SURPRISE THEM!

If you are not regularly surprising your clients, you are probably being too nice, too gentle, and too predictable. If that’s the case, then set your goal to stop it and learn how to introduce some gentle surprising as part and parcel of your coaching skills.

To do that, first recognize the probable of being too predictable as a coach. When you are predictable, your clients will start to tune you out because ... well, they can predict what you’re going to say or do. At that point, they have you pegged! They have your number. You are in a rut and they know it and this reduces the sense of adventure that is inherent in good coaching. When the day comes that your client begins to finish your sentences and questions—that will be the day when you know that you are truly in a rut.

Surprise is defined as “to encounter suddenly or unexpectedly, to catch unawares, to cause to feel wonder, astonishment or amazement, to present something unanticipated.” It comes from sur- over, above, upon and prize to take, to seize. A surprise seizes the mind, it can take over one’s perspectives, understandings, expectations, etc.