A Coaching Model Created by Cristina Morpurgo
(Business & Executive Coach, ITALY)
The T.A.K.E O.F.F. coaching model aims to support and assist anyone who wants to be the pilot[1] in their life, and take off and fly towards the desired destination.
Being in the driving seat makes a dramatic difference in everyone’s life, especially in circumstances such as a life change, a career change, or the start up of a new business.
This coaching journey has the objective to provide the client with higher self-awareness, self-trust, confidence, openness to opportunities, focus and positive energy. It is a being-oriented model as it shifts the focus to the internal experience or subjective awareness of the individual. The output of this process translates into actions and changes in behaviors aligned to the person the client wants to be.
In Merriam-Webster dictionary, Take off is defined as the moment when an airplane, helicopter, etc., leaves the ground and begins to fly. It means also a rapid rise in activity, growth, or popularity, when referring, for instance, to a business. It also refers to a mechanism for transmission of the power.
Each of us is a Pilot. Along this coaching journey the coach supports the client to explore his/her full potential and to adopt the desired transformations and changes to be the pilot he/she wants to be and take flight on the journey of his/her desired destination.
The model is composed of 7 phases. The first one, Trust, is the enabler, being always present along the journey, while the others form the propeller to take flight.
Trust is the starting point and a key element of the coaching relationship, which is based on mutual trust and self-trust.
The coach creates for the client a safe and positive environment, confidential and nonjudgmental, where everything is for and about the client. The coach is flexible to the client’s needs and adapts approaches that best support the client.
In this tailored environment, the coach holds the space and the structure of the coaching sessions. The client brings the agenda to pilot his/her own journey.
The coach is present, meets the client where the client is, and carefully listens to what is said and not said by the client. The coach assists the client by asking open and thought-provoking questions. The coach acknowledges client’s achievements and supports the client in shifting perspectives and in seeing the opportunities that are aligned with the client’s desired destination.
This safe space gives the client the freedom to share with the coach anything relevant to move forward.
Last but not least, the coach trusts that the client has all the answers.
The coach supports the client to raise awareness and consciousness by means of powerful questions, active listening and reflecting back. Quite some time is dedicated to this phase, as this will be the starting point of the next steps of the coaching process. The main objective of this process is to support the client in gaining clarity of what is really important to him/her and what the client wants to get out of the coaching journey.
The coach pays attention to the language, tone of the voice and speed used by the client, highlighting to the client emotional and energy shifts and supporting him/her in making connections between what is said and not said and the shifts observed. In this process, the client gains clarity about what is happening around him/her, and what is experienced internally, in terms of thoughts and emotions. Values and passions are explored, as well as aspirations. In this way the client gains clarity about what truly motivates him/her. This phase plants seeds for transformation and sustained long-term change, as it represents an intentional journey of self-exploration.
Once the client has clarity about the desired destination, it is time to identify the levers he/she has, to turn the key that will make him/her take off and finally fly. To be the person the client wants to be.
The coach supports the client to identify what is necessary to take flight. The key to turn the engine on is made up of the strengths, passions and interests of the client, in particular those that are aligned to the destination he/she wants to reach. In fact, the coach will help the client in identifying the strengths that can support him in the specific case, and, if necessary, which kind of transformation could support and serve the client for the desired outcome.
In this phase, the client recognizes that he holds the key to turn on the engine and fly, thus he/she is in charge to live the life he/she wants to live. The coach supports the client in realizing that he/she can choose any response in life he/she wants.
In this phase the coach supports the client to create a “sense of the future”, to create a motivation to act (either in a transformational sense or transactional sense, or any point in the spectrum between these two, depending on the need of the client). In this phase the coach supports the client to create his/her vision of the desired flight plan. In a hypothetical space in which everything is possible, the coach supports the client in depicting the way he/she wants to be. This process serves to create a stronger connection with the desired-self and the desired outcome expressed by the client in previous phases.
The coach keeps the client in the space of positive emotions. Eliciting positive emotions, the coach creates a space able to expand the number of thoughts available to the client, as well as the actions (in a broad sense, comprising also internal transformation) the client is willing to engage in.
While moving towards this phase, the coach has supported the client to build his/her vision and to connect with it, as well as having developed in the client a sense of possibility and a sense of influence over his situation.
Now the coach supports the client in identifying the opportunities in respect of the desired goal. At this stage the client is the pilot of his/her life and identifies the potential routes to the desired destination. Initially, all the routes are brainstormed, those already available and those which require extra efforts or external support. While discussing these opportunities, the coach supports the client in making connections with what has been previously discussed, i.e. values, passions, interests and strengths. The coach highlights for the client the emotional shifts that have emerged moving from one opportunity to the other.
In this phase, the coach supports the client in choosing the best opportunity for him/her, in alignment with his/her values, interests and goals. Most important, is that the choice is in line with the person the client wants to be.
Once the choice is made, the coach supports the client to focus on the choice made. When we focus on something, it happens, it grows and it improves. The coach gives the client space to further describe the opportunity identified and to connect with it.
In the flow state, thoughts, emotions and actions are working together in concert. The client is now open to describe the kind of actions (in a broad sense) he/she will undertake and the plan he/she will follow. Usually this process is a spontaneous evolution and continuation of the previous phases, with no need of coach’s intervention. If this is not the case, the coach helps the client to reach this “flow state”, where a clear goal and plan are shared.
Once that the plan is defined, the coach helps the client to identify the best way to hold himself/herself accountable.
At this stage, the client is ready to fly, to continue progress after the session, to move towards the desired destination. Realizations will continue after the session, and the coaching journey.
The client is in the pilot’s seat and is responsible for his/her actions.