A Coaching Model Created by Jennifer Shinkai
(Executive Coach, JAPAN)
When I first started my coaching and development business in 2016, a long term well wisher said to me, “You do have the perfect name for it! I look forward to hearing about the Shinkai model!”
Shinkai (新開) is made up of two elements
新 meaning “new”
開 meaning “open”
New open – such a powerful concept in coaching and change don’t you think?
Model background
My model owes much to the ideas of the GROW model and also the Work of Byron Katie. In all coaching we hope to support the client in moving form the current state to an imagined future state. However, along the way either before or during coaching the client realises that there is some kind of blocker in the way
This is the gate that they must pass through – the radical in the kanji for open is 門 which means gate. Coaching is about helping the client to discovering the different ways to open the gate and how to break through to the desired future state.
Shinkai Model Process
Step1 – Imagine future state
What is your “New Open”? What is on the other side of the gate? How attractive is it?
Step 2 – Identify the “gate”
What is the gate that needs to be passed through? What belief, habit or thought process does it represent?
Step 3 – Examine the “gate” on both sides
What do I like about being on this side of the gate?
How has being on this side helped me in the past?
What is it protecting me from?
What am I scared of losing from this side?
What am I scared about on the other side?
What do I not like about it?
How can I get myself angry enough to be dissatisfied about being on this side of the gate?
Step 4 – Use past successes
How have I got through similar gates in the past?
How have I moved beyond similar thought processes/ beliefs in the past?
Move beyond the superficial – ask yourself “And What Else?”
Find more options and turn away from the automatic thought – dig deeper and find something new. What are the all possible ways we can get through a gate? What some up for you with the ideas below
- Simply turn the handle
- Find a key
- Ask someone to help me push it open
- Try a mysterious key on you key chain - I always wondered what that key unlocked?
- Knock it off the hinges
- Find an alternative route
- Smash through it with an axe like in the Shining!
- Come at the gate from a different angle
And What Else?
Step 5 – Apply past success
How can I use the similar strengths and successful approaches from the past to open this new gate?
Step 6 – Check in on progress
What is working? What is not?
How might I need to adapt my approach?
Step 7 – Rinse and Repeat!
Through application of steps 4 to 6 with a clear eye on the attractiveness of the future state, move through the gate to reach your goal.
You may find the similar gate again in the future but through awareness of the properties of the gate (your beliefs, habits and thought processes), you can find the way to pass through more easily in the future.
I look forward to supporting you in your quest to find the way to pass through the gate to your new opening.