A Coaching Model Created by Karen Folino
(Personal Wellness, UNITED STATES)
Coaching bridges the growing chasm between what managers are being asked to do and what they have been trained to do. Fortune Magazine
Dare to DO more
BE more
And REACH farther
Than you EVER thought possible
Introduction
Today’s highly challenging business environment demands that individuals and organizations perform at higher levels than ever before. Successful organizations now require that managers focus on developing others to ensure engagement, continuity, smooth succession and sustained growth. Today’s leaders must develop the skills necessary to inspire their employees to excel. This coaching model is geared toward the Business oriented coach but it is possible that other specialty coaches could find value in its’ application.
Coaching is the management skill that enables organizations to engage the minds of employees. The role of the coach is to understand how to work with each person in a way that maintains focus, commitment, and a high level of satisfaction. By using a coach approach, leaders increase productivity, improve communication, and serve as a resource so that both organizational and individual objectives are met.
The “What if?” coaching model isn’t a model that gives answers. It is an approach and a model to promote the exploration of questions, of how to choose the best outcomes for our clients’ situations and lead them to a discovery of the answers for their individual situations. It is intended to be a simple organizing framework of what is? What if? What WOWs? And What Works? It is my new mantra for exploring the coaching discovery compass.
The coaching discovery compass is intended to unlock creative right-brain capabilities to solve a range of problems. The tools are a necessary component of a successful coaching practice, helping clients turn abstract concepts into everyday solutions for their individual challenges.
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. Ken Blanchard
What is?
All successful coaching experiences start with an accurate understanding of the client’s current reality. Good coaching will help the client to identify the real issue or opportunity that they wish to tackle and help frame the issue that the client desires to work on. What is the coaching issue to be addressed?
A funny thing often happens as we pay closer attention to what the client is up to—we find that the clues helping the client find a “new future” lie in the dissatisfactions they are currently experiencing. You have to meet your clients where they are today in order to take them where you think they need to be.
What if?
This is about assisting your clients to synthesize and pursue possibilities. When you ask the question, “what if?” you open up the possibilities. “What if I could…how could I make this happen?” What if we could do that, what would it look like? “I know we can’t, but….what if we could? We begin to wonder (borrowing the words of historians Richard Neustadt and Ernest May) where the future might divert from the familiar flows of the past, how our insights could translate to new possibilities.
As humans we have three fears that hold us back most often:
- Fear of Failure: “What if I don’t make my quota?”
- Fear of Success: “What if I make my quota and, they want me to do it again?”
- Fear of Rejection: “What if I make my quota and now my friends who didn’t, hate me?
What wows?
To “hit the sweet spot” and bring the most value to your clients, it may be possible that prioritization and focus may be necessary. What wows is about good listening and culling through the client’s feedback and concepts to what can be manageable, setting the client up for success and gaining focus. This is the “wow zone”.