A Coaching Model Created by Erick Albarracin
(Health and Wellness Coaching, UNITED STATES)
Applying Coaching Ethical Principles
There are many coaching models within the coaching industry. All of the coaching models focus on helping the clients to overcome their challenges. However, the Ongoing Thrive Coaching Model (The OT Coaching Model) is unique because it delivers distinctive results to the clients during the coaching process. The main goal of the OT Coaching Model is to transform the clients through an ongoing thrive learning experience, self-reflection and self-direction. In addition, the OT Coaching Model is framed with 11 factors. For instance, factor 1 is related to applying coaching ethical principles; factor 2 is associated with self-reflection and methods of inquiry; and factor 3 entails demonstrating coaching empathy reasoning. The 11 factors of the OT Coaching Model will be explained in the following paragraphs.
Applying Coaching Ethical Principles
The ongoing thrive coaching model follows the ICF ethical guidelines and code of conduct. This coaching model is framed through the ICF ethical guidelines and code of conduct to make sure the coach can establish a strong coaching agreement, and create a safe environment for the client. Within an ethical and safe environment, the coach is able to display professionalism at every interaction with the client. In addition, the coach is committed to protect the client’s information and the coaching notes through privacy and confidentiality. Therefore, the ongoing thrive coaching model is structured applying the ICF ethical guidelines and code of conduct through professionalism, creating a safe coaching environment for the client, privacy and confidentiality.
Self-reflection and Methods of Inquiry
The ongoing thrive coaching model uses self-reflection to encourage the client’s critical thinking and empower self-awareness. Self-reflection allows the clients to think by themselves and find they own answers to their own challenges. Self-reflection also helps the clients to learn new things and new competencies. For instance, the coach can ask the following question to the client to facilitate self-reflection: how can you do this task differently? In addition, the ongoing thrive coaching model employs qualitative and quantitative inquiries to gather information of the client. Thus, self-reflection and methods of inquiry are key elements of the coaching process because they facilitate the gathering of the client’s information.
Demonstrating Coaching Empathy Reasoning
The ongoing thrive coaching model relies on empathy reasoning to build a strong coaching relationship with the client. Empathy reasoning empowers good listening skills, understand the client’s challenge, ask powerful questions for gathering more information and clarification and build an open and honest communication with the client. For example, good listening skills not only help the coach to understand the client’s agenda, but also make the client to feel comfortable, appreciated and understood. Asking powerful questions is important because it helps the clients to increase their awareness regarding to their current challenges. Therefore, empathy reasoning is a key factor on the coaching process because within a non-defensive behavior the coach and the client can establish open, honest and trusted conversations.
Building Coaching Connectiveness
The ongoing thrive coaching model practices compassion to connect the coach with the client within the coaching dynamics. The coach not only displays compassionate expressions, but also helps the client to heal negative past experiences through a genuine and sincere shared understanding. For example, representations of compassion are acknowledging, engaging, dealing with conflict positively, recognizing small wins and participating for decision-making. In addition, judgments are not allowed within the connectiveness process because it does not foster emotional support toward the client. As a result, coaching connectiveness through compassion helps to build a strong relationship and an active mutual dependence between the coach and the client.
Fostering Coaching Self-awareness for Ongoing learning
The ongoing thrive coaching model fosters self-awareness to support the clients with their continue learning. Increasing self-awareness on the clients is very important because it allows the clients to identify and learn about their own feelings, values, strengths and weaknesses. Self-awareness is also important because helps the clients to be conscious about their internal and external environment. For instance, when the clients are aware of their strengths, it is easy for them to utilize their strengths to solve new challenges. Thus, self-awareness is fundamental during the coaching process because it helps the clients to recognize, understand and utilize their own feelings, values, strengths and weaknesses.
Managing Coaching Tools and Data Methodology
The coaching power tools are used to facilitate behavior change. The coaching power tools help clients to shift their behavior from a negative state to a positive state to increase self-awareness, encourage action and ultimately promote behavior change.
There are many coaching power tools such as judgment versus compassion, lightness versus significance, clarity versus obscurity, choice versus circumstance, confidence versus fear, control versus let go and self-acceptance versus self-denial. In data methodology, this model employs quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. As a result, the ongoing thrive model empower behavior change through coaching power tools and the use of different types of data methodology.
Developing an Engaged Coaching Action Plan
The client and the coach design an action plan. The client is not only fully aware of his/her challenges, but also strongly engaged with the coach, and ready to create his/her action plan to overcome his/her challenges. Working in partnership, the client and the coach define goals, action steps, deadlines and follow ups to make sure there is an action plan during the coaching process to aim behavior change. Upon the creation of the action plan, the client and the coach work together to prioritize the goals and the actions steps toward new learning and change. Thus, the ongoing thrive coaching model uses an engaged action plan to create a path for the client’s behavior change.
Setting Engaged Coaching Goals
The ongoing thrive coaching model employs SMART goals to assist the clients defining their short and long-term goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. A specific goal is easier to accomplish rather than a general goal; a measurable specific goal helps to keep track of it progress; attainable means a task that the client is motivated to work on; realistic entails a task that can be done; and timely, which refers to the timeframe that the clients have to accomplish the specific goal. For instance, a SMART goal looks like this: I want to graduate from my ICA program by December 2012. Thus, SMART goals help clients to design their short-term goals and long-term goals within a timely fashion.
Ongoing Engaged Coaching Development and Participative Dialogue
The coach keeps track of the client’s development through an open, positive and constructive feedback. Based on the self-reflection of the client, the result of the assessments, the client’s action plan and short-term and long-term-goals, the coach and the client are engaged, work together and review the client’s progress in regards to the action plan and goals. For instance, the coach can ask the client the following questions: what have you done to accomplish your goal #1? How would you rate your progress using a scale from 1 to 5? If, 1 = not progress at all; 2 = some progress; 3 = good progress; 4 = great progress; and 5 = goal accomplished. Additional questions are: what is working for you?, what is not working for you?, how can you do things differently?. Thus, the coach can measure the client’s development by integrating the client’s progress and an open, positive and constructive feedback.
Empowering Self-reflection and Self-direction for Problem Solving
The ongoing thrive coaching model encourages to practice self-reflection and self-direction to aim problem solving. The clients are assisted to practice self-reflection and self-direction to solve current and new challenges during the coaching process. Self-reflection helps the clients to recognize and understand their own problems by applying critical thinking. On the other hand, self-direction entails action. When the client can recognize and understand his / her challenges, self-direction helps the client to take action and look for solutions, answers and choices to solve his / her problems. Thus, a successful problem-solving act is framed by the client’s self-reflection and self-direction to overcome challenges.
Managing Coaching Success and Outcomes
At this final stage of the ongoing thrive coaching model, the coach rewards and celebrates the client’s accomplishments. The coach acknowledges the client’s transformation and growth and encourage the client to continue with his / her life-long ongoing learning journal. The coach also shares with the client the summaries of the coaching sessions, final reports and assessments. The coaching summaries, final reports and assessments are very helpful tools that the client can use over time to refresh his / her knowledge acquired during the coaching process. Thus, the ongoing thrive coaching model rewards the client’s success, and shares with the client the final coaching reports.
Conclusion
The Ongoing Thrive Coaching Model (The OT Coaching Model) is unique. This coaching model focuses on transforming the clients through an ongoing thrive learning experience, self-reflection and self-direction. The 11 factors of the OT Coaching Model are integrated to ensure the client’s transformation. Key factors of this coaching model are empathy and compassion. Finally, this coaching model follows the ICF ethical guidelines and code of conduct.