One aspect of being a helping professional that is rarely mentioned is the power of Influence.
You influence your client in many ways, even without saying or doing anything. Here are six ways that come to mind:
1. By your presence.
2. By being a role model of a functional, positive, energetic, risk taking, growth-oriented, evolving and striving person.
3. By the client’s decision to hire you they consciously and unconsciously give you permission to help them.
4. By the client wanting to please you/get your approval. This is largely unconscious and results in their willingness to stretch and do things that they wouldn’t/couldn’t do before hiring you.
5. By being in their life and on their mind 24/7. We see numerous clients and forget that they have only ONE coach. You become a very important person in their life even without saying or doing anything.
6. This might be a bit psychoanalytic, but by the client’s projections. Even if you don’t say or do anything, they unconsciously project onto you what they need to move forward. For example, I’ve had many clients tell me that they heard my voice in their head and it helped them in that moment. When asked what my voice said, some responses were something like “Go for it, you can do it.” which I have never said to them! This can also backfire as clients project negative stuff that is not real or accurate and never came from you, such as criticism, etc.
If you review the above you can see that your clients give you a lot of power even without you saying or doing anything, which can make your job pretty easy, so you can relax and go with the flow in working with them, knowing that they are giving you the power and permission they need to be successful.
