Results Coaching Part 2
In this post we are going to look at the “E” in The Results Coaching Model, which stands for Establish. When we talk about “Establish” it serves to encompass a number of things. Establishing a coaching agreement, establishing rapport with the client, establishing what the client’s goals are and more.
“I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual and which invariable finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable.”– John Russell Managing director of Harley-Davison Europe
As part of the ICF requirements it is a requirement to establish a coaching agreement. This will lay out the terms of the coaching relationship. What both the client and coach can expect and what the responsibilities of each will be. Each client will be unique and as such the coaching agreement may differ depending on the client situation. An example of this may be a life coaching client may have an initial agreement term of 6 sessions, where as a business coaching agreement may be from 6- 12 months. The price you charge a life coaching client may be different to what you charge a business coaching client. Essentially the agreement will lay out the terms and conditions etc. of the coaching relationship, so that both parties know what is expected of them and what each other’s role is.
Establish Rapport.
Establishing Rapport is extremely important with our clients. Interesting prior to NLP, rapport was only mentioned in hypnotherapy circles. It essentially meant, “The magical state where in the client hears only the hypnotherapists voice and accepts what the hypnotherapists says to be true.” NLP turned the Rapport into a process and now we have the ability to create and break Rapport with practically anyone at any time. This is achieved by matching and mirroring the client. There is a whole lot more to be said around the process of Rapport, although it is not the aim of this tool to explain that in detail. We have created a free coaching course for you as an introduction to coaching.
The reason for mentioning Rapport here is to say that people, who are like each other, tend to like each other. So utilizing Rapport can help to break down barriers and is very valuable in working with clients. It also serves to establish trust and intimacy with the client. Helping to create an environment that is conducive to the client feeling safe and empowered to achieve their goal.
Establish a clear goal.
Helping the client to establish a clear understanding of their goal is of course paramount. Often clients will come to a coaching session not really knowing what their actual goal is.
They may realize that the goal they thought they wanted is not really the true goal.
Great questions to ask here could be:
What would happen if you got it?
What wouldn’t happen if you got it?
What would happen if you did not get it?
What would not happen if you did not get it?
These questions may almost sound the same, but go ahead and try them on one of your own goals and experience the effect when you truly consider each question.
Another thing about their goal is that the goal they have may be the end goal and yet there may be goals they need to achieve before they achieve the end result. An example of this may be somebody that wants to lose 100 pounds. They currently do no exercise and their eating habits are detrimental to their success in losing the 100 pounds. For some clients this goal may be too big and that may be a REASON why they have not yet succeeded at it. Breaking the goal into smaller chunks that the client can succeed at, helps to build the clients confidence that they can achieve their greater goal.
As an example, their mini goals may be broken down into the following parts:
Go buy the right clothing to go to a gym. They may need to go buy the right type of shoes, depending on the exercise they wish to do.
The next goal may be to actually join the gym.
The next goal may be to sign up with a personal trainer and set up the exercise regime.
Followed by a meeting with a nutritionist as the next mini goal.
Losing the first 10 pounds could be the next mini goal and then increments of weight loss targets.
And so on until the end goal is achieved.
Establish the goal.
Thus it is very important to establish what the goal or goals are and to establish the action plan to achieve them. Again ensuring goals are SMART. It is not the purpose of this document to explain what SMART goals are. We have created a online goal setting course for you to help with goal setting.
So the establish part of the Results Coaching Model refers to a number of steps that are all very important in the coaching process. In the next post we will look at self-Awareness and what that means in relationship to results coaching.
As always, please like and share this post so that others may benefit from it. I look forward to sharing the next blog with you in a week. Until then, have a fabulous week and remember that you are more then you think you are. You are beautiful and unique and mean the world to somebody.
