Coaching Model: The 5C’S

A Coaching Model Created by Gretel Lampe
(Executive Coach, UNITED STATES)

Introduction

Each one of us is unique …

Uniqueness(meaning)

“the quality of being unlike anything else of its kind”

“the quality of being unequaled, incomparable, or unusual”

“the quality of being particularly remarkable, special or unusual”

“where something or someone is unlike anything else in comparison”

We are all made so very differently, and it is in this uniqueness wherein lies our strength and our value. Coaching powerfully supports this journey of discovering our magic.

This coaching model holds the uniqueness of the client at its center.

The 5C’s of this model: Curiosity, Communication, Care, Courage, and Commitment, provide opportunities to discover, explore and celebrate this uniqueness of a client. Through partnering with a client, a coach can support their client to increase their awareness, all the time being guided by this framework.

I have found this Coaching Model to be useful as an approach from the coach’s perspective, from the client’s perspective, as well as a framework either for a single coaching session or for a series of coaching sessions.

Let’s first consider the approach of the coach through the lens of these 5 C’s:

Curiosity

Listen with an open mind.

The mindset of curiosity in a coach offers the opportunity for exploration to go deeper into a topic and even beyond a topic to move a client forward or enable them to become unstuck.

Some of what the client could be supported to discover and explore:

What is natural for them – natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving
Their talents and strengths as well as their weaknesses
What they need
What energizes them
The value they bring or want to bring
How they learn

Communication

Listen and observe.

Here the attention of the coach can be brought to what is said and how, what is not said, as well as what is communicated through body language.

Some things to notice here:

Natural styles of language and communicating
Recognizing resistance or a holding back from the client being able to fully express where or who they are
Alignment between what the client is offering and what is going on for them inside

Noticing any of these can identify opportunities for creating awareness for further exploration.

Care

Listen with an open heart.

For a coach to show up with care offers the opportunity to be intentional about the space they create. Together with empathy and compassion, this space of care will create a trusted space where a client can feel safe. It is also impactful to the coaching process for the coach to hear what the client really wants and to meet the client where they are in the moment.

What this creates for coach and client:

This creates and holds the space for the client to be fully themselves
This allows the client to be where they are on their journey
Having this lens encourages the coach to be mindful of hearing and seeing where the client really is and meeting the client with the appropriate energy

Courage

Listen to your gut.

To create opportunities for development and sustainable change in a client, the coach can gently share observations, intuitions, and acknowledgments around the who of the client, with no attachment to the outcome.

Here are some areas of focus in which to observe where the client shows up and what could be holding them back:

Values and Beliefs
Talents and Strengths
Learnings and Reflections
Impact and Change

This approach encourages and supports the client to create awareness by:

Unlocking that which hasn’t been able to flourish or be in the flow
Gaining a deeper understanding of their situation
Discovering and celebrating their uniqueness
Going gently where it may feel uncomfortable

Commitment

Listen and align.

For both coach and client, commitment to the growth of the client in and beyond the coaching sessions is essential for sustainable change. It is therefore necessary for every coaching conversation to connect on what feels useful for the client to do between sessions.

This creates the opportunity for coach and client:

To co-design and co-create steps to move the client forward
To check that there is alignment between actions and the essence of who the client is
To consider what support the client may need
To look at what the client is committed to keeping them on track with their plan

The ideal is when an action plan supports the client to become more of who they are as they work towards their goal and ultimately to their overall growth.

Taking these 5 C’s a step further:

Consider their role in the personal development journey of a client as they discover more and more of who they are:

Each of these C’s can be considered, both inwards as the client make sense of these aspects for themselves, as well as outwards towards others, their context, and the environment as the client makes sense of themselves in the relationship.

With the focus on the uniqueness of a client, this model creates the opportunity for clients to consider and explore certain questions reflecting on themselves, as well as reflecting in the relationship, as they journey and grow in awareness and as they look at how they want to show up for themselves and others. Possible questions for clients to ponder …

“What am I curious about?”
“In which way do I communicate?”
“In which way do I show care?”
“In which way do I show courage?”
“What am I committed to?”

Framework for A Single Coaching Session or A Series of Sessions

These 5 C’s – Curiosity, Communication, Care, Courage, Commitment – can form the framework for a single coaching session, or they can form a structure for a series of coaching sessions where time is spent focusing on each “C”. The number of sessions on each can vary according to the needs of the client.

Whether you are holding a coaching conversation as a single session or as part of a series of sessions, always enter with curiosity and close having established clarity around learnings, insights, and actions to support continued commitment towards positive sustainable change for the client.