Coaching Model: EMPOWERS

E3– Explore, Empathize, Emerge

1. Explore – if all the stages of coaching have come to fruition and get client to revisit the outcomes of each stage in the coaching journey. Question all of the aspects of the results that the client had as his / her agenda.
2. Empathize – Acknowledge and empathize in detail the client’s efforts and commitment in moving forward, despite any challenges. If more concerns show up, give emotional support either with pacing your body language, naturally, with the clients, or just keeping eye contact with silence. Often silence is necessary and key for client to work through his /her own thoughts and emotions. It gives the client time to draw from his / her inner emotional and mental bank of memories etc. Deep listening is required here again. Give the client enough space and time to share all that he/she wants to. Often deeper issues come up here, once the more obvious ones are dealt with.
3. Emerge – Honor what emerges. Facilitate self awareness for the client. Question for clarity. Address any new issue that may surface or have been overlooked. If the client seems de-energised and very upset about the issue or himself/herself, then one may use the “Appreciative Inquiry” approach. Get the client to recall past achievements, successes. Then help the client to see and acknowledge the gifts the client has showcased as a person in the past. Visit what he/she has discovered about “Who he /she is“ and about  “What is the intent / value / difference that he/she has brought”.
   

R3 – Reframe, Recognize, Reaffirm

1. Reframe – Through key questioning, juxtapose the earlier frame through which the client perceived the issue and the new frame the client has just arrived at, and ask the client if there is anything he/she sees. Get client to verbalize the new reframed perceptions     that will now empower him/her. Give time and space for the client to work this through and “be a witness to himself / herself”. Restate client’s discovery. Ensure the critical key words that the client has used to arrive at the reframed perspective, is     restated to create top of the mind recall. You may repeat this as a clarification question to further build on the energy, which can often be an “aha” moment for the client.
2. Recognize – Through questioning guide the client to recognize where his/her perception or misconception took him / her to and the result it therefore brought. Help the client to see where the perceived error laid. Using this as a background, question the client on his / her thoughts about the issue. After the client expresses his full awareness, then one may refocus on the client’s successes of the past. Then question the client’s ability to be able to achieve his / her dreams and visions. This gets him/her to feel his/her own power. It shifts the inner climate from one of disempowerment to empowerment. This is the key turning point of coaching which can be transformational.
3.  Reaffirm – Reaffirm for the client, in question form, all that he/she has verbalized about being empowered. Let the client expand and enjoy the new energizing space that he/she finds himself / herself in. Pause after that and then express celebration. Ask client if he /she has achieved his/her objective     of the coaching contract. Has the desired outcome been     satisfactorily arrived at? If client is satisfied close the contract.

If not satisfied, explore where the client feels more dialogue and coaching is required. Observe the body language for any signs or signals that more attention may be needed in some areas of discomfort or perhaps confusion. If this is the case as a coach one needs to further open probe on that area. You may want to ask if client wants to engage in more sessions.

S3 – Start, Stop, Sustain

1. Start – Question client on what he / she is going to start doing. Revisit the structures that the client has shared to support himself / herself. You may like to ask about time lines and how this would accommodate any other priorities the client may have. Here a creative visualization exercise which focuses on the vision already having occurred may further energize the process.
2. Stop – Question client on what he/she is going to stop doing. This is addressing the negative patterns or habits that may have been formed that prevented the client in the past from achieving his / her desired outcomes. Often breaking away from the old conditioning can be more challenging. Hence get the client to recognize the triggers and put into place multiple ways of preventing reactive behaviors.
3. Sustain – Question client on how he/she is going to sustain the energy and momentum over a period of time, to achieve his / her dreams and desired outcomes. Here you may support the client in creating a support system / environment that the client can fall back on to ensure he/she sustains outcomes. Here one can always offer being a coach for the client again, if the client feels the need for a coach. Once the client feels and agrees that the coaching has achieved the client’s purpose, then close the coaching contract. Celebrate the opportunity and journey with gratitude and goodwill.