5 Adult Learning Principles Every Life Coach Should Know

Are you a life coach, looking to improve your practice? Like any coaching profession, coaching is a skill that needs to be developed. Coaches should understand how human beings learn and how to apply these principles in coaching sessions. It’s important to realize that coaching isn’t just about asking questions and listening – it’s an adult learning process. As a life coach, you need to know the following 5 adult learning principles so you can become more effective, improve your coaching skills and be mindful of the coaching process.

Adults are self-directed learners.

Adults need to know why the content is relevant to their lives. Good coaches put the client first and let them direct their own learning. In coaching sessions, clients take the lead and decide what is good for them.

Self-direction should be a goal of coaching sessions. As a coach, you need to avoid thinking you know everything or can tell your client what they “should” do. The coaching process should be about the client’s needs and their wellbeing – not about yours.

You may find it difficult to make plans for the future of your business without any understanding of where you are going as an individual business owner/ leader or as a company. A business coach will provide you with insights into how to get businesses growing – making them ideal partners for your business growth plans.

Adults are focused on solving their problems.

Adults come to coaches looking for help to solve real-world problems. A good coach helps them set goals and put plans in place to achieve these goals.The coaching process is focused on the client achieving their goals in coaching sessions. However, they face problems along the way and coaching allows them to problem-solve these issues.

Good coaching involves coaching your clients to solve problems in coaching sessions, not just having them talk about what’s wrong or how they feel. This can be done by using open questions when you ask for more information necessary to make progress towards a goal. By asking open questions, life coaches encourage clients to focus on solving their issues instead of talking about what isn’t working in their lives.

coach on your side will motivate, inspire and drive you forward with results that will put smiles on all of those who rely upon you (not just yourself).

Adults have experiences – use them.

Working with adults means that they come with a considerable amount of experience. Helping them make sense of and use these experiences can make coaches much more effective. You can use the power of coaching to help adults make sense of their past experiences and determine how these experiences impact them and their thoughts/behaviors now. This process is challenging but coaching your clients to understand the links between their past experiences and current patterns will make you a better life coach.