Improvisation in coaching sessions

Improvising is an art that requires progressive development and a lot of practice to improve it without interfering with the value of the content and information we transmit. There are many opinions about improvisation as a useful resource when communicating with our clients. While some prefer to adhere strictly to a methodology and script, others are more flexible in the exchange with clients.

During the development of this guide we will be addressing some of the key points of improvisation as a tool when conducting our coaching sessions, so that you can learn about its usefulness and how to make the most of it.

Improvisation allows you to correct biases

Prejudices are those preconceived ideas that we tend to assume before having the necessary elements to form an accurate and coherent value judgment with reality. Having prejudices is a human attitude, but it can considerably hinder our coaching sessions and affect the results we pursue with them.

It is possible that during our first discovery session we have formed an erroneous criterion of the events and the general aspects of the specific problem, this leads us to propose strategies and actions that are not in line with reality.

By means of the tool of improvisation, we can naturally correct our strategies and adjust them to the reality that we discover in the exchange with our clients, being this a very effective resource to correct the prejudices that we had previously formed.

Being flexible in favor of the client's personal interests

The ability to put improvisation into practice in our coaching sessions has a second very valuable aspect: to be flexible in favor of the client's personal interests. Even when we have been able to conceive the problem correctly during the first discovery sessions, without forming erroneous prejudices, our actions and strategies to recommend may not be adjusted as much as possible to the client's personal interest.

The most effective strategies are not always the ones that most interest the client, that is why a coaching session is not a monologue, but an exchange on both sides, where the client defends his interests and points out which are the points that most concern him. In case we fail with the previous planning that we have carried out before the session, we can improvise according to our knowledge and strategies to reformulate new actions that are closer to the satisfaction of the client's personal interest.

Improvisation is complemented by the script.

The fact that we know how to improvise during a session with our clients is not contrary to carrying a previously prepared script. The script and improvisation are two tools that complement each other in an effective way, each one plays its role and fulfills certain particular needs. Having a script allows us to have a series of guidelines so that the session flows in an organized manner towards the satisfaction of certain objectives.

When we add improvisation, we provide an extra layer of armor that protects us from the appearance of situations that have not been preconceived and that could alter the expected results.

Don't be afraid to develop this skill and let it develop progressively, the situations that arise in your day to day life will force you to improve in this valuable art for the development of your coaching sessions.