7 Habits of Highly Effective Nurse Coaches

As a Nurse Coach mentor and guide, whether privately or in collaboration with students, I am always asked to share what habits, techniques, or tools are most effective in Nurse Coaching. Students often begin their journey in Nurse Coaching questioning how “to do” the coaching process.

A shift in “doing” to “being” with patients, families, and themselves is part of the new learning process.

There is usually a compassion with their initial registered nurse education and the Nurse Coaching process. To become a licensed professional there are often skills, knowledge, and practice involved before more intuitive, seasoned, and experience occurs, so it is with becoming a Nurse Coach.

The Nurse Coaching Process

In Nurse Coaching there is the Nurse Coaching Process with different language and objectives compared to the Nursing Process learned in one’s initial nursing education. The Nurse Coaching Process is embedded within the Nursing Process, circular, rather than linear, and Nurse Coaches can remain in one area for longer periods of time.

If you are interested in what a Nurse Coach does or how to become a Nurse Coach, I highly recommend scheduling a call with one of the admissions team members to ask questions.

How did I begin to think about highly effective habits?

One aspect of being a Nurse Coach is reflecting on my own process of coaching and evaluating myself. It is different from how I might evaluate my “skills” as a nurse. For instance, as a nurse I might need more hands on practice to perfect my skill of inserting an IV while as a Nurse Coach, I might need to practice developing questions to ask my client. Just as I might deepen my leadership skills as a nurse by participating in a committee, I develop myself as a Nurse Coach by reading and participating in leadership opportunities such as the Integrative Nurse Coach® Symposium.

Here are some of my Nurse Coach top habits that find success by increasing engagement with clients based on principles in Stephen Covey’s book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

7 Habits of Highly Effective Nurse Coaches

1. Begin with Yourself.

• When we begin with ourselves, we aren’t asking others to do what we are not willing to do such as self-care, bearing witness to our own pain and suffering, or letting go of habits that don’t work anymore.

2. See Where Your Client Wants to Go and Start There.

• Reflect back to clients what is most important in their own lives. What are the values that matter most in living their best life. Begin with the end in mind.

3. Co-create With the Client, Steer and Adjust as Needed.

• Work with a client’s vision of health and well-being before creating the plan. Gather information to create a blueprint before building the steps and actions. If the client’s vision is unrealistic or unsafe, ask questions to course correct.

4. Support Clients in Their OWN development as a Leader.

• As Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis state, “Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things.” Every small win the client has to move towards the right things is moving towards self-mastery and change within.

5. Support Clients’ Successes no Matter How Small.

• Nurse Coaches know success comes from clients creating their own solutions, not fixing, giving unsolicited advice, or telling clients what they should be doing.

6. Deep Listening, Presence, and Silence are the Starting Point.

• Nurse Coaches help clients solidify their values, dreams, and personal mission for health and well-being by using the skills of deep listening, presence, and silence, allowing the client to be the focus of the interaction.

7. Flexibility, Curiosity, and Non-judgment are Key.

• Nurse Coaches use wonder and curiosity during client interactions pulling on their capabilities to be flexible, open, and nonjudgemental allowing clients a safe environment to share their own vulnerabilities. Nurse Coaches share when asked.

 

“People can’t live with change if there’s not a changeless core inside them. The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about, and what you value.” Stephen Covey

 

Whether you are a student Nurse Coach, novice, or experienced, we can all benefit from persistent, thoughtful, and creative self-evaluation, focusing on improvement not perfection in our coaching skills.

If you are interested in working with a Nurse Coach student for 4 free coaching sessions, please sign up! It can be a life changing journey.