In the grand scheme of things coaching is relatively new and is still developing ways in which to accurately communicate what it does and how it does it. Like any acquired skill a competent coach can make it appear effortless to an observer. A skilled chef coordinates a busy kitchen; holding in her head essential knowledge about ingredients, cooking methods, the science of food combinations and leadership skills to harness the best from her team. Yet can appear to orchestrate the production of a restaurant full of fabulous meals night after night as a matter of routine. So it is with a skilled and practiced coach. He or she will have spent years studying and gaining practical experience in the application of coaching models that are brought together in just the right quantities and with the correct timing to produce outstanding results. Unlike the chef however, the coaches recipe will always be unique; they will know which ingredients to bring to the table but it won’t be until the client participates too that the exact recipe for that particular individual comes to light.

 

Clearly, experience gained outside of coaching can be invaluable; particularly if that experience has been gained in management and leadership. However it is not enough to enable a person to become a coach, any more than eating at a restaurant qualifies a diner to become a chef.

 

The models that a successful coach will need to have learned, explored, experienced and understood will include at the very least, the following: 

Although variously described, you can pretty much distil coaching models down into half a dozen sub-headings. One is a mixture of ‘client led’ approaches that have developed in response to breakthroughs and insights over the past forty or so years. Another has come about through the adopting of theories about the way people act and react to the world around them, another from specific research into what makes people change what they do. Two have been adapted from existing psychological ‘approaches’ and only one was specifically developed as a genuine coaching model. The others however are just a valid as coaching models even though they didn’t come about in that way.

The first Client Led model includes something called the ‘inner-game’, the ‘grow’ model and ‘co-active’ coaching. Simply put, the inner-game recognises that all people have a dialogue going on inside their heads; and that to create effective change that internal dialogue must be aligned with conscious goals if conflict is to be avoided. The ‘grow’ model is a simple methodology tool; a route map for coaches to follow that puts the client in charge of their own destiny but allows the coach to help them get there. It’s an acronym for establishing a ‘goal’, recognising ‘reality’, exploring ‘options’ and establishing ‘willingness’ to act. Finally co-active coaching is a relationship positioning approach; it puts the client firmly in the driving seat with the coach as a facilitator to draw from the client everything they might need to change.

The second model derived from a theoretical approach is called ‘integral’ coaching. It’s very useful as it provides an overarching framework from which to look at any coaching issue. Often described as the ‘Wilber’ model it suggests that any issue can be looked at as a matrix of four quartiles: Imagine a horizontal axis detailing a person’s perspective; that being either ‘internal’ or ‘external’. The vertical axis then suggests either an ‘individual’ or ‘collective’ understanding of the world. This provides a coach with a way to prompt the client to think about an issue by exploring the four quadrants: (Top left) their internal perspective and personal understanding of what’s going on. (Top right) the way other people perceive them and what others people might understand is going on. (Bottom left) The way their ‘group’ perceives things and the collective understanding from that group as to what it all means. Then finally (bottom right) is the way the world might perceive and understand the situation (by using existing labels or concepts).

The third model flows from specific research and is the NLP or multi-modal model. This is based on the principles of unconscious processing of information and communication. It suggests that the client will be influenced by events in ways that are not necessarily intuitive, and it suggests coaching tools like ‘appreciative enquiry’ (drawing from the client without influence), ‘clean language’ and ‘metaphor’ (influencing without agenda) and ‘meta-models’ of unconscious processing of information. By establishing the client’s goal a coach can use this model to help change behaviour by combining conscious and unconscious activity.

The fourth and fifth models both have applications outside of coaching and come from the world of psychology. Fourth is the model of ‘positive psychology’; it focuses on beliefs, values and needs in the search for ultimate happiness. The fifth model of ‘behavioural coaching’ draws from extensive psychological work in conditioning and adapting of behaviour as a science.

The sixth model is that of ‘ontological coaching’. Specifically developed as a coaching model this is as much a philosophy as a practical tool. It uses slightly different language to the other models and begins from principles rather than behaviour. It focuses on the clients ‘way of being’ and pulls together the triad of language, emotion and physiology. It suggests that the combination of what a person says, feels and does becomes ‘who’ they are. Hence only by exploring those and any ‘breakdowns’ within them can a person reach their goals.

 

An effective coach will be skilled and practiced in all of these models and will integrate them to create the best ‘recipe’ for each and every client.

 

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