April 14, 2025

From Problem-Solver to Powerful Guide: The Coaching Mindset Shift You Need, with Michael Jones

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Are you giving endless advice that nobody seems to take? You might be unintentionally creating the very bottleneck that's preventing your clients from achieving real transformation.

This episode tackles one of the most common challenges faced by coaches and leaders today – the tendency to over-solve problems for others. We explore the powerful distinction between providing answers and guiding people to discover their own solutions, a difference that separates truly effective coaches from those who inadvertently create dependency.

We unpack three key reasons why coaches fall into the problem-solving trap: equating giving answers with being helpful, feeling overly responsible for client success, and fearing that questions alone won't be enough to create results. At the heart of these concerns lies a fundamental misunderstanding about what coaching truly is – not rescuing, but empowering through skilled guidance.

The mindset shift we propose is deceptively simple yet profoundly impactful: great coaches don't give people fish; they teach them how to fish through transformational questions. When you ask "What do you think will work best?" or "What's the real challenge here for you?" instead of jumping in with solutions, you activate your client's innate problem-solving abilities and create space for genuine breakthroughs to emerge.

Ready to transform your coaching approach? Comment below with your experience of catching yourself over-solving, and book a free coaching call to learn our framework for asking questions that drive real change. Subscribe for more leadership insights that will help you make a greater impact while growing your confidence and business.

Want a personalized strategy session for free? Book a free call with Marc or Teresa: https://www.modernleadership.us/apply

Whether you're going through a challenge, or working on a powerful goal, join Marc or Teresa for a 20-minute strategy session and leave the call with a plan to make it happen!


Chapters

00:00 - The Problem With Over-Helping

00:33 - Free Coaching Call Offer

00:56 - Michael's Question About Coaching

01:33 - Why Coaches Fall Into Problem-Solving

02:18 - Mindset Shift: Guide Don't Rescue

03:27 - Call To Action

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:02.890
Have you ever felt like you're carrying the weight of everybody else's problems?

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You want to help, but instead you're giving all of this advice and nobody is ever taking you up on any of it.

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The truth is is if you're just always trying to solve people's problems, then you could be the one that's actually holding them back.

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In this video, we're really going to dive into the mindset shift that helps coaches stop over-helping and start guiding people to real breakthroughs.

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You're a coach with a big heart and a powerful desire to make a real difference in the world, but what if you could increase your impact, increase your confidence and grow a business with ease?

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I want to help by offering you a free coaching call so we can discover exactly how to help you feel aligned and equipped to guide your clients to even more incredible results.

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We'll also create a plan to scale your business while maintaining your work-life balance.

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If you're ready to turn your passion of helping other people into sustainable growth, click the link below and book your free call.

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Thank you for being willing to lean in and let's get right back into the show.

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So welcome back to Modern Leadership, where we answer key questions from our coaching community so that you can grow the confidence in the skills you need to make more impact and income.

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Today's video is from Michael.

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Let's jump right into his question.

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Hey, Mark and Teresa.

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This is Michael Jones from Birmingham, Alabama.

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You can find me online at LinkedIn is where I hang out the most and just search for Encouraging Leader.

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I've been in your Coach Accelerator program for about 90 days and I love it.

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I've learned, honestly, more from y'all in the last 90 days than I have from all the other programs combined.

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In my coaching practice I serve folks who are corporate professionals who've been working for 10, 20 plus years and they feel frustrated with their careers.

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They feel like they don't have the joy in their careers anymore, they don't feel connected to the values of their company and they don't know what to do next.

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Well, I help those folks figure out what to do next and I help them to take those next steps.

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My question for the two of you is about, especially for new coaches how do you get out of the habit of trying to solve problems for people and be that mentor versus that guide who's asking questions, and what are your best tips for how to ask better questions as a coach?

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Thank you.

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So I love this question because many coaches and leaders and service providers actually fall into this trap.

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We think solving problems actually is valuable, but it actually creates a bottleneck.

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There's a huge difference between giving someone answers and helping someone find their own, and the most effective leaders actually understand this.

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Now, having coached a lot of people, there's three main things that I see in terms of what actually holds people back in this area.

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Number one is coaches equate giving answers as being helpful, like they really do want to get in and help people solve problems.

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But whether or not they're giving people advice or direction has a direct correlation in their mind to whether or not they're actually being helpful for their clients, and this could, of course, get you into giving even more directions.

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The next reason is they could feel responsible for their client's success.

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Now here's the thing I really do want you to do whatever you can to help your clients achieve success, but in reality, their success is not 100% in your hands, and thinking that you have to give them answers in order to see that success is actually a big mindset shift that we need to make.

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And the last one is coaches, especially new ones, are a little bit nervous, wondering if asking questions is going to be enough.

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What if the person can't come to their own conclusions and doesn't have success because I either asked the wrong question or I didn't tell them what to do?

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And this all boils down to one thing Sometimes we tell ourselves this story that if we don't give them the answers, they're going to think that I don't even know what I'm doing as a coach.

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But here's the mindset shift your job is to guide, not to rescue.

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So the way that I think about it is that great coaches and leaders don't give people fish.

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They teach them how to fish by asking great questions.

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So the next time you feel the urge to give people answers, pause and ask what do you think will work best or what's the real challenge here for you?

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And if you want a simple framework for asking transformational questions, that's exactly what we help our clients do.

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So if you're ready to step into your role as a true guide, not just a problem solver, we would love to help.

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Comment below when you've actually caught yourself over-solving for people's problems, book a free coaching call with us to learn how to ask better questions, and definitely subscribe for more leadership and coaching insights.