Imagine you’ve spent hours working with a client, helping them navigate the challenges they came to you with. But when you ask them to reflect on their progress, they struggle to see how far they’ve come.

It’s not that they haven’t grown.

It’s that they’ve already normalised their wins.

This is where your role as a coach becomes vital. Your job isn’t just to guide clients, it’s to help them see, celebrate, and embody their progress. This week’s coaching session reminded us how often clients forget their own breakthroughs, and how powerful it is when we hold up the mirror for them.

Why Clients Miss Their Own Progress

Change is often incremental. A client who once described themselves as constantly exhausted might now wake up with energy most mornings, but because they’re living it day to day, they may not even notice the shift. Another might have learned to set boundaries for the first time in their life, yet dismiss it as a small achievement.

Known as the Butterfly Effect - once we embody new habits or learn new skills, it becomes hard to remember a time when they weren’t part of us. We forget our time in the cocoon before emerging as the butterfly! As coaches, it’s our responsibility to notice the shifts our clients can’t see and make them visible.

The Art of Highlighting Progress

Here’s a simple yet powerful strategy that all coaches should be using. At the end of each session, take a few minutes to reflect and note down the client’s words, emotional breakthroughs, and observable shifts. These might include a moment of courage, a change in their energy, or even a phrase they use that signals a new way of thinking.

When you revisit these moments in future sessions, it not only validates their efforts but also builds their confidence. One coach this week shared how a client who initially rated their energy as a 3 out of 10 now wakes up feeling like an 8. Without this reminder, the client had completely dismissed their progress.

Another shared an example of a client who learned the concept of boundaries for the first time. By the end of their work together, boundaries were so natural for them that they forgot how transformational this learning had been.

Coaching Beyond the Session

Reflecting progress isn’t just about building your client’s confidence, it’s also about creating measurable outcomes.

Clients value results, but they often need you to illuminate what those results look like.

If you’re transcribing client sessions and summarising with AI, remember not to rely solely on the technology to find those moments of progress.

Ai is excellent for summarizing key themes or pulling out repetitive phrases, but it will often miss the subtleties that only your human perspective can catch. Like a shift in tone, a pause before a breakthrough, or the significance of a seemingly small comment.

Your ability to see these nuances is irreplaceable.

Consider asking yourself after each session:

• What specific language or moments stood out?

• How has their perspective, energy, or behavior shifted?

• What patterns or progress have I observed?

These observations allow you to weave a narrative of transformation that your clients can anchor to. They begin to trust the process, see their growth, and gain the motivation to keep moving forward.

By blending the efficiency of Ai with your intuition and insight, you can ensure nothing is overlooked in your client’s journey. This combination creates a deeper, more meaningful experience that Ai alone cannot deliver.

Your Invitation

If you’re a coach, take a moment to reflect on your own process.

Are you capturing your clients’ wins? Are you helping them connect the dots between where they started and where they are now?

Your ability to track and communicate progress is what sets exceptional coaching apart.

It transforms your role from a guide into a trusted partner in their growth.

Start by committing to small changes:

• Dedicate five minutes after every session to jot down your client’s key moments.

• At the start of each session, highlight one win they may have overlooked.

In a world where so many people feel unseen, your ability to acknowledge their growth might just be the most powerful gift you give.

What’s one way you can start capturing your clients’ wins this week?

Leadership, Wellbeing, Health & Business Coaches

The Traditional Playbook Is Changing Fast. Are You?

Transform Your Expertise Into High Performance Coaching. Innovate with Ai. Lead The Future.

Join us for our next live onlne training event.