Get Smart!

Before we start, do you all have a pen and paper.

Can you draw a triangle with a pointy bit at the top.  Then about 1/3 of the way own that triangle draw a horizontal line cutting straight through that triangle

All done that?  OK Good – we’ll come back to that

What is a goal?

It’s a description.

A goal is a description of the change that someone wants to happen.  That’s all it is – it describes clearly the change that someone wants to affect in their life.

More importantly, it’s also the tip of an iceberg.  A goal when expressed is the result of the values, beliefs and motivations that lead to it.  And all this lies beneath the water.  Usually subconsciously.

So, back to your triangle you drew.  That’s your goal triangle.  Keep it in mind as a visual aid as we go through and perhaps even make notes next to and in the relevant parts.

Now put a little boat on the waterline facing the iceberg.  It’s not going to hit it, it’s not going to sink!!  That’s you the coach in there and you’re on an exploration trip.  The iceberg is your client.

If you imagine the goal iceberg for a moment where the visible part is the bit you define (whether with SMART, ExACT, NLP well-formed outcomes or any other goal setting tool) then beneath the waterline is a massive amount of information that is hidden.

It’s the coach’s job to surface whatever hidden information helps in getting the client to the goal.

You don’t need to upend the iceberg to see it all – you only need to bring to light that which helps the coaching outcome which is the change the client wants.

You all know how to set SMART and ExACT goals and some of you have covered NLP well-formed outcomes.

In a sense, that is the easy bit although still vitally important.  Before we look at the stuff beneath the water, let’s look at the stuff above the water then.

Let’s look at the SMART goal etc.

If you imagine that before you came along as the coach, there’s a good chance that even that part of the goal was submerged in the sea.

Setting the SMART framework around it surfaces in more detail the description of the goal.  In other words, the description of the change desired.

So how is that important?  What does that achieve?

A number of things:

• It brings clarity to what the client wants
• It raises self-awareness of that desire
• It increases motivation and belief in its achievability
• It starts the ball rolling with the actions needed to achieve it
• It makes it feel more real for the client
• It puts a time frame to it which automatically leads to the feeling that it can happen
• It galvanises further action

All of these things and more are created by the very act of setting out a clear and precise goal.

But it’s really key to the success of this stage that the goal setting is done well.

I’m afraid that no matter how often I say it, I still get hear and see coaches setting goals like:

“client x wants to be happy and fulfilled”

“client y wants to be fitter and feel healthier in herself”

“client z wants to improve her working relationship with her colleagues”

These are all fine as starting points but they do not achieve the effects that I just listed.

Why?

Because it’s not real yet.  It doesn’t feel achievable because it is not clear, it’s not be given a sense of reality, it has no time structure, it doesn’t do anything more that voice an abstract feeling of a change.

And that doesn’t galvanise change or action.

It just doesn’t! Try it and see.

OK, so we have a SMART goal or ExACT goal drawn up and the client is already experiencing the motivation that comes with being clear about what is going to change.

But there’s another part to exploring the visible part of the goal iceberg.

As well as describing the thing the client wants, it also gives access and clues to the stuff below.

Whilst working at the surface level of the goal, you can question the goal as its presented to you to find out more about the stuff underneath.

As I said at the outset, the description of the goal or the visible part of the iceberg is the result of the underlying drivers.

What are they?

The challenge

Well, at a practical level you can find out what the specific challenge of the goal is for the client.  What makes this a goal that needs coaching?

On your iceberg you can draw this just below the surface.  It’s hidden but no necessarily so hard to get to.

If it’s about losing weight, the challenge is not the physical act of eating less (that’s easy you just put less stuff in your mouth) the challenge is the emotional one that makes putting stuff in your mouth irresistible.  If your goal is finding a partner, then the challenge might be overcoming shyness, or accepting the risk of rejection, or finding the right kind of partner.  The client will have to find the challenge through the coaching process.

Beneath the challenge, there’s more hidden information and this is deeper.

Let’s take three key ones.

1. Values
2. Beliefs
3. Motivation

You could write these beneath the challenge – they’re the hidden depths of the iceberg.

Values

You can explore what the values are that make this goal attractive, compelling and desirable.

Beliefs

You can explore what beliefs currently impact on the goal – be it limiting beliefs or empowering beliefs or beliefs that make the goal important.  (ie. if you believe that a bank has taken £10,000 out of your account by accident you’ll probably have a goal to get it back!)

Motivation

And you can explore the motivation levels behind the belief.  This is not the same as the values although there’ll be some connection.  This is more to do with how much effort is needed to affect the change and achieve the goal compared to the pay off of doing it.

Now as I said, your job as a coach is not to surface these just for the sake of it.

Your job as a coach is to enable and empower the client to find out where there goal comes from to ensure it is congruent with what they really want, that it is something they will do rather just dream about (dreams are ok but don’t coach them – they are like mist and can’t be held down)

So what does all this mean for you as coaches?

How should you proceed?

Well, I’d recommend thinking about that iceberg picture when you coach next.

Make sure you take core samples of ice to see if it’s solid and that the visible goal won’t just melt away.

Here’s a 5 step goal setting procedure.  This could easily be a whole session:

1. Set the description of the goal – this is your SMART goal, ExACT, NLP whatever – get the first part of the goal iceberg above water so you can start to see what it is and get access to the hidden information
2. Next, look at the real challenge.  Think about questions which will get to the heart of the challenge.  Don’t live at the surface level of a goal – find out what makes that goal a challenge.  Remember, the de-cluttering example we’ve talked about before.  You won’t find the challenge of the goal of de-cluttering in the buying of bin-bags but in why bin-bags haven’t been bought before!
3. Next look at the motivation level.  What level of effort is needed in the client’s mind compared to the benefit it offers.  This is not about surfacing a fact that can’t be changed.  It’s about surfacing a perception that can be changed.
4. Then look at the beliefs attached to the goal.What does the client believe their capable of here?  What do they believe they bring to the goal.  What do they believe makes the goal important?
5. Finally, and crucially, explore what values are met by the goal.  How is this important?  How will the goal affect their sense of wholeness or congruency?  What values are potentially at conflict around the goal and how can these be harmonised.

At this point you have a much clearer picture not just of the presenting goal but all the underwater issues that make that goal either important or irrelevant.

In turn this is going to ensure you work at a level where you increase the chances of client success and tap into the levels that will unblock client procrastination, create motivation and set the client on a clear journey to a change they want.