The client-centered approach sounds straight forward, right? Fitness professionals assess and program design for the safety of their clients; care about the client’s well-being and help them achieve goals. But what if the client-centered approach consisted of more characteristics? What if fitness professionals were omitting the one critical piece to their client’s long term success?
Listen More, Talk Less
The essential characteristic of the client-centered approach is creating a rapport that allows openness to new information through active listening. A challenging skill for fitness professionals is learning how to talk and what to talk about with clients. By careful listening and empathetic conversation, you invite your clients to tell their stories. Learning your client’s story is a real treasure. It is their identity, how they view themselves. It’s a form of expressing their attitudes or beliefs and the act of providing you valuable information to figure out what coaching style and needs are appropriate for their success. “People learn about their attitudes and beliefs in the same way that others learn them: by hearing themselves talk.” (William R. Miller, Stephen Rollnick, Motivational Interviewing). More on this statement when we touch on ambivalence below.
Coaching Styles and Needs
Each client is an individual with unique personalities, willingness, and confidence. Some are strong problem-solvers, while others have more discipline. Regardless, fitness professionals must be aware and know how to coach clients based on a continuum of communication styles and needs. See Figure 1 and Figure 2
| Unable and insecure | Unable but confident |
| Able but insecure | Able and confident |
| Low-motivation, low-skill | Low-motivation, high-skill |
| High-motivation, low-skill | High-motivation, high skill |
Learning and implementing a client’s coaching style and needs is the foundation of your partnership. Fitness professionals will still have to assess their client’s readiness for change, overcome client objections, help clients navigate through ambivalence, and set appropriate goals. (More on goal setting here) Also, we have to understand and be prepared to adjust or change the coaching style or needs of a client during the process. People are unpredictable, and so is life. A client might walk into your facility one day with extra motivation to change and need a low-profile, delegating style instead of the preaching, “rah, rah” style. The styles and needs become a focal point for the client’s behavioral change.
Fitness professionals are not fixers. Instead, we make people aware of their behaviors. Behavioral change is why the majority of people seek out help. Clients might not be able to clearly articulate it to you, but their past or current behaviors are not working for them. I talk about this in my last blog post; we are all motivated by the same need- to sustain or improve the quality of life. Fitness professionals need to understand their client’s coaching style and needs to increase the client’s perception of personal control. Client autonomy is the ultimate goal.
A Little on Ambivalence
A normal part of the change process is experiencing ambivalence. Ambivalence is a result of conflicting priorities. We see both reasons to change and reasons not to. We want to change, and we don’t want to, all at the same time. Please note, ambivalence is a whole human experience and a necessary part of the change process. “A person who is ambivalent experiences two kinds of talk, mixed. Change talk- the person’s statements that favor change; Sustain talk- the person’s arguments for not changing, for sustaining the status quo.” (Miller and Rollnick, Motivational Interviewing)
Ambivalence becomes an issue when the fitness professional tries to convince or persuade the client to do the right thing. What I think is right for a client may not be what’s right, given their readiness to change. Instead, accept that clients are experts on themselves. Accept what the client brings. But, accepting a person does not mean you approve of their behaviors or permit the actions that led them to seek your help. That’s important to note.
Put Yourself in the Client’s Shoes
The bottom line is that clients are not problems; they are human beings trying to make a change. All while maintaining a career and having a family. We, as fitness professionals, must understand that clients have a life outside of fitness. Our coaching style significantly influences a client’s decision to make and maintain lifestyle changes. Fitness professionals need to step out of their training sneakers and seek to cultivate healthy human relationships with clients. A critical factor in helping clients navigate the maze of change is empathy. It’s impossible to go through another person’s experiences and emotions. That’s not empathy. But instead, be a good listener, be curious, and try to imagine and feel a client’s experiences and emotions.
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