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Not Feeling It

Sitting down to write, I am just not feeling it. Today has been a crazy busy day, and it got late on me quick. And that became the inspiration for this coaching post. The coaching world is great when a client (I will use that term for the person being coached) comes to you excited with an idea and ready to create. But often, a coach will be working with someone not feeling it.

The teacher may have a class of students who are not feeling it, so they are either not doing or not learning from their work. The teacher may not feel it because they have been told to do something by an administrator they don't believe in or previous similar attempts at something have failed. You may not feel it because you feel coached out for the day or don't like working with your client.

During these times, empathy is a great starting place. When your clients are down, let them know you hear them and will support them. When you are down, let the clients know that you are not firing on all cylinders, so you are here to spot them, but they need to do the heavy lifting during this session. What's important here is knowing that everyone has each other's back, that all of our jobs as educators are hard, and that some days are harder than others. Don't shame the client about being down on their students or themselves. Don't feel ashamed that you cannot muster your usual energy level.

What is essential with the client is to make them feel they are in a better place by the end of your session than at the beginning. Acknowledge the tough spots and point out the good ones. Encourage their efforts to get them into a better headspace. Maybe your session won't make as much progress as when everyone is ready to dig in and work, but any positive headway will start to build momentum. Do your best the next day to check in on the client, see how they are doing, and follow up on any progress they have made.

For the session where you were not at your best, apologize to the client and offer another time to work with them and make even better gains than already happened. Don't let too many bad sessions occur with a client, or they will lose faith in working with you. You cannot control someone else's emotions or responses to challenging situations, but you can control your own. So do whatever self-care you need to get back on track so you are feeling it the next time you meet with that client.

Image generated with help from ChatGPT.

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