Way of using visuals to guide your client during the session

Managing expectation from your client is never easy.

Take Joanne for example. She jumps onto a 1:1 coaching call with you for the first time. In her mind, she thinks career coaches will offer direct, outright answers.

Joanne is a senior leader who needs help to land into her next role beyond banking. She has a wealth of experience across different job functions in reputable banks.

As Career Practitioners, we need to diagnose the client’s feelings and thoughts by diving deeper, gather more information and formulate a plan together for implementation.

Here is a standard process:

• Build chemistry

• Listen intently to identify top 5 key moments from Joanne’s banking career

• Ask questions to get more intelligence

• Use helping skills and coaching techniques to progress the conversations

All good.

Except that Joanne cuts you short, and insists that you tell her the answer.

“Isn’t that the job of a Career Practitioner to point me to a new profession?”

Gently outlining the dos and don’ts will just agitate her. Sounds very rule-based, and clients like Joanne get tired of boundaries.

Instead, use layman example to explain – e.g. “a taxi driver needs to know your exact location in Beverley Hills.” So, the driver will ask you for the specific spot, the best route that you prefer, and sometimes if the air-conditioning in the car is too cold !”

Very consultative and thoughtful.

Another way is to apply visuals:

1) Use a mind mapping diagram

I find it helpful to use keywords from the conversation, draw arrows and interlink them to map out possible themes. Then, I will use paraphrasing to affirm Joanne’s “world of work” perspective.

The aim is to flesh out “aha moments.” Subconsciously, she will interject and says “oh yes, this sounds like me, I see an interesting pattern of working in banks and a pharmaceutical company.

Joanne has taken over the exploration process, and this is what I want – she becomes the architect of her personal career journey. I did not point her to anything.

2) Leverage on cards and photos

Pictorial cards are useful. Memories are triggered. In the past, I use Google images that shows animals, plants, cliffs, mountain biking etc. There is a purpose to selectively choose each of them.

I insert the pictures into a PPT slide, and request Joanne to choose the best-fit photo. One that fits into her career identity – i.e. what she is known for.

Then, I get her to explain the image persona, and linking to the real-world self-concept of Joanne in the banking industry.

The result?

WOW! She sees gaps. She sees different personality assumed in her cut-throat banking job, and what she wants to be for the next move.

From the discovery, Joanne is prepared for a coaching conversation on potential roles, without even realizing that I am psychologically guiding her towards something new. I did not tell her what to do, she just verbalize. I put on a listening ear thereafter.

I have used several images on clients before, place them side-by-side to create a hypothesis. Then, I ask my client to write a statement about these images and the envisioned career. Think about cliff + tiger + wild grassland — what does this tell you?

There are several ways to help your client set the right expectation.

It is important to do so, because this affects the output.

Have you seen a client like Joanne before?