Most of our coaching clients are all-too-familiar with the nagging voice of doubt and criticism inside their heads. This voice, often referred to as the Inner Critic, is one of the key roadblocks holding our clients back from achieving their coaching goals. But is that voice the authentic voice of our client, or is it just a part? What wisdom can we learn from listening to all of the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of our client?

Below, 11 Institute of Coaching Fellow Members share their best advice for ways you can help your clients explore and manage their inner critic.

I recently attended an IOC Huddle on Diversity and Inclusion, in which we shared our experiences in relation to coaching. We explored topics ranging from what coaches can do to support leaders with diversity and inclusion to how to help clients navigate the current social climate. There was an interesting exchange, particularly around intersectionality, multiple identities and identity mapping – but for me, what occurred in the chat was even more fascinating, striking a chord on two different, related levels.

In this virtual conversation hosted by Jeff Hull, IOC fellows navigate how to help their clients shift the mindset about the pandemic from a sprint to a marathon.  The group discusses how they can, as coaches, first “put the oxygen mask on themselves” and then assist others to make the transition to a “new normal”  in a Covid-19 disrupted world.

This sucks. We got through an acute crisis. Barely able to absorb the nearly 100,000 lost lives in the US already, we awaken to a chronic crisis of COVID-19 accompanied by a sudden economic depression. It feels like a tunnel with no light ahead.