Have you ever been faced with a client and felt paralysed by your own ineptitude? Looks at stereotypical clients and identifies the CPDs you can undertake to support your coaching mastery
Sam Humphrey

Client profile

Theme tune

Happy Talk by Captain Sensible

Favourite films

Anything with Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy or Harold Lloyd in it

Favourite animal

A laughing hyena

Role model

David Brent from The Office (obviously!)

Comedians. We’ve all met and suffered them. Remember the class joker at school or the prankster at university? But what about coaching a comedian in a responsible job?

Setting coaching goals with this client can be infuriating. First, he thinks everything is great, super, fabulous, but he will meet you just to “keep the smile on HR’s face”.

Clarifying goals is equally infuriating. The joke telling, the drum roll after every quip, the bellowing laugh and incessant smile provoke rather strong feelings in people.

Observing an interaction between this client and another person is like attending a transactional analysis role play workshop. Some will turn to their critical parent side and ooze disapproval. Others will turn to their child and join in the general silliness.

An office of free children is akin to a scene involving Ben Elton, Joan Rivers, Bobby Davro, The Chuckle Brothers and Lee Evans, alongside your client in Carry on Management.

One of the issues is whether your client is a clown – happy on the outside but crying on the inside, or simply Mr Happy. Pay attention to the CPD activities you undertake.

Foundation: parallel process

As an inexperienced coach, you will struggle to stay detached from this client’s ability to suck you into his world. You will soon be laughing at bad jokes and leaving whoopee cushions on chairs. At this point, make an emergency appointment with your supervisor and ask them to explain parallel process.

Intermediate: platitudes

You will have plenty of banal conversations with this client. But instead of watching your coaching confidence evaporate before your eyes, why not have a platitude to hand? “Every cloud has a silver lining”, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, etc.

Practitioner: empathise

As a more experienced coach, you could benefit from sharpening some well-used tools, namely empathy. Take it to a new level with this client. Go to open mike nights at local comedy clubs and experience the highs of making people laugh or the tumbleweeds rolling through the room as you die a slow and tortuous stage death.

Master: case study

As a guru you know you will have the last laugh. Case study this client as a role model for positive psychology, write a book – then go on the speaker circuit together.

Volume 4, Issue 2