Discover The “Soft Skills” That Set Great Coaches Apart From The Rest

⌛Estimated Read Time: 6min

What makes a good coach?

…And do YOU have what it takes to become one?

As they say, “success leaves clues” – and the qualities of a coach largely determine whether they can build a thriving practice or not.

So if you feel called to make an impact as a coach, but you’re wondering if it’s right for you, you’re in the right place.

Today, we’re going to lean into that calling, discover your individual qualities, and explore how they can come together to create an amazing life coaching practice.

Rest assured – you can cultivate these qualities, even if they don’t come naturally at first. 

So don’t let limiting beliefs dissuade you from getting into coaching if one of the qualities is not your strong suit yet. 

Let’s get started!

Top 10 Qualities of a Great Coach 

In life, sometimes it can feel like we’re up against more than we can handle. 

But the truth is that each one of us is far more powerful and contains more potential than any circumstance, situation, or condition.

As a life coach, your sacred job is to empower others with the spiritual tools that will not only help them overcome their current challenges, but future ones as well.

That’s why an effective coach possesses a unique set of skills that helps clients feel safe and tap into their full potential – such as clear communication skills, active listening, or empathy.

Professional coaches know that to achieve true transformation, the coaching relationship is part of the coaching process so these soft skills are a critical part of your arsenal!

Today we’re going to break down the top 10 qualities of a good coach and connect the dots so you better understand how they would directly impact your clients.

1. Confidentiality

The first thing your clients need to be vulnerable with you and share their dreams is being able to trust you. 

Not everyone has the energetic capacity to hold space for another person’s emotions, secrets, and deepest desires. 

Your clients will come to each coaching session with their longings, challenges, and dreams. By creating an environment of safety and trust, your clients will be able to dive deep into their own souls, and open up – making it a critical component to facilitate their transformation. 

I recommend having a privacy policy on your website, a confidentiality clause in your coaching agreement, as well as other documents like waivers, disclaimers, and disclosures that will help your clients feel safe, served and cared for. 

2. Active Listening

When you’re a coach, listening is not a passive activity.

A coach understands that communication is one of the most crucial coaching skills to master, so if you want to become an effective coach, paying attention to your client’s body language and asking open ended questions will become second nature. 

When you engage in active listening, you show your client that he or she is important to you and that you understand where they’re coming from. Usually this looks like engaging in a conversation through relevant questioning, gesturing, and summarizing. 

This can be extremely powerful because it leaves your client feeling seen, heard, and understood. It offers validation, and builds rapport and trust, which is essential for effective communication.

3. Empathy

Your ability to empathize with your clients will be the bridge that allows you to reach out to them and offer a helping hand… without empathy, you won’t find the best way to help them. 

This vital quality allows them to feel understood and validated – making them more willing to open up to you. 

A word of caution, though – empathy doesn’t mean you buy into your client’s “story” when it comes to their limits or negative self-talk. Rather, you’re able to see them beyond the failure stories, stumbling blocks, and limiting paradigms and help them tune into their own inner wisdom and power.

4. Compassion

By genuinely caring about the experiences your clients are having, they will feel more empowered to share their hurt, successes, and stories. 

Compassion is a motivating energy that keeps both you and your client moving you forward as they overcome their circumstances and transform their dreams into reality.

5. Brave Thinking™ 

The energy you bring to your coaching conversations has a direct effect on everyone participating. If you consistently focus on the positive, you encourage positivity in your clients and help shift their vibration. 

This mindset of growth and positive expectation is amplified through Brave Thinking™ which helps your clients open up to possibilities, come up with creative solutions, and go after their dreams.

6. Growth Mindset

A growth mindset means going beyond current situations, circumstances and conditions – and that’s exactly what you’ll need to inspire change in others.

Working with clients in a growth mindset makes it easier to identify areas of their lives where they can expand. This is a powerful tool for discovering blind spots they would be difficult to find on their own and accelerating your client’s desired results.

7. Integrity

Integrity as a coach is twofold: it means delivering on your promise of transformation by having a proven system that actually delivers results…

And it also means being a student of transformation yourself, and practicing what you preach. Staying on the path of growth will allow your clients to trust you even more, because they’ll see that you stand behind your words and actions. 

8. Passion to Help

Coaching isn’t just a career – it’s a sacred calling.

Clients love working with someone who cares about their challenges, dreams, and results.

Your belief in them can be infectious – and your clients can “borrow” your belief to take steps forward, even if they don’t feel so confident themselves. 

Your passion inspires them to take action, reach their goals, and follow their inner guidance as their highest authority.

9. Non-Judgmental

As a transformational life coach, you’ll be an audience to a wide range of emotions, stories, and experiences. 

It’s of vital importance to create a safe space where your clients feel comfortable expressing themselves and being confident that the things they are sharing will guide them forward and bring them to greater clarity.

10. Curiosity

Transformational life coaches experience the most success when they lean into the same spiritual principles they teach their clients. 

Great life coaches know that they can learn something from everything, and they don’t rely solely on their own knowledge. Instead, they look to the Infinite for guidance and support.

This allows them to source creative ideas from the universe, and unlock transformation in their clients with greater ease.

The #1 Key Quality to Succeed as a Coach

The truth about life coaching is that coaching skills alone won’t guarantee success.

While all the qualities you just saw are foundational characteristics of a good coach, there’s another special key ingredient you’ll need to become a successful coach.

It’s no secret that there are thousands of coaches out there – yet only a few of them truly stand out.

Why is that?

It’s because most coaches tend to focus on the same basic services or practices. For example, most coaches spend time listening to clients, offering advice and helping them improve their results by telling them what to do… 

And by doing this, they end up becoming just another coach in the market.

I see a lot of beginner coaches making this mistake unknowingly – by “being all things for all people” and not standing out instead of being true to themselves.

Instead, successful coaches discover and embrace what sets them apart. 

They develop their coaching practice around their unique qualities and abilities, and who they best serve with those traits in mind.

That’s why you want to find out what makes you unique – so you can stand out in the marketplace. 

You possess certain qualities that are uniquely yours. But they aren’t just any old qualities; they’re your coaching superpowers. 

Now let’s talk about how you can discover your own!

Discover Your Unique Coaching Superpower To Magnetize Dream Clients

There are people out there who are looking for what only YOU can offer.

When you tap into your coaching superpowers and show up as your most authentic self, your clients will feel magnetized to you – as if they literally “prayed you up”…

Which means you get to work with people who are a perfect fit for your unique coaching style.

As you grow your confidence and develop your coaching superpower, you’ll naturally welcome more abundance and wealth into your coaching practice.

The thing is, most coaches don’t even know what their coaching superpower is in the first place!

This is because your superpower comes so naturally that you don’t even realize you’re using it…

And that other people can’t quite tap into it as easily as you do.  

So if you’d love to attract dream clients, stand out in the marketplace, and build a successful coaching practice, I invite you to discover your unique coaching superpower with a short quiz:

Discover Your Unique Coaching Superpower Right Here 

This quick assessment will help you identify what makes you special as a coach, how your superpower can make a difference in the lives of your clients, and how to leverage it to build the thriving business you desire.

Find out how to use your own personal “secret sauce” for success as a coach by clicking the link below!

Take the free quiz here