Get Smart!

By popular demand, I’ve added this private email to my Smart coaches to this blog. One of my coaches thought it should go out to all coaches! So here it is….

“Hi guys,

I’ve had conversations with a few of you recently in which you express frustration at clients who seem to have a good first session or introductory chat and then go AWOL, never to be seen again.

Well, I just wanted to pick up on that and give you a few pointers. Read more…

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. Read more…

In coaching we are almost invariably dealing at some level with achieving goals. However, what is clear is that someone only seeks coaching if there is a challenge, problem or issue with their goal. Think about it, if achieving their goal was easy and effortless then coaching would be pretty superfluous for that client.

Obvious as this may sound, it’s important to think about this since many coaches plough in to coaching a client on their goal unclear as to what the challenge is that makes coaching necessary in the first place! Clients often obligingly answer the coach’s increasingly irrelevant questions because they assume the coach is the expert! The poor client may never get to the real heart of their challenge.

So, let’s look at 7 simple but extremely effective questions that help you find what the real challenge is as often and as easily as possible. Read more…

The GROW model is a simple structure which can be used very effectively in coaching. However, to be truly effective it needs to be used in the right way and with the client at the very heart of it.

GROW, of course, is an acronym for:

Goal
Reality
Options
Way forward (or Will or Wrap up)
The model is straightforward: identify the client’s goal (G), find out where they are with it now (R), look at all the options open to achieve the goal (O) and help the client commit to one or more options for action (W).

So far so good. Read more…

Having spent many hours observing coaching with my training coaches I have noticed a strange phenomenon! Coaches will often spend either no time or heaps of time discussing what the current situation is for a client.

When they spend no time, it’s as if the here and now doesn’t matter and there’s a headlong rush towards the next steps and options for change. When they spend too much time, they tend to get caught up in fact-finding and building a more and more detailed picture of what’s currently happening.

Neither are the ideal way to deal with the present in coaching. Exploring the present should be about helping the client to know where they’re starting from, what strengths they bring, what they need to work on etc.
Think of it this way. You might know that you are going to drive to Manchester but if you don’t know where you’re starting from then you have no clear way of knowing which way to go!

There’s no difference in any kind of journey really is there? In coaching we’re looking at a journey from where you are to where you want to be whether that’s in a professional capacity or in the client’s personal life.

So knowing where you are starting from is critical. Read more…

Coaching is a frequently misunderstood and misused process. Often within organisations, it is merely mentoring with a different name or management with a soft edge! It is appraisal-time assessment with a “what would you like?” thrown in.

But in fact coaching is none of these things. It is a specific tool and process that allows you to get the very best from your workforce.

So what makes it unique? What is this thing that we call performance coaching? Read more…