A Coaching Model Created by Natali Sanchez Rheault
(Life Coach, UNITED STATES)
This coaching model is about adding fulfillment in the lives of my clients. The main focus of the model is to explain how I will work with my client to get him/her to see a wider spectrum of their life and avoid the tunnel vision of only seeing success as the end goal. Fulfillment is arrived at when one is content and satisfied. Therefore, fulfillment will have a different meaning from one client to another. The goal is to get my client to derive at what fulfillment means to him/her and work towards getting that fulfillment and sustaining it. It is journey that as a coach, I will gladly and humbly take with my client.
This model depicts the areas that I will be coaching my client with. So even though we will touch on all these areas as part of the coaching process, it does not necessarily mean that that they are in chronological order. For example, even though we will at first really dive into the awareness piece, awareness can also come in as we are working with other areas such as flexibility, willpower, or structures, etc.
Self-awareness – the awareness piece has to do with my client seeing and understanding what fulfillment means to him/her. It means having my client look in and identify his/her values, as well as come up with their own meaning of fulfillment and what it looks like for them. It will look different from client to client. This awareness will help my clients better define their goals and have a more precise understanding of what they would like to see as a result of coaching.
Coaching questions:
- What does fulfillment mean to you?
- Remember a time when you felt truly satisfied and content. (Follow up questions) How did that feel? How do you feel now as you remember?
- What do you do on a daily basis that is meaningful to you?
- What are your values?
- Are your values, your definition of fulfillment and what you do on a daily basis aligned?
Goal setting – having my clients define and voice their goals will not only be confirmation for them as to what they want to address in the coaching sessions, but it will also help them and me as their coach stay focused on their goals throughout the coaching sessions. Here it is important for the client to also voice what the expectations are from the coaching sessions and what they would like to see at the end. Having an understanding of what they want to accomplish by the end of the individual sessions and over the course of the coaching relationship is extremely important as it will help in managing their expectations.
Coaching questions:
- What are some goals that you would like to target throughout our coaching sessions? What about in this first session?
- Do you have immediate goals you need to meet?
- What does accomplishment of your goals look like?
- How will you know if you have accomplished your goals?
- How long are you giving yourself to fulfill your goals?
Creativity – the creativity area deals with coming up with different ideas to how fulfillment can be accomplished. It is about having a helicopter view of the different roads to get to the end goal and identify milestones along the way. This will help my clients assess the different possibilities at their disposal and feel good about the fact that often there are different paths to get to an end goal, but it is only through creativity and self awareness that the client will be able to see the different possible paths ahead.
Coaching questions:
- What are some possible ways to reach your end goal?
- What are some milestones that you will have along the way?
- How will you identify those milestones?
- If you were at your most creative, how could you get to your end goal?
Concrete action plans – the purpose for establishing action plans is so that my clients can see and be in tune with their what, how, and when. This planning phase gives a reality check to the creative process. It also promotes clarity in the clients’ minds about what they can actually accomplish, how they can accomplish it, and by when. This process ensures that my clients stay grounded in their reality and aspire to accomplish their fulfillment in a way that is doable for them.
Coaching questions:
- What will your action items be to accomplish your fulfillment?
- What can you put in place now?
- Are these actions aligned to your values?
- How can you get your values and actions better aligned?
Commitment and willpower – having clients think about their commitment to their end goal in their busy daily lives is important because not only does it manage their expectations, but it also shows them if they need to modify something along the way. For example, if my client has defined their values but all of a sudden when it comes to the action plan and actual commitment they find themselves unmotivated, then maybe the action that they have identified does not really align to their values; more thinking and realignment of actions to values is needed. It could also be that this particular client does not exercise willpower, which is the will to continue and drive through inspite of obstacles. It is basically exercising postponing the little immediate pleasures of today to realize longer-term goals, delaying gratification.
Coaching questions:
- How committed are you to the action plan you have defined?
- What obstacles are in your way now?
- How can you remove them out of your way?
- Is there anything you need to modify to get your commitment level up?
Sustainability – why is it always so easy to get involved in something at the beginning when it is new, mysterious, exciting and then after a while when familiarity starts, we just lose interest? It happens to all of us. In order for my clients to continue their growth after building a strong foundation based on their values, it is vital to put structures in place that will assist with maintaining their newly established behavior.
Structures are defined as what support us to manage our commitments, values and responsibilities over time. It is important for my clients to understand what structures they have in place and if those structures will help them reach their goals.
The people that they can count on (success teams) are also very important to help clients feel supported as they work towards their goal and/or face difficulties along the way. The success team can also celebrate moments of success with clients so establishing who the success team is can be well worthwhile for clients.
Coaching questions:
- How will you sustain the new activities that meeting your goals will give you?
- Can you recall a time when you implemented a new habit in your life?
- How did you do it?
- Do you still maintain that habit today?
- After meeting your goal(s), what will you do if you all of a sudden regress into old habits?
Comfort with uncertainty – focusing on acknowledging that clients will feel a certain amount of discomfort as they make changes in their life is something that can help the client feel more at ease in the coaching process. Having a sense of comfort with uncertainty will help my clients be more open to change and be more patient with how long it takes to make sustainable change. Progress takes time and it is only when the client is aware of this that they leave space for them to grow and develop through the coaching process.
Coaching questions:
- What does uncertainty look like to you?
- On a scale from 1-10, how comfortable are you with uncertainty?
- Is reaching your fulfillment certain?
- For how long do you think you can be in this “uncertain” period?
- What can you put in place in your life that will help you go through these periods of uncertainty?
