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The topic of a client’s program is THE doorway into their program. Everything else, and I mean every single aspect of what you do with & for a client, must arise from the topic. Succeeding in the topic is why the client has hired you as his coach. If you were providing therapy or counsel then having a clear topic to anchor down your actions would not be necessary, since you’d be working with what is arising in moment. Coaching however, requires you to have a goal towards something.

As the coach you are being hired to get your clients from A to B. Unless you and your client specifically agree that you can provide other services, to meander off the course you are setting with your client to get from A to B is actually unethical. If you veer off what you originally set out to create with and provide for your client, without renegotiating your work with her, then you are breaching the coach-client relationship that you initially established. This is why having a strong, clear, and succinct topic is essential. It creates landmarks for progress, and frees you up to focus on exactly what you are providing – coaching.

That all said…
a profound coaching topic must be four things:
1. Specific
2. Developmental
3. Personal
4. Succinct

Specific
In order for a topic to be successful there needs to be a measure of progress, otherwise, what is being accomplished.
For example, here is a topic:
Be connected to my business.
Okay, not a bad start. We can tell this client wants to be connected to his business, that is clear – yet in what ways? In all manners that a person could be connected to a business? Probably not. Through our questions we find out more details, and come to discover the specific include:
To be emotionally connected to my business.
That is definitely more specific.
Another step would be:
To be emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of my business.

Very quickly we start to get a much richer comprehension of what this client actually wants. How we now go about working with this client can be much more refined and thus effective because we ensured the topic was specific.

I’ll add that, you definitely don’t want to be too tight within a topic. Yet it is much easier to open up to possibility then to close down on them. Meaning, better to be a bit more refined and specific and then add more aspects to it, or open up the meaning, than to, have to tighten things up once your program has momentum. It can be hard to rein in a program versus opening it up. And that often can lead to client disappointment because we are taking something away from their program versus adding to it.

• The bullet point: Ensure the topic is specific enough to relax the client into feeling potential success.

Developmental
The feeling of potential success is very important for a client. They have come to you to achieve something, to succeed. “I want to kick more goals in the net”, “I want to be better at communication in large meetings”. Regardless of the scope, size, or shape of the desire your clients have goals they want to achieve. Defining the topic properly helps provide the momentum and the measure for that success.
Using our example:
To be emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of my business.

When we look at this statement we can see an all or nothing stance. It sounds like the client is not at all emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of his business, and then suddenly will become emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of his business. There is no in-between zone. It either is happening or it is not, and the fact is, that is rarely the case.
Chances are this client is at least minimally emotionally connected to his business’ marketing otherwise he wouldn’t be aware of the need to change his game. What the client is asking for is “to develop more emotional capacities so I can work better with the marketing aspects of my business, since I believe being emotionally connected will allow for better success in the marketing domain”
He recognizes that he needs some work on the emotional connection front – and that is what you have to account for – the “needs some work”. He does not need to master emotional connection, he simply has to grow into some form of capacity in that domain.
In creating a topic we have to both stay aware of the fact that people are probably already doing some of their topic, and that good progress for success is getting some of it going on – there is no need for complete mastery.
Our topic then becomes:
To become more emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of my business.

It is a simple addition to the topic – “to become more”, yet that simplicity frees you and the client from the absolutism of just becoming something (ie emotionally connected) which is always hard to live up to. Plus it suddenly creates a spectrum of possibility within program and practice design. You can start working with the client to determine how much emotional connection he wants. What would that look like to be minimally veers partially connected. There is more room to work within, and more possibility in the zone of reality; instead of setting up the topic for all or nothing, or setting you (and your client) up for a lot of effort with no measurable end.
Other examples:
To connect and honour my courage with my creativity.
Becomes: To honour more of my courage, allowing me to connect deeper to my creativity.

I trust myself and feel confident in my choices
Becomes: To trust myself more, in more moments, so I can feel greater confidence in my choices.

