.png)
.png)
Success coaching is compared to a lot of different things. Some people compare Success Coaches to tutors, others to Executive Coaches for business leaders. It can be linked to Life Coaching as well as ADHD coaches, and, of course, Executive Functioning Coaches. There is truth in each of these comparisons, as Success Coaches cross over a lot of areas to support their clients in their future success. This blog post breaks down what Success Coaching is and what you can expect when working with a Success Coach.
There are a few main areas on which Success Coaching focuses, supporting clients in building specific skills that will set them up for success.
Executive Functioning skills are at the heart of success coaching, because they are key to success in any field or endeavor. In short, Executive Functioning skills are cognitive skills that coordinate and regulate behaviors. Some of the most common Executive Functioning skills that we build with our clients are organization, time management, and task initiation, which is the act of getting started on a task. Executive Functioning skills also include things like goal-directed persistence, which is the ability to set a goal and work towards it, prioritization of tasks, impulse control, and emotional regulation. Success Coaches work with clients to determine which Executive Functioning Skills are growth areas for and which ones are the client’s strengths in order to build a plan to improve these skills.
While goal-directed persistence is technically an Executive Functioning skill, it has its own unique emphasis in Success Coaching. Clients work with their coaches to determine goals that are exciting and motivating to them as well as achievable. Coaches help clients develop a plan with clear benchmarks to work towards that goal, helping them develop the tools that they need to be successful. When clients veer off course, Success Coaches help guide them back on track. When they achieve their goals, Success Coaches celebrate with them and help them set new goals.
In addition to short-term goals, Success Coaches also work with clients on planning for their futures. There might be a pressing need such as missing assignments or a disorganized desk that is in need of immediate attention. However, we also work to ensure that the client has long-term goals that they are working towards. When your day to day is stressful, it’s normal to avoid devoting energy to thinking too far in the future. However, Success Coaches help clients plan for their long term futures in a way that is focused on excitement and motivation, rather than pressure. We work with clients to uncover the future vision, and the plan necessary to get there, that can serve as our clients’ guiding light as they navigate their day to day lives.
An important part of Success Coaching that often separates it from tutoring or pure ADHD coaching is a real emphasis on discovering what is motivating and inspiring to clients. Goals are not one-size fits all, and what is motivating for some might not be motivating for others. Success Coaches prioritize getting to know their clients and their unique interests and needs. We will work together to envision a life that is exciting to the client, taking the time to explore their interests and even uncover new passions. We also work hard on discovering short-term motivating factors that will allow clients to persist when challenges arise. This unique aspect of coaching supports clients’ determination to achieve their goals and helps guide their future plans.
Confidence is a necessary trait for success, and it’s one that is often lacking in clients who seek support. Success Coaching builds confidence in our clients both explicitly and implicitly. Our approach intentionally celebrates every success, no matter how small. It is centered around positive reinforcement, and encouraging clients to speak and think positively about themselves as well. While we take these intentional approaches toward building confidence, it also comes naturally when working with a Success Coach. As clients start to feel more in control of their lives and their futures, as they set goals and achieve them, as they see improvements in their performance at school, work, and/or life, their confidence will naturally build. The more confident they begin to feel in their abilities, the more success they will have in these areas, creating a positive cycle of improvement.
Success Coaching is highly adaptive to the client’s needs and does not look the same for everyone. Although this model is designed intentionally to be customized, there are some aspects of the process that are the same in each case. There are a few steps that Success Coaches take in working with clients.
The most important first step of Success Coaching is to establish a baseline. Success Coaches gather a lot of information in order to get a full picture of our clients. We conduct formal assessments, aimed at assessing Executive Functioning skills and determining our clients’ strongest skills and biggest growth areas. We review any documentation that is necessary, which might include transcripts, letters from teachers, specialists, or colleagues for older clients. We conduct interviews both with clients and their parents, where applicable. The interview with the client is arguably the most important piece of the puzzle, as it helps us understand the client’s priorities and what is important to them. It’s also our opportunity to really get to know our client as a person and discover what interests and motivates them. We compile all of this information into our baseline data that we use to inform our approach.
Once we have established our baseline data, our next step is to set a goal for the semester. This goal is something that will be motivating to our clients but is also achievable. Success Coaches work with their clients to determine an appropriate goal and then create a plan to achieve it by the end of the semester. This plan will break down large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones and include many benchmarks from which to check in and celebrate success. While our focus might shift throughout the semester if more pressing matters arise, our Semester Goal is an important guiding factor in determining our areas of focus.
