When you have a follow up coaching session with somebody
you've worked with previously, it can be hard to pick up
the flow. I like to use the Achievements, Issues, Plans
model to help with this.
Begin by discussing achievements, i.e. what has been
accomplished since you last spoke. Remember that even if
every goal was not achieved in full, any kind of momentum
needs to be encouraged and recognized. This can be a great
way of raising confidence and of course, confident people
tend to make high performers. Confidence is a product of
being successful and knowing that we were responsible for
those successes. Let your coachee be the one to define what
an achievement is.
Then you can move on to issues. An issue is anything that
has cropped up since you last spoke that has prevented
agreed actions being carried. There might be external
factors such as time pressure or conflicting priorities.
There might equally be a number of internal factors such as
confusion, doubt or fear. I find it best to try to remain
neutral when discussing such issues. You don't want to come
across as a teacher quizzing why homework has not been
completed. This will be met with excuses rather than
reasons and you will not uncover what's really going on. I
would also suggest that you both look ahead to what looms
on the horizon that might create more difficulties.
Finally move on to plans. A good coaching session will have
two sets of plans. There will be a plan for the session
itself which you can establish by asking "What would you
like to gain from this session?" or "What would have to
happen today for you to consider this time well spent?"
There will also need to be agreed actions and plans
confirmed for making progress on whatever issue or
situation is being discussed. You should find yourself
asking "What are you going to do?", "When are you going to
do it?" etc.
This model works particularly well when you meet regularly
with your coaches. It creates a useful cycle in that any
plans agreed ought to become the achievements for
discussion at the next session. There will no doubt be
issues that occur, but you can agree plans to deal with
these and one again, these should become achievements for
next time. Over time this approach can develop a real
action orientation in any coaching relationship. Make a
plan, carry it out, identify issues, create a plan to solve
them, carry it out, recognize achievements and so on and so
on.
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Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com
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