These qualifiers of “more”, “greater”, “deeper”, “increase” add value to the spectrum of development. If it is just an either/or approach to success then the only value that can be achieved comes from getting it “all”, complete, 100% – and that simply is not realistic for you or your client. Value is created by the degree in which one moves from where they are along a spectrum of progress towards a goal. Create realistic value for your clients by ensuring that your topics are developmentally sound.

• The bullet point: Ensure the topic includes a developmental progression that can be felt and measured.

Personal
Each client is a unique individual, thus each topic needs to be a personal account of what that one person wants to achieve.
Our evolving topic is:
To become more emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of my business.
Becomes:
You will become more emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of your business.

That adds an element of ownership, of the topic being completely for the client, very personal. To achieve this topics can be written in two ways: first person or second person.
You will become more emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of your business.
can also be:
I will become more emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of my business.

There is no hard & fast rule about which one to use, 1p or 2p, I tend to consider what would be most powerful for the client to read. When they have their program, and they are in the midst of some challenge – I try to imagine what would be more beneficial for them to read; a topic in first person or second person language. It has to be one or the other. Even if the person orients from more of an objective (UR/LR/ it) perspective, make their topic personal. It is their subjective self that is looking for coaching, it is their subjective reality that is being challenged and stretched. Make it about him or her personally.

• The bullet point: Ensure the topic is personal, by using 1p or 2p language.

Succinct
A succinct topic is a powerful topic. Succinctness can touch the heart of client more than any other aspect. Why? Because to be succinct means that you have felt what it requires to ensure the key points of a client’s topic are taken into account, while finding the way to say it with short, clear, concise statements. To be succinct doesn’t just mean shortening what you’ve written, it means knowing what needs to be cut away, and what needs to be held in order to create the clearest doorway into a client’s life challenges (why they are working with you). When done well, succinctness carries a tone of truth and completeness that often really touches the client, and can make them feel the impact of their topic.
Our example:
You will become more emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of your business.
Becomes:
You will become more emotionally connected to the marketing aspects of your business.
I know, nothing different on that one. It is quite succinct as it is.

Another example:
To stand behind myself and express myself with more purpose and acceptance for all that I am.
Becomes:
To stand behind myself more fully such that I can express my purpose and be accepted for who I am.

Examaple:
To find more inner calm with strength that allows you to deal with the forthcoming changes in your job and life with composure, easiness and clarity.
Becomes:
You will become better able to manage upcoming life changes with greater inner calm and personal strength.

You’ll note the nuanced adjustments to the examples. The slight change can shift the meaning a bit, however – it is often through the act of succinctness that you can find the deeper and more important chord that the client wants in their topic. While this is not always the case, there is often a refinement in a topic that only emerges through succinctness. This is where you as a coach start honing the edge of what you can really offer a client. This is where you are actually feeling the implication of a client’s topic in his or her life, Looking AS your client, and shaving away any excess that is compromising the clarity within a client’s topic, and possibly their life. Compare this to a tailor who is bold in making an adjustment to a garment you are having altered. He could just work with the measurements and cut & sew accordingly. Or, he can feel into what would look really sharp on you, and make those changes. This is the transcend and include more of topic creation. After you have worked through points 1, 2, and 3 – the last one after the correct measurements is succinctness – or maybe a better word would be “sweetness”.

• The bullet point: Mull the topic over, feel the client, feel the topic, discover the sweet spot.

By putting a bit more time and care into creating your topics, you are essentially crafting a stunning door into the clients program. By ensuring the “portal” into their program is specific, developmental, personal, and succinct you will be setting your client and yourself up for a greater degree of precision in their program, and a much higher potential for success.

Since you always check with your client about how the topic your offer lands for him or her, you can rest assured that your will discover how far your efforts go. Re-adjustments occur naturally, and will still benefit from being specific, developmental, personal, and succinct – sweet.