Traits of A Life Coach

If you're seriously thinking about getting started in life coaching or business coaching, take a few minutes to do this personal inventory.


Like every professions, being a great at coaching requires a certain set of personal traits and capabilities. While it's possible to cultivate these traits over time, as a general rule it's easier to be successful at something when you have the right 'wiring'.

Here's a list of 10 of the top traits great coaches have. These are foundational traits and apply equally to coaches in life coaching, business coaching, executive coaching, and relationship coaching alike.

Take a few minutes and rate yourself on each of them using a scale of 1 to 10 (1 means you're very weak in this area).

The Top 10 Traits of Great Coaches

Coaches love people - Coaching is a profession for people who love people. Coaches who succeed over the long haul are motivated by helping others grow. The truth is, most would still be 'coaching' even if they weren't being paid for it.

Coaches are great listeners - Listening is one of the cornerstone coaching skills. And we're not talking about just listening to what the other person is saying. In coaching, how they're saying it is as important as what they're saying. And sometimes, what they're not saying is the most important thing of all.

Coaches are in touch with others' emotions - regardless of whether you're interested in business coaching, executive coaching, relationship coaching, or life coaching, emotions are involved. To be effective, you need to have yourself together and be able to be responsible for your own emotions while helping others work through theirs. You need to have a high level of emotional intelligence.

Coaches are patient - as much as we want clients to move forward fast, the truth is everyone moves at his or her own pace. Some clients will climb Mount Everest in an afternoon and be ready for the next challenge by tomorrow morning. Others may take months - even years - to take a few small but meaningful steps forward. As a coach, you need to be patient and continue to champion your clients regardless of how fast they are or aren't moving.

Coaches are curious - Curiosity is another one of those cornerstone skills. And all great coaches have curiosity in abundance. They're curious about all aspects of their clients' lives and manage to maintain that curiosity over time.

Coaches are confident - Each new client requires you to go into the unknown. They have different problems and challenges, and you need to believe you can help them with whatever comes up. Clients are starving for clarity and direction in their lives, and you can't provide either one if you don't have confidence in yourself or your abilities.

Coaches are able to focus - In a coaching session, it's easy for clients to lose themselves in the jungle of their thoughts and feelings. As a coach, your job is to keep on bringing them back to seeing the forest through the trees. Your job is to keep reminding them of who they are and of where they're going.

Coaches are open-minded and non-judgmental - Coaching clients come in every shape and color. Even if your coaching niche is very targeted (for example, Christian Life Coaching), you're still going to find that your clients don't see the world the same way that you do, or have the same values. It's critical that you be able to keep an open mind and accept them for who they are.

Coaches put others before themselves - To be effective as a coach, you need to be able to put others before yourself - at least during your client work. This is not a profession for narcissists or the self-absorbed.

Coaches aren't afraid to tell the truth - Regardless of whether you're a life coach or a business coach, you're going to need to say things to clients that make you and them uncomfortable. Sometimes you'll have to give real and raw feedback and run the risk of losing them as a client.

As you read through the list, how did you score yourself? Did you give yourself any "1"s? How about "10"s?

Take a few minutes to look through the list again and tell yourself the truth. Is coaching a natural fit for you? How much personal work for you to succeed at it?

While it's not impossible to succeed in a profession you're not naturally wired for, it's usually easier to succeed in a profession that fits with your natural abilities, your passions, and that gives the world something it's demanding.

Lawrence Mortenson is a no-nonsense speaker, trainer, consultant, and coach. He helps executives, business owners, coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs grow profitable businesses through smart strategy, good management, and solid marketing.

Learn about Lawrence's book for beginning coaches The Truth About the Business of Coaching (Tao of Business Press) or visit his website at http://www.lawrencemortenson.com

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