As a Client
This is to now do a deep dive into each of the opportunities to check how feasible they are. It is an opportunity to realize that life is all about conflicts and trade-offs. The act of exploring the issues will allow the client to choose the opportunity to go forward with, that best suits their specific need and reality.
As a Coach
It is about narrowing down things so as to eventually have a plan that the client can own and execute.
Coaching application
Q1 – For each opportunity or alternative could you please describe the potential problems that you might encounter?
Q2 – What risk do you see as you examine this opportunity?
Q3 – Given the problems described, what is your sense of the direction you need to take?
Q4 – What is your gut feel in terms of this opportunity?
I have put ‘Problems’ in Brown to give me a color analogy that says this is the part that my client would most likely detest. It is akin to rolling up my sleeve and getting my hands all dirty.
The ‘Problems’ part is perhaps explored in the ‘Options’ part in Sir John Whitmore’s GROW model while discussing the options.
E – Exploration & Execution
We now explore and co-create a plan for execution. I wanted the process of execution to be one of exploration with the client before executing it. This will help the client look at the plan that most fit their needs and current situation.
As a Client
We now talk about how we can execute on an opportunity given the fact that we have now worked through the problems for each of them. This is where the rubber meets the road and allows the contract to come to fruition.
As a Coach
This is about creating the space for the client to come up with a plan and execute to achieve the desired outcome. In many ways this would be a closure of the coaching session.
Coaching application
Q1 – For the opportunity in question, could you outline what plan you could put in place to execute it?
Q2 – What risks do you foresee in executing this plan?
Q3 – What are some of the first steps you could potentially take to put the ball in motion?
Q4 – What do you feel about the realism of the plan?
Q5 – How will you measure success?
Q6 – What is your time frame for execution?
Q7 – What resources do you need to successfully execute it?
Q8 – How may I help you execute on your plan?
I have put ‘Exploration and Execution’ in Blue to give me a color analogy that says we need to look expansively to the sky as we explore different ways to co-create and execute on a plan.
The ‘Exploration and Execution’ part is aligned towards the ‘Will’ part in Sir John Whitmore’s GROW model.