As exercise professionals, we are trained to assess, educate, prescribe and support. Yet many of us have experienced the frustration of working with clients who know exactly what they need to do, but struggle to follow through consistently.
Most people already understand the basics of good health. They know they should exercise more, eat better, manage stress and prioritise sleep. The challenge is rarely a lack of information. The challenge is translating good intentions into sustainable action.
This is where a coaching approach can make a profound difference.
Health and wellness coaching provides a set of practical skills that help clients bridge the gap between knowing and doing. Rather than focusing solely on providing answers, coaching helps people develop greater self-awareness, confidence, motivation and accountability so that they become increasingly capable of managing their own health and wellbeing.
In many ways, coaching shifts the question from “How can I get this person to do what I know is best for them?” to “How can I help this person develop the skills and confidence to make healthy decisions for themselves?”
This subtle shift changes everything. Instead of directing behaviour, we begin facilitating change. Instead of creating compliance, we foster commitment. And instead of creating dependence on the practitioner, we build capability in the client.
Over the past decade there has been a significant movement towards incorporating coaching principles into healthcare, fitness and wellbeing settings. This has created exciting opportunities for professionals who want to improve client engagement, adherence and long-term outcomes.
How Can a Health Professional Use a Coaching Approach?
The following principles can help us move towards a more empowering way of working with people:
• Remember that the relationship is paramount.
• Acknowledge that the client is the expert in their own life.
• Recognise that people are more likely to act on ideas they have generated themselves.
• Replace advice-giving with information that allows choice.
• Encourage responsibility and ownership.
• Collaborate and facilitate rather than control and direct.
• Focus on building capability rather than dependency.
Many practitioners discover that this approach not only benefits their clients, but also makes consultations more rewarding and effective. Clients become more engaged in the process because they are active participants rather than passive recipients of advice.
Using Positive Psychology in Practice
Health and wellness coaching draws on a number of evidence-based approaches, including positive psychology. Rather than concentrating exclusively on problems and deficits, positive psychology explores what helps people flourish and function at their best.
Simple shifts in language can have a powerful impact. Consider the difference between asking:
“What isn’t working well for you right now?”
and
“What is working well for you right now?”
The second question encourages people to identify strengths, resources and previous successes that can be built upon. It creates hope, possibility and momentum. Rather than focusing exclusively on barriers, it helps clients recognise that they already possess capabilities that can support future change.
This reflects a broader shift from working towards compliance to working with compassion. One approach emphasises deficits and instructions. The other emphasises strengths, possibilities and personal agency.
So What Skills Are Involved?
Many of the skills used in coaching are already familiar to exercise professionals:
• Active listening
• Empathy
• Open-ended questioning
• Reflective responses
• Clarifying and summarising
• Creating accountability
• Supporting goal setting and action planning
• Knowing when silence is more powerful than advice
The real difference often lies in what we choose not to do. Coaching encourages us to reduce lecturing, persuading, interrupting and problem-solving on behalf of the client.
When people are treated as capable, resourceful and self-determining, they are often more willing to engage in meaningful and lasting behaviour change.
The Ultimate Goal
At its heart, coaching seeks to achieve two things:
- Increase awareness.
- Strengthen self-responsibility.
These are the foundations of sustainable behaviour change.
Whether we are helping someone increase physical activity, improve nutrition, manage a chronic condition or reduce stress, our success ultimately depends on what happens between appointments. Coaching helps clients develop the mindset and skills needed to navigate real-world obstacles, maintain motivation and continue taking action when life gets busy.
Knowledge matters. Expertise matters. But when professional expertise is combined with coaching skills, we create a powerful partnership. We not only help clients understand what they need to do, we help them develop the confidence and capability to actually do it.
For some professionals, learning coaching skills simply enhances the work they are already doing. For others, it becomes the first step towards a new professional pathway.
Our Foundations of Health and Wellness Coaching program introduces the core principles and skills of behaviour change, client empowerment and coaching conversations. Participants can choose to apply these skills within their existing role or continue on the pathway towards accreditation as a Health and Wellness Coach.
Whatever path they choose, coaching offers a valuable skill set for any professional who wants to help clients create meaningful and lasting change.
Fiona Cosgrove, MPhil, MSc, BAppSc (Exercise Science) is the Founder and CEO of Wellness Coaching Australia and an award-winning coach, author, speaker and coach trainer. With more than 20 years’ experience in health, wellbeing and behaviour change, she has trained thousands of coaches and health professionals across Australia and internationally. Fiona is passionate about helping practitioners develop the coaching skills that empower clients to create meaningful and lasting change.
