Transcript
So if we’re going to look at structuring of a coaching session and I follow what’s called an ICF, the International Coaching Federation, kind of format. But the first part, after you’ve done your history session, you’ve set a clear set of intentions for your client. At the end of each session, you’re going to be mapping out some action points. So at the start of each session, we’re going to be checking in on those actions. How did you go with those? Was anything a problem? Did you find anything difficult? Did you not understand something? Did anything get in the way in terms of limiting beliefs or thoughts that prevented action? And then from that point, I’m going to score the intentions from the very, you know, the big intentions for the whole program of work together out of 10. I read them out and we do a score and I’m hoping to see each session that they’re moving up on that scale.
So we’re making progress. Then I ask them, what’s the single biggest thing that you want to get out of this next session? Or what can help you move the fastest up this scale next? And then from that, what I do is give them two or three different routes forward. Now if we looked at this piece, then this will be the outcome. If we looked at this, you get this outcome, this outcome, which one do you prefer? Because coaching isn’t about being directive, it’s about co-creating that content so that they can get the outcomes they need. And then when they choose a focus, you’re obviously using coaching techniques, questioning and I also have tools, so skills and resource development to help where the resources are not available for that person. And then at the end, we do this coaching inspired action plans based on what we’ve talked about.
We set three big rocks for the next fortnight and we break those down specifically. So it’s no point just saying, okay, I want to be held accountable for trigger tracking in the next two weeks. Well, how do we do that? How many days are you going to do it? What’s the best time of day? Do you need anything else in place to help you form that new habit? Because often it’s about breaking habits of a lifetime. It’s very hard to start new things. And then at the end, I’ll sort of be checking how did we do towards that session focus today. And to finish on a big clarity piece by asking what was most valuable from the session today, or what was your key takeaway? And that helps solidify the thoughts about what on earth has happened in this session? What was that journey I’ve just been on?
And they’re able to articulate, you know, I actually got this out of this session. This is why coaching is so valuable to me.
In terms of a coaching model. I have a specific model I work with from the certification program that I did so at once. It’s slightly different, but mine’s a three-part model. So we have rapport, transformation, and momentum. So in terms of rapport model. So we have rapport, transformation, and momentum. So that’s really important to have this contract in place, the permission on board to do this piece of work and clear sets of intentions. Within rapport, we also have this state that we bring as a coach to our coaching practice. You know, if I just wished about and then sat down at my computer, I’m not in the right stage to coach. I need to have time and space and review all the notes before each session and really bring myself into, you know, being fully present for that with the person.
It’s a very different way of being because we’ve got to hold the space for people to be able to open up to us and if we’re trying to just rush through everything, we’re not going to get the right state. And we have this specific practice of what’s called devoted listening. I absolutely love the term devoted listening and that’s what it is. I’m looking for not just what they’re saying, how they’re seeing it, the tone of voice. If they’re going rare around here, like what’s what’s happening for this other person. I’m really listening, not just with my ears but with all of my senses. And then we get into the second part of the model, which is transformation. I’m using coaching questions to open up and identify what the problem is. Getting to the core of it. I’m using observations to create awareness for my client.
You know, I noticed that you know, last time I’m hearing that this to start to bring awareness so that when they hear it back, they get that piece for themselves. You know, I’m not just going to tell them what the answer is, I’m going to help them to discover the answer for themselves. And then as part of the transformation with my particular type of coaching, we also include tools and resource development to be able to integrate these habits and new practices long term. So they almost have a personalized toolkit of resources after you’ve worked with them to add longevity to the work together. And then the third layer of the coaching model is momentum. So, like we said, at the end of each coaching session, there are actions, new specific actions that are broken down into the exact way they can implement it. The approach to that momentum, to those action steps, is what we call soft.
I am not telling them what to do, we are co-creating. You know, if we’d just spent the whole session talking about trigger tracking and they don’t mention it, as one of the big rocks, I might gently suggest that it might want to feature, but I’m not telling them it has to feature. And we have accountability as well because they know that I’m going to be checking in on those actions. And that is a key piece for coaching because, without accountability, nine times out of 10 people don’t do the stuff. So this makes it really, what builds the momentum in coaching and really gets the outcome for the clients.
So for each new client that I have, there will be a legal contract for that piece of work. And this isn’t something that I’ve written myself. This comes from some, packer resources that I bought from it’s called Susan DIBELS, a small business legal Academy. We have legal requirements. I have a privacy policy which tells my clients what I do with their data, which is so important now for GDPR that, you know, what am I doing with those notes? Who is looking at those notes? Because I also as an ICF regulated coach, I have coaching supervision or the people are looking at those notes and also some sessions are recorded with prior consent as well. In terms of intake, I will always run a history session as the very first session with any new client and that tells me, is this person right for coaching or do they need a different service that I can sign post them to? And I also have, you know, new client intake forms in terms of specifics like name, email address, postal address, things like that as well.
Definitely recommend getting those forms from a legal sentence. And then there are specific places where you adapt them to your business and then they’re normally highlighted. So you literally just type in the right words. In terms of history session, that came from my coaching certification. So you might have specific things from the certification you use too.
In terms of legal templates. I use a company called Susan DIBELS, small business Academy, and they have coaching packs and GDPR packs, which are great. In terms of coaching templates, you might have stuff from your coaching certification, but also from the ICF. The international coaching Federation is great too.
