#142 Awareness and Action: Striking the Coaching Sweet Spot
Why Coaches Fail
This is the fourth in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.
Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.
Today, I’ll explore awareness and action. passion for coaching, show why coaching between dispassion and dazzle is so important for effective coaching, and how to cultivate it for yourself.
Awareness and Action: Striking the Coaching Sweet Spot
In coaching, the dance between awareness and action is delicate, and essential. Coaches who rush toward action may do so with good intentions, eager to help their client ‘get somewhere’. But when action precedes insight, it often lacks depth. The client may take steps that are misaligned with their values, or solve surface-level problems without addressing underlying patterns. The result? Momentum without meaning.
On the other hand, some coaches linger too long in the realm of awareness. They explore, reflect, and deepen understanding, but hesitate when it’s time to move forward. This can leave the client feeling stuck, intellectually enriched but practically unchanged. Without action, awareness risks becoming abstract - a beautiful insight with nowhere to land.
The sweet spot is what I call ‘Awareness-informed action’. When coaches help clients uncover meaningful insights and translate them into purposeful steps, transformation becomes tangible. The client understands not just what to do, but why it matters. They move forward with clarity, ownership and confidence. The coach becomes a catalyst, not just for thinking, but for becoming.
Three Tips to Balance Awareness and Action:
Use Insight as a Springboard: After deep reflection, ask, ‘What does this make possible for you now?’
Co-create Action, Don’t Prescribe It: Let the client shape their next steps from their newly generated awareness.
Check for Alignment: Before moving to action, pause and ask, ‘Does this feel true to who you are and where you want to go?’
Coaching isn’t just about doing or being, it’s about becoming. And when you strike the awareness and action sweet spot, the client doesn’t just move forward, they evolve.
Visit https://www.growthecoach.com/free-resources to download an at-a-glance summary of all the coaching derailers.
