a law firm and being a successful attorney. He was acknowledged as being a talented lawyer but never felt particularly successful.
Coaching Breakthrough: Jack realised it was time to celebrate
The lights went on for Jack when he saw that he had glossed over this major achievement (as well as several sporting wins we unearthed).
His energy changed and everyone in the workshop could see and feel it. He realised he had sailed past several other goals but without acknowledgement or celebration.
Jack committed to celebrating those lost and forgotten achieved goals by buying a new sound system for his car and a special dinner with his wife. (The celebration needs to be more than just an acknowledgement - it needs to be something tangible to anchor the success.)
He was then back in achiever mode in the workshop and ready to set a new goal.
Through coaching, the client may come to recognise goals that have been achieved but just glossed over as they rushed forward to the next expected thing. This can be one of the major barriers to achieving new goals.
So guiding the client to recognize and celebrate those overlooked achievements, invariably results in renewed confidence and motivation.
Phillipa Was Stuck on Her Goal to Write a Book
Phillipa came to me for coaching because her goal to write about her amazing life had stalled and she was no longer motivated to keep going. She told me she was quite enthusiastic in the beginning but it never really flowed and her efforts soon diminished to a trickle of words.
Everybody in her circle said she should write a book because she had so much information and wisdom to share. They convinced her that with such a fascinating story to tell, it was what she should do at her time of life.
She felt terrible about it all. People kept asking her "How’s the book coming on?" So she forced herself to keep going, convinced it was something she had to finish.
Coaching Breakthrough: A "Should" is not an authentic goal
The truth that came out with my coaching was that Phillipa had never really wanted to write a book! She felt no burning need to put it all out there. Her goal was based on other people’s opinions and expectations.
When she came to see this, she made the choice not to continue writing and comfortably let the goal go rather than try to live up to other people's expectations. She was proud of, and comfortable with that decision .
Make sure goals are authentic and not "shoulds".
The thing to be learned from Phillipa's experience is to make sure your clients goals are what they really want, and not something they or other people think they should do. They need to "own" the goal completely. Asking the client "why" they want the goal is a vital part of goal achievement success.
I hope you have found these client case studies useful. As you can see there is far more to goal success that simply setting and planning. So read on for that help and my template to show you how to create a case study.
Would You Like More Help With Your Goals Coaching?
My eBook, Mastering the Art of Goals Coaching is about so much more that setting goals. It’s like having a mentor to help you coach your clients to the results they want with ease, certainty and even fun.
So check out this preview and get a taster of the content:
https://www.lifecoachingprofessionally.com/mastering-goals-coaching.html
How To Write a Coaching Case Study
I hope these case studies have given you some strategies to use in your own goals coaching.
As a life coach, you may want to showcase your own successes on your website as I have done here. I developed a simple template for how to write a coaching case study that take the reader on the coaching journey. It goes like this as you can see from my examples above.
- Describe situation the client is in when they came to you.
- Tell how you coached them get to the core issues they needed to address
- Share breakthrough they had from your coaching and what actions they took
- Remember to change names to protect client confidentiality
- End with a short summary of how your goals coaching worked (optional)
Preview my eBooks for extra coaching value and resources
In addition to Mastering The Art of Goals Coaching I have also written a range of informative books (all from my own 25+ years' experience). They will help you to authentically attract new quality clients, increase your coaching skills and promote your coaching services. Check them out.
Only available as a 60 page color PDF.
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