Coaching techniques: A Magic Wand

Should I take the job or stay where I am? Should I start the new project or is it too big for me to do alone? What’s the best way to figure out which decision to make – spend the budget or wait and see what things look like in a month?

Sometimes the client is just stuck! They can’t see a way through the problem they are describing. There is no obvious answer for them. Indecision is leaving them in a state of stress, not making any kind of decision feels worse than jumping one way or the other.

I can see in their eyes that they are overwhelmed with the fear that they come across as weak for not making a clear decision. Sometimes when this happens the best thing to do is to step the client away from the decision. If it’s not clear, it’s not clear for a reason – not deciding may be better than making a bad decision. Staying in the messy middle may be just what is needed.

But sometimes that doesn’t feel right. Pulling the client back from the decision is not helping. They still have the fear in their eyes. This is when it’s time to get out the magic wand. I tell the client that I have an invisible magic wand – look, here it is in my left hand. Now then, if I wave the magic wand and then you just know what the right thing to do is, what is that right thing.

And it works! The jolt of disbelief takes the client into a decision that comes from their intuition rather than from their logical thinking brain. That thinking brain sometimes doesn’t work – there is no logical answer, it needs intuition to find a solution, to go for the one that feels right at that time. The impasse is resolved.

You can find a lot more tips and ideas like this in my latest book “Insight Coaching” which came out last year. You can order a copy here or from Amazon.