So Steve, what do your clients gain?

So Steve, what do your clients gain? The answer is different for every student.

Almost all students gain greater facility in moving toward their academic career goal–getting off probation, gaining admittance to a targeted program or campus, maintaining or improving a grade. Where the differences come in is what it takes to get there. I’ve addressed different challenge areas in this blog, from time management to exam writing to group work. 

Then Phil comes to mind. Phil doesn’t fit any single category, yet is a classic example of what can go right with a coaching relationship, in both directions. Phil helped me mould my practice. Phil now has his certification and is practicing his vocation.

Phil had been identified as autistic, and in the classroom was the stereotype Asperger’s eager over-contributor. We worked one-on-one on this in our meetings, and I then observed and coached real-time in the classroom. His grades on group work went up and complaints about working with him dried up.

Phil was the student where I kicked my time-management coaching approach up several notches, fine tuning the tools and adapting techniques for maintaining focus–including taking breaks, dealing with distractions, and spotting self-sabotaging thoughts.

Phil was the student who needed coaching on overcoming the self-sabotage of beating himself up for self-sabotaging himself. We would identify an area that needed work, such as public speaking, then combine teaching the skill, coaching the positive mindset, practicing the skill, and debriefing the performance. This would include self-spotting negative self-talk, and replacing it with positive beliefs.

Over the months, a trust relationship built. This might mean just a quick preventive 10 minute meeting on an issue would get Phil redirected. It might mean a longer session on an area peripheral to academic success, such as an upcoming job interview. Sometimes I did very little other than redirect from self-doubt to self-affirmation, as Phil put together his plan.

My success was seeing Phil’s success, not just in his grades, but in his confidence in his ability to succeed in his projects, his courses, and in the real possibility that he would have a successful career. Phil’s biggest academic challenge was his belief in himself, that he could get study skills to work for him. He could. Then he believed he could. And then he did.

It doesn’t get any better than that, for this coach.

I’d like to hear your biggest academic challenge, a single line or a page to [email protected] I’d like to explore coming up with a plan that works for you.