Coaching Models Overview

Example questions

Goal

This phase is about helping the client identify and clarify their goals not only for the session but also for the entire coaching journey. Whitmore emphasizes the importance of clarifying the dream goal, the end goal, performance goals and process goals. He also underlines the significance of the ownership of these goals as a key element of motivation. According to him it is not enough to have SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Timeframe) goals but they also have to be PURE (Positively stated, Understood, Relevant, Ethical) and CLEAR (Challenging, Legal, Environmentally sound, Appropriate, Recorded).

The goal for the issue:

‘What’s the dream?’

‘How would you like it to be?’

‘What does that look like?’

The goal for the conversation:

‘What would you like to achieve in the conversation?’

‘What would make this time well spent for you?’

‘What would be the most helpful thing for you to take away?’

Reality

This phase is about inviting the coachee to explore their current reality and develop a more objective view of it. This is the source of better self-awareness.

Whitmore emphasizes the importance of using “what”, “when”, “where”, “who” and “how much” questions in this phase as these questions are seeking facts while “why” and “how” invite opinion.

Whitmore suggests that once the current reality is clear the goal can be revisited if needed, it can be fine-tuned, sharpened or even altered if the current reality turns out to be different than originally thought.

‘What is happening at the moment?

How important it is to you?’

‘What impact is this having on you?’

‘What action(s) have you taken so far?’

‘What has stopped you from doing more?’

‘What internal resistance do you have to take action?’

Options

This phase is a creative one. It is about engorging the client maximize choices, ideally without examining the feasibility of their options. Often negative assumptions limit our thinking e.g. it cannot be done. In this case, coaches can use “What if…” questions e.g. What if it was possible?

‘What could you do?‘

‘What ideas do you have?’

‘What alternatives do you have?’

‘Is there anything else?’

‘What has worked in the past?’

‘How could you improve that situation?’

Will

This phase is about converting the discussion into a decision. According to Whitmore “Will” has two stages:

1) Accountability set-up; defining actions, timeframes, and measures of accomplishments

2) Follow-up, Feedback; review and reflect on how things went and on key leadings

‘What will you do?’

‘How will you do that?’

‘When will you do that?’

‘Who will you talk to?’

‘Is there anything you need to put in place before that?’

Example Questions / Actions

Contracting

Initiate the discussion using an iterative clarification of the coachee’s needs, set goals in line, the desired outcome and agreeing on the ground rules not only for the session but also for the entire coaching journey

‘How would you like to be coached today?’

‘What helps you learn?’

‘What blocks your learning?’

Listening

Using active listening as a catalyst to become aware of the detail data and patterns of behaviour, help the client to generate their understanding of the situation and generate personal insights. Focus not only on what is being said but also what the client tries to communicate. Watch out for non-verbal signs, metaphors, stories and limiting beliefs. A coach can use paraphrasing or reframing to clarify the words of the client.

Listen for or consider:

‘What am I hearing in the content of the words?’

‘What am I hearing that isn’t being said?’

‘What isn’t being heard or said?’

‘What could I ask to help the client to reflect?’

Exploring

Enabling the client to generate personal insights about the impact the situation has on them or on others and also to develop future options for change.

‘Has this happened before?’

‘What was the outcome/result?’

‘How did your behaviour/reaction affect the situation?’

‘What did you feel when so-and-so said… or did…?’

‘What outcome would you prefer?’

Action

Supporting the client the find the best way forward, rehearse new actions, set a commitment to next steps.

‘What do you think you can do?

Is there anything else you could possibly do?’

‘How will this (action step) help you achieve your goal?’

Review

Closing the intervention with both coach and coachee reflecting on what is working and what is not, what could be done differently in the next coaching sessions.

‘What worked for this session?’

‘What did not work?’

‘What else would you have preferred either of us to do or to say?’

Example Questions

Outcome

‘I want you to imagine that you have attained your goal. What changes do you see in your working environment?
‘You’ve come into work today to find that this problem has vanished. What changes have occurred?’
‘What do you want to achieve?’
‘Are there times when the solution is already present, or something similar? Can you identify what is different about these times?’

Scaling

On a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 representing the worst it has ever been and 10 the preferred future, where would you put the situation today?’
‘If 0 is no achievement and 10 is complete goal achievement, where are you on the scale already?’
‘You are at “N” now; what did you do to get this far?’
‘How would you know you had got to N+1?’

Know-how and resources

‘What are your strengths?’
‘What helps you perform at “N” on the scale, rather than 0?’
‘What knowledge do you currently have that is helping you?’
‘What resources do you have?’
‘What skills do you currently have that are helping you?’
‘What attitudes do you currently have that are helping you?’
‘When does the outcome already happen for you – even a little bit?’
‘What did you do to make that happen? How did you do that?’

Affirm and action

‘So your knowledge of “X” is extensive and has enabled …’
‘Reacting to the situation in the way you describe was excellent because …’
‘The level of skills within your team is much higher than others I’ve seen in this situation.’
‘How can you use these resources and strengths to help you achieve your goal?’

Review

‘Will keeping that successful process in place helps you complete that action?’
‘What did you do to get this far?’
‘How can you do more of that?’
‘Do you think altering the current procedure has any additional benefits?’

