A Coaching Model Created by Annette Lohnes-Fornoff
(Leadership Coach, GERMANY)
My coaching model is supposed to be simple, clear and recognizable! This was my idea when I started reflecting upon it. No long and detailed explanations about the coaching relationship and process! Coaching is an experience and individual journey, not a fundamental method written in stone. Therefore I consider my model not as my coaching tool but as my “signature” to mark me as a coach in the coaching world, and in this sense I can imagine using it as a marketing tool.
I like the idea of referring to the Japanese drawing method in order to avoid computer graphic, which we are exposed to all too often and which imposes a sort of technical perfection and structure to real life experiences. On the contrary, with this hand drawn, simple graphic I want to imply that we are not perfect and static, but we are unique, special and constantly evolving beings. We are as unique as the things we create like the house we live in or the graphic we draw.
The house is our design and creation, as well as outside as inside. It represents our personality, our ideas, our way of being and living. It is the mirror of our soul. We feel at home in our own house, or we don’t. We feel comfortable with ourselves, or we don’t.
The image of creating our house refers to designing ourselves, our lives, the world around us. Our goal and life purpose are to evolve ourselves according to our values and desires in order to feel complete and authentic, as a whole being, in harmony with nature, society and the energy of the universe.
How do we get there?
We start at the bottom, where we start building our house. The fundament is the coaching relationship, where all the important interactions between coach and client unfold in a safe, confidential and exclusive ambiance. By listening, questioning, understanding, encouraging and respecting the coach supports the client’s effort to design his life. The client leads the communication, providing the information needed for this purpose. They join in pushing forward the client’s transformation process. They are both connected by partnership.
Above the fundament we build the house, the main and solid part where we live and act. This is the active, productive and transforming phase of the coaching process. It is where the coaching experience is happening: the client deliberates, realizes, becomes aware, acknowledges, decides, acts, changes and finally achieves his goal, designing something new in his life or a whole new life, feeling like a whole new being, fresh, relieved and happy at the end of the process.
As this model is not so much composed as a tool, it demonstrates my perception of the coaching process at this moment of my life. While designing it I focused on the client’s interest and curiosity to learn about my idea of coaching. It is important for him to know that he initiates the process through communication (words are always the motor for action and life), and by experiencing the steps mentioned in the house, he arrives at his goal in a joyful manner.