Early on as a Health Coach, one of my personal fears was not saying the "right" thing – not giving just the right advice or guidance. I imagined myself sitting in front of my client, tripping over my words, scrambling to look through notes or books to find exactly what I was supposed to say to this person who was paying me to help them get healthy. 

There were times, if I had let it, that this fear could have actually stopped me from moving forward as a coach.

What got me through initially is hearing IIN Founder Joshua Rosenthal’s voice in my head. Joshua spent a fair amount of time teaching us about how Health Coaches should always be listening during coaching sessions. We watched him demonstrate this, and then we practiced it. We needed to learn to listen. 

Really listen.

After that, I became purposeful about creating a space for my clients to talk. At first some of them didn’t feel comfortable – not everyone knows exactly how to express or explain a problem they're having, or maybe don't have the space in their lives to discuss things like this. I cultivated my ability to hear what they were saying. 

What I quickly realized is that in creating this listening space for clients, healing was happening. I didn’t need to have the right answer or perfect resource.  Just by being there, accepting them for who they are at that moment, and asking a few key questions, my clients – people who needed to be heard and to hear themselves think aloud about their lives – started breathing differently. Their unsure voices became more committed and strong. They began to figure out how they were getting in their own way when it came to getting healthy.

At first I actually felt a little guilty.  I felt like I wasn’t saying enough, and was scared they would think I was a fraud.  Don’t get me wrong: it’s not like I didn’t give any advice or offer resources or ideas.  But there was always plenty of time that I was sitting, looking, nodding, smiling…listening. 

And then the session was over. 

But to my surprise, people were getting healthier and happier. They were making changes in their lives. They were thanking me for everything I did to help them. So, I eventually let the guilt go and realized the just how powerful the lessons that I had learned about coaching from Joshua and from these experiences. It turns out, getting healthy isn't as hard for many people as they thought it might! Instead of waiting for their Health Coach to say the exact "right" thing, they needed someone who was an expert in the topic to listen to them.

And you know what? That’s actually when the "right" thing to say would just come out of my mouth.  The right resource would pop into my head. The missing puzzle piece to a health condition was put into place.

Having all the right answers isn’t what makes an effective coach. Sure, you need to be knowledgeable, and with IIN’s Courses you definitely are. But overall, my advice is to never let yourself get stuck on the idea you need to have the right answer before you can coach someone into better health.

Instead, cultivate your ability to listen and you’ll be amazed at how you can support people’s healing.

Angelle Batten graduated from IIN's Class of 2005. Connect with Angelle on her Twitter.