Coaching Model: Through Awareness to Clarity

A Coaching Model Created by Raluca Chinole
(Executive Coach, ROMANIA)

In 7 years of coaching I had the chance to discover some things that works with most of the clients.

One of them is awareness. Getting awareness on their fears, desires, motivation, triggers brings to the clients an enormous power to see things clear, in the present and enables them to take right decisions and move forward.

Also accompanying clients to get this awareness turns to be something that came in a natural way for me, even if sometimes can be like a cold shower. Truth or reality is not always easy to accept.

My model has 6 simple steps

1. Assessing present situation – what client declares in the first session. Through lot of patience, using deep listening and questions, articulating what I am hearing the client become comfortable with the process and starts to speak naturally, to get confidence in me and starts to get deeper than surface. In the beginning the tendency is to stay on surface. This has 2 possible reasons, one is the client is really living there and is not able to see things yet or the client needs an accommodation period of time with you, the process and even with himself in another perspective – of being vulnerable and admit that not everything is perfect.
2. Deepening the understanding – exploring what is behind clients words (fears, behaviors, beliefs, using listening, powerful questions and mirroring, lot of mirroring and feedback. This allow clients to see through my eyes what usually don’t see or don’t want to see. Usually the questions arise from the listening part. I am always ask permission for giving feedback or mirroring. It is very important to reveal to the client the contradictions, the patterns, the lack of energy you observe. In time the client will be ready to accept them and work on them. All we need to do is to hold the space for them.
3. Articulate what they discover during the process – it is very important to stay with the client until he is able  to articulate by him self the awareness he get. Now he is able to explain behaviors, actions, lack of action, barriers he experienced during his life. He is ready to embody his need and commitment for change.
4. Clarify directions to follow – in this moment clients are ready to set some clear objectives and directions to follow.
5. Actions to be done – once the client has the objective and the direction it is time for the first step, first action to take.
6. Constantly check the progress and re-design the alliance – always check with the client what is the status of his actions, how easy or difficult it was how is it aligned with the objective and if there is a need for adjustment . In this part it is included also the feedback I ask for my performance as coach.