Coaching Model: Flexible and Adaptable Model

A Coaching Model Created by Luminita Petre
(Life Coach, ROMANIA)

As a coach, I am using my experience in psychological counselling and human resources area. I am accustomed to support people to clarify what is important to them, how they can act in order to be more in harmony with their value system and their needs, be conscious of the barriers and limitations that they place in the way of their personal or professional realization, but also be aware of their development potential.

Thanks to my previous experience I can easily practice active listening and direct communication and I am very focused on creating awareness and generating action to move on. I like to use NLP techniques and methods of behavioural cognitive therapy, to encourage the practice of gratitude and I find it useful to reframing perspective as a way to generate awareness.

I am convinced that knowing oneself and truly listening to our own thoughts and feelings, we have all the chances of achieving our goals. It is important to want to take control of our own lives.

Based on the GROW and Transformational model, I developed a model that I find helpful in structuring a logical thread to follow in my practice as a coach. It is a flexible and adaptable model to the specific needs of each client and to its uniqueness.

The steps I am considering in my coaching model are:

1. Problem addressed and setting the goal of the coaching session

It is the stage where the topic proposed by the subject is explored. It is possible to highlight both the aspects of the client’s big work agenda and the aspects of the small agenda, that can be addressed in the current working session. Creating of a space of trust and intimacy enables communication and expression of thoughts, concerns and emotions and the deeper exploration of the proposed subject. It is essential that the Coach to supports the Client to better clarify the relevant aspects related to the topic and to set specific objectives.

Examples of powerful questions:

• What do you want to get at the end of this meeting?
• What would be good for today?
• At the end of this meeting, how do you know that you have achieved your goal / that you have achieved what we now set?

ICF Competencies: establishing the coaching agreement, establishing trust and intimacy with the client, coaching presence, active listening

2. The current situation

The Client expresses their perception of the current situation, expounds reality as it is experienced by them. By exploring the way the Client understands and feels about the current situation, we can identify stereotypes of thinking, underlying beliefs, limiting beliefs, preconceptions, and possibly unrealistic expectations that may stand in the way of achieving the goal. By addressing powerful questions, mirroring, reflection and other techniques that facilitate auto discovery, the client is helped to become aware of his expectations and the point where he is in the process of achieving the goal.

Examples of powerful questions:

• What happens now?
• What is going on well?
• What would you like to change?
• What progress have you done so far?
• How do you feel about the current situation?

ICF Competencies: establishing trust and intimacy with the client, coaching presence, active listening, powerful questioning, direct communication

3. Defining the desired state

By defining and describing that desired result, the Client can already see the potential that can be released by reaching the goal and reinforcing their desire to make a change and move into a more empowering perspective. Now we can lay the foundations on which mobilization is built from the stage of action. With the exploration of the expected sentiment to achieve the goal, can be highlighted other opportunities that the Client had not considered until that time.

Examples of powerful questions:

• What is the ideal scenario for achieving your goal?
• What do you want to feel, hear, see when you realize your goal?
• Who do you want to be around when you get to that point?

ICF Competencies: establishing trust and intimacy with the client, coaching presence, active listening, powerful questioning, direct communication, creating awareness

4. The relevance of reaching that goal for the Client

It discusses the importance and relevance to the client of achieving that goal. It verifies the Client’s desire and intent to achieve a certain goal and seeks the Client’s awareness of their expectations regarding to the achievement of that goal in the current context. This can highlight both emotional barriers, fear, self-confidence, underestimation of abilities, and the values and beliefs that support the achievement of that goal and the benefits of achieving that goal. These can be made into strengths and res