Getting new clients is essential to maintaining your coaching business. But it’s building trusting relationships with those clients that will truly make your practice succeed.
Here are nine essential traits of a positive and effective coaching relationship, why they matter, and how you may cultivate them.
9 Traits of Successful Coaching Relationships
1. Trust
Trust is the backbone of any coaching relationship. Clients need to feel safe sharing their fears, struggles, and ambitions without worrying about judgment.
When trust is strong, clients are more open to feedback, more willing to challenge themselves, and more likely to see personal and professional transformation. Without it, progress stalls because they’ll hold back or second-guess your guidance.
Let’s say a client struggles with imposter syndrome and admits that they’ve been avoiding applying for leadership roles. If trust is established, they will feel safe sharing their fears and allow you to challenge their self-doubt.
You also can strengthen trust between you and your client by consistently following through on promises and creating a judgment-free space where they feel comfortable.
2. Open Communication
A successful coaching relationship thrives on honest, two-way communication. Clients should feel comfortable expressing their concerns, asking questions, and voicing doubts.
Likewise, coaches must provide clear, direct, and constructive feedback. When both sides communicate openly, misunderstandings decrease, and coaching becomes a productive, collaborative process.
Let’s say a client admits they’re feeling overwhelmed with their action steps and unsure how to move forward. Because communication is open, they will feel comfortable bringing this up rather than silently struggling, allowing you to adjust their plan and support them effectively.
To cultivate a healthy relationship with clients built on open communication, encourage them to share their thoughts freely. When they do so, make sure you listen actively, ask open-ended questions, and offer clear feedback.
3. Empathy
Empathy creates a sense of connection and understanding between coach and client. When a coach genuinely understands and validates a client’s experiences, it builds confidence and motivation.
Clients who feel seen and supported are more likely to trust the process and push through challenges, knowing they’re not alone in their journey.
Let’s say a client has been struggling to balance work and personal life. Instead of simply giving them productivity tips, you can acknowledge how frustrating this might feel and, if you relate, give an insight into your personal experience. Doing so makes them feel understood before exploring possible solutions together.
4. Honesty
A fruitful coaching relationship is built on truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. A coach must be able to challenge a client’s limiting beliefs or unhelpful habits without sugarcoating reality.
Likewise, clients must be honest about their struggles, goals, and level of commitment. Transparency ensures that coaching leads to real change rather than just surface-level progress.
Let’s say a client who constantly postpones their goals insists they’re making progress, but their actions don’t align with their words. Instead of ignoring it, you can compassionately point out the pattern, helping them recognize their self-sabotage and commit to real action.
You can bring more honesty into your coaching relationships by setting the expectation from the start that it goes both ways: be direct but compassionate, and encourage clients to share openly without fear of judgment.
5. Mutual Respect
Coaching is a partnership, not a hierarchy. Both coach and client must respect each other’s time, perspectives, and boundaries. When respect is present, clients feel valued, and coaches can provide guidance without resistance.
Let’s say a client expresses disagreement with your suggested approach. Instead of dismissing their concern, you can offer to explore alternatives that align with their needs.
Acknowledging the client’s perspective shows you respect them. To make sure this goes both ways, maintain professionalism in your work and set boundaries around time and communication.
6. Commitment
For coaching to work, both you and the client need to be fully committed. Your job is to lead the coaching process and the client’s job is to participate actively and take action.
Let’s say a client is working on their productivity and they agree to starting a morning routine. They need to be committed to taking action on this; you can’t do the work for them. All you can do is check in on their progress, highlight their wins, and help them troubleshoot obstacles.
On your side, being committed means preparing for coaching sessions, showing up fully, and following through on the promises you made at the beginning of the coaching engagement.
You also need to continuously develop your skills to provide the best support to your clients and seek feedback to improve the coaching process. Doing so will demonstrate your dedication to your client’s personal and professional development.
7. Accountability
Checking in on what the client has or hasn’t done is a part of your job description. However, for coaching to be effective, you also need to hold yourself accountable.
If a client repeatedly struggles to follow through on action steps, you may check in on their motivation level and any limiting patterns in the way. On the other hand, you also need to assess whether the strategies you’re providing are working for them.
Ultimately, you’re the one who’s driving the coaching process and measuring its results.
Set clear expectations on how you’ll keep your client accountable from the start, and keep checking in on whether the coaching strategies you’re applying are effective.
8. Patience
Personal growth takes time, and a strong coaching relationship recognizes that progress isn’t always linear. There will be breakthroughs, setbacks, and moments of frustration.
Both the coach and the client need patience to see results. Coaches create a supportive environment where clients can grow at their own pace, and clients remain committed even when results don’t come overnight.
Let’s say your client keeps struggling with self-doubt despite having done a lot of work on this aspect of themselves. You can explain to them that setbacks are a natural part of growth and remind them how far they’ve come by pointing out tangible changes in their mindset and actions.
9. Integrity
At its core, integrity means doing what’s right, even when it’s hard. A long-lasting coaching relationship is built on integrity and aligned with the values of both the coach and the client.
Coaches uphold ethical practices, and clients commit to honesty and personal responsibility.
Let’s say a client is tempted to take shortcuts that compromise their values in pursuit of success. Instead of encouraging a quick win, you can guide them toward making decisions more aligned with their long-term vision and principles.
Lead by example. If you demonstrate integrity in your actions and decision-making, you can encourage clients to stay true to their commitments and values.
Build Rock-Solid Coaching Relationships
Building a trusting relationship with clients goes beyond coaching sessions; it’s also about how you manage the coaching engagement as a whole.
Paperbell is an all-in-one client management system that gives your practice a professional look and makes client communication easy.
With their dedicated self-service portal, clients can book sessions and access coaching materials at any time. You can send them automated reminders to keep them engaged and expectations clear.
More than that, Paperbell manages your entire coaching business from your website and surveys to your payments and contracts. Try it for free to see how it can transform your practice!
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2023 and has since been updated for accuracy.
