A Coaching Model Created by Jennifer FitzMaurice
(Executive Coach, UNITED STATES)
Whole (n.) An entity or system made up of interrelated parts (thefreedictionary.com)
The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Aristotle
The Whole Person coaching model emphasizes the importance of focusing on and developing each facet of our lives so that we may realize our happiest, fullest and most successful selves.
In the Whole Person Coaching Model, we focus on 3 core areas:
- Self: Who am I? Who do I want to be?
- Relationships: What relationships do I want to nurture and develop?
- Vocation/Work: What do I want to accomplish? What am I meant to be doing?
If you practice yoga or try to stand on one leg, you instantly realize how challenging maintaining your balance can be. It requires not only extraordinary focus, but constant adjustment and realignment.
Similarly, maintaining harmony in your life requires you to focus on your aspirations across all facets of your life, ensuring that your attention isn’t drawn off-balance by just one or two aspects. It also requires you to continually adjust and re-align yourself towards your goals.
The coaching process supports you in clarifying your aspirations and developing the skills, tools and structures to help you maintain focus but also adjust as needed.
Coaching Process
We will follow a 4-step process to guide our conversations: 1) setting an intention or goal,
2) generating options to achieve your goal, 3) making and acting on an action plan, and 4) assessing and integrating what you’ve learned. While the steps are shown in a somewhat linear manner, we most likely will return to different points in the process along the way to dig a bit more deeply or adjust as needed.
Step 1: Set your intention
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Lewis Carroll
The ability to express what is most important – your purpose and goals – can greatly increase your personal satisfaction. You will consider your values, your strengths, and your passions. You will examine any roadblocks or challenges you’ve encountered along the way. But knowing where you want to go isn’t enough; you also need to possess the desire to go there.
During this step, we will work together to clarify and define what is most important to you at this given moment, but also what you aspire to in the long term. We will explore your values, priorities, dreams, wishes and goals for yourself, your relationships, and your vocation/work, making sure that all facets are given due consideration. This will form the basis of our work together.
Sample questions:
- What in life brings you satisfaction?
- What are your dreams and goals?
- When do you want to accomplish this?
- Who are the most important people in your life? What do they provide you?
- What challenges/frustrations do you want to overcome?
- What is holding you back?
- What do you expect to receive from coaching?
Sample activities:
- Values exercise
- The Wheel of Life
- Strengths and Talent Assessment
Step 2: Generate options
In Step 2, we will identify the possible avenues for achieving your goals and dreams. There are no guardrails and no constraints. Our mindset is one where anything and everything is possible. Once we've fully identified the possibilities, we will narrow them down to those which will serve you best.
Sample questions:
- If anything was possible, what would be your ideal course of action?
- What possible actions could you take?
- Which option most excites you?
- What factors will you use to weigh the options?
- Of all the options, which ones might work best?
- What needs to happen for you to reach that?
Sample activities:
- Brainstorming
- Mind-mapping
- Pros/Cons
Step 3: Make a plan and take action
In Step 3, we will lay out a set of specific actions to help you move towards your goals. We will use SMART goal-setting as a guide, ensuring that your goals are articulated in a way that moves you towards success.
Both research and common sense support the importance of having a goal. But it's not enough to simply hold the goal in our minds, or even to write it down. Adding accountability (telling others about your goal) and commitment (sharing updates with others) generates the power to turn dreams into reality.
As your coaching partner, we will work together to clarify your purpose and goals, formulate a plan of action to achieve these goals, and put in place the support you need to adopt your plan.
Sample questions:
- What options will you choose?
- Which will you start first?
- On a scale of 1-10, how committed/motivated are you to carrying out this action?
- When exactly will you do it?
- With whom will you share your goals?
- What steps will you take to update others on your progress?
- What resources do you have that will assist you in accomplishing your goals?
- How will you ensure you do it?
- How will you celebrate successes?
Sample activities:
- Daily gratitudes or affirmations
- Limiting beliefs and reframing
- Commitment cards or image boards
- Shifting perspectives/chairs
Step 4: Assess & integrate
In Step 4, we will acknowledge and celebrate your hard work and the progress you have made. We will also reflect upon your journey: the beginning, the hills and valleys passed along the way, and its current status.
Sample questions:
- On a scale of 1-10, what progress have you made in achieving your goal?
- What have you learned? About yourself?
- What will you take away from this?
- What is working well right now? What can you do more of that will help you move forward?
- How can you keep the momentum?
- How can you lock in the learning?
- What does it take to maintain? What will keep you on track?
- What's next?
What to expect
Throughout our journey together, I invite you to continually Explore, Reflect and Act, and not always in that order. Be curious, experiment, assess what is working and what isn't, try new things, start new habits and appreciate what you achieve whether it is a big step or a smaller one.
We will open each conversation with a check-in.
- What have been your highlights since we last spoke?
- What has gone well for you?
- What progress have you made?
- What is important to you right now?
- What would you like to achieve from this session?
My role throughout your journey is to assist you in achieving your goals by listening, asking questions, providing feedback, encouraging, acknowledging, and celebrating with you. While I acknowledge that you possess the answers to the most important questions, I will do my utmost to challenge you when it’s most helpful and support you when you ask.