Once we have a plan, Success Coaches will support clients in following through with this plan through regular meetings. These meetings will take place weekly or twice per week, depending on the client and their needs. These weekly meetings can vary greatly, depending on what the most important task is at the moment. Some of these meetings will help clients set up systems that will be supportive in getting them organized, managing their tasks, and other productivity-related needs. Some meetings will serve as accountability sessions, checking in on how the systems are working, if they’re being used, and what needs to be adjusted. Sometimes, a pressing issue might come up, like a sudden large assignment or a looming deadline. In this case, we will shift our focus and break down these tasks to help our client feel in control. These sessions are highly adaptable based on client needs, but are always focused on building Executive Functioning skills and working toward their Semester Goal.
Success Coaches know that our clients are the only ones invested in their success. Parents, family members, and sometimes other specialists are very involved in supporting our clients and are invested in their success. For this reason, an important part of Success Coaching is a monthly Family Team Meeting. During this meeting, everyone that is invested in a client’s success has the opportunity to celebrate the progress they are making and learn about what strategies are working for them. These meetings are also great opportunities to discuss how each member can support clients, whether it’s continuing something they’re already doing or making a change. These meetings help remind our clients that they are not alone in working towards their goals and that they have a support system to lean on.
Celebrating success is something that happens often in Success Coaching. There is no milestone too small to celebrate, as we guide our coaching through the idea of progress over perfection. At the end of every semester, we will always celebrate the progress that has been made. In many cases, our clients have achieved their goals and are ready to set new, more ambitious ones. In other cases, clients may have come up short and we must celebrate their progress and consider how to adjust this goal to be more achievable for the next semester. A key part of Success Coaching is adaptability and knowing when to pivot to better support clients in pursuit of their goals. Therefore, each milestone met is a new opportunity to reassess goals and make sure they are still applicable to our clients.
Success Coaching with YA Success Coach is unique in our approach. Although you might see similar processes elsewhere, it is the mindset from which we approach our coaching that makes us uniquely successful with young adults.
Because we place such an emphasis on the importance of confidence, it is essential to focus on the strengths of our clients. We work hard to determine what our clients are skilled at and we build on their strengths in order to support their opportunities for growth. We carefully use language that emphasizes the strengths of their clients, building their confidence and reminding them that they have a strong foundation from which to build. This approach allows our clients to feel confident and capable of tackling the challenges that arise while building their skills.
When you work with YA Success Coach, you work with a coach who genuinely cares about their clients. To have true success when working with young adults, it is essential to get to know them as a person. This goes beyond asking them a few personal questions during our first meeting. It involves taking a genuine interest in what interests our clients, what excites them, what makes them nervous. Not only does this approach help young adults trust their coaches, but it allows coaches to be much more invested in the process, genuinely caring about the results. When our clients have success, the excitement from coaches is authentic, which allows everyone to feel more invested in the process.
This philosophy is essential when engaging in the messy business of skill building. Building habits, learning, and growing is not linear. It involves trial and error, it involves mistakes, and sometimes it involves completely starting over. For this reason, while Success Coaches help our clients set goals, it is not the end result we focus on. Instead, we focus on celebrating all evidence of progress. We celebrate every win, every small success, every milestone. This approach allows for clients and families to have a much more positive mindset on this growth process. It also allows for clients to feel more motivated when they do make a mistake or have a setback, because they know that more opportunities for progress are ahead.
Another unique aspect of Success Coaching is that our goal is to become obsolete. Although that process can be lengthy, our goal is to support clients in building systems that are supportive to their needs and that they can eventually manage on their own. We believe in phasing out support over time, providing just enough support that clients are successful, but never so much that they don’t feel that they can stand on their own. Our emphasis on building confidence in our clients is essential to building independence, as clients need to believe they can be successful on their own for it to happen. While we always aim to make sure clients feel supported, we are consistently pushing them a bit harder each time, helping them realize how capable they are of achieving success.
YA Success Coach offers preteens, teens, and young adults in the Austin area a unique type of coaching that combines Executive Functioning support with confidence-building and planning for the future. We help clients realize their full potential and support them in making concrete plans to achieve their goals. Our approach emphasizes understanding your child as an individual, learning about their unique interests and needs, and building strategies that emphasize their strengths and empower them to be the best version of themselves. Contact us today to learn more about how we can support your child’s path to success.
Having a conversation is the first step to helping your child realize their full potential and set them up for success!