Assess the current situation

Encouraging the client to develop a holistic understanding of their situation

Creative brainstorming of alternatives to the current situation

Stimulating client to open up and see their problem from an entirely different perspective, e.g. by using questions like: “What would you do if money would not be an issue?” or “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

Hone goals

Supporting the client to develop SMART goals. It is very important that the goals are truly relevant or meaningful to the client, as these goals are more likely to be achieved. The coach can also help the client to develop full expedience of the goal; how it will look like, sound like and feel like to achieve this goal. Developing a sensory experience of the goal can help clients to determine if this is really what they want and also gives them a benchmark against which they can measure their progress.

Initiate options

Encouraging the client to develop a wide range of options for behaving to achieve the goal.

Evaluate options

Supporting the client the weight up the different options.

Valid action programme design

Supporting the client to build a concrete action plan that gets them from where they are to where they want to be. This is a critical phase of the coaching, coaches need to make sure that the client is committed to the actions, statements are clearly articulated as well as the timelines.

Encourage momentum

Providing ongoing support for the client to motivate them, display belief in their capabilities to keep them on track.

Example Questions

Problem identification

‘What’s the problem or issue or concern or topic you wish to discuss? What would you like to change?’

‘Any exceptions when it is not a problem, issue or concern?’


‘How will we know if the situation has improved?’

‘On a scale of 0 to 10 where ‘0’ is nowhere and ‘10’ is resolved, how near are you now today, to resolving the problem or issue?’

‘Any distortions or can the problem or issue be viewed differently?’‘Can you imagine waking up tomorrow morning and this problem (or issue or concern) no longer existed, what would you notice that was different?’

Realistic, relevant goals developed

(e.g. SMART goals)

What do you want to achieve?

Let’s develop specific SMART goals.

Alternative solutions generated

What are your options?

Let’s note them down.

Consideration of consequences

What could happen?

How useful is each possible solution?

Let’s use a rating ‘usefulness’ scale for each solution where ‘0’ is not useful at all, and ‘10’ is extremely useful

Target most feasible solution(s)

What is the most feasible solution(s)?

Now we have considered the possible solutions, what is the most feasible or practical solution(s)?

Implementation of

Chosen solution(s)

Let’s implement the chosen solution by breaking it down into manageable steps.

Now go and do it!

Evaluation

How successful was it? Rating ‘success’ scale 0 to 10.

What can be learnt?

Can we finish coaching now or do you want to address or discuss another issue or concern?

Example questions

Purpose

Encouraging the client to have clarity about what they want from the coaching relationship as well from the coaching conversation. Strategically using questions, active listening, attending non-verbal signs, paraphrasing, and summarizing to get the whole story out of the coachee.

‘What is it that you want to achieve?’

‘What is the desired outcome for this session?’

‘What do you want to accomplish trough coaching?’

‘How do you think coaching will help you with your aims?’

‘Have you thought about other solutions besides coaching?’

Observations

Encouraging client to have clarity about their position and environment is a balanced, rational and functional manner.

‘What have you tried so far?’

‘What has worked for you in the past?’

‘Who else is involved or knows about this?’

‘How can you start to resolve this issue?’

‘What is happening right now?’

Strategy

Once the client has clarity about the goal, their current reality and environment it is very important to translate the goals into SMART objectives. It is also very important that the clients themselves set their own goals. The role of the coach is to ensure that these factors are present.

‘How clear are you on what you want to achieve?’

‘What does success look like for you?’

‘How long have you got to achieve this?’

‘How will you know when you have succeeded?’

‘Does this accurately summarize what your aims are?’

Insight

Encouraging the client to consider their goals and what emotions arise when thinking about the goal. This phase is about determining if the goal is really what the client wants, the goal is attractive, motivating and not overwhelming.

‘How committed are you in achieving this goal on a scale of 1-10?’

‘How confident are you in achieving this goal on a scale of 1-10?’

‘How attractive is this goal for you?’

‘How challenging is this goal for you?’

‘Are there potential obstacles you have to consider?’

Team

This phase is about defining what support network can be created by the client.

‘Who will you share your goal with?’

‘Is there someone who you can ask to sponsor you in your goal pursuit?’

‘Who has supported you in the past?’

‘Who or what inspires you when things get tough?’

Initiate

This phase is about encouraging the client to formulate their strategy, action plan and start taking steps towards implementing their goals.

‘When will you start to act on this?’

‘Are you sure you want this?’

‘How will you begin?’

‘Who will you tell when you have started?’

‘What will you do if you run into difficulties?‘

Value

This phase is about breaking down the big overarching goal to smaller weekly tasks. This ensures that the client has regular feedback and can track progress and thereby able to celebrate the advancement.

‘How will you celebrate your success?’

‘Who will you celebrate with?’

‘How valuable is this progress to you?’

‘How will you feel having achieved this step?’

‘Are you keen to continue?’

Encourage

This phase is about encouraging the client to stay motivated from session to session and also in between the sessions. While the coach helps the client to build their support network the coach plays a key role in this.

‘How are you doing with your goals?’

‘What have you done so far?’

‘Do you need any help with that?’

‘How are you sticking with your plan?’

‘Have you experienced any difficulties?’