In this step everything is about the clients growth and personal development over time, leading to a transformational change. By implementing activities and new habits from the action plan, things are starting to change in their life – whether on a personal or a business level. Other people will start to take notice of the changes and the client will feel that they are moving closer towards their goals and vision. They will be able to feel that they are growing as persons and that they are developing new skills, knowledge, habits or turning weaknesses into strengths.
This needs a lot of work and positive energy as well as time for reflection as patience and perseverance will be crucial. During the way new things will come up that might change the direction of the goals and actions. Sometimes things will take longer or not go as well as expected where I will use powerful questions and situation analysis to help the client.
This is one of the most important phases in the CHANGE model as this is where the sustainable change is happening. It takes minimum 3 weeks to change any habit and the client need to be observant of how changes slowly are taking place and what difference it makes in their life.
I will encourage clients to keep a journal where they write down reflections, progress and thoughts during the coaching programme.
Examples of coaching tools:
Evaluate And Celebrate
When the client have executed the action plan and reached the defined goals it is time to evaluate learning’s and reflect upon their personal journey. I will use the log book and discuss the client’s input and feedback from different sessions in the coaching programme. We will analyse what has been major learning’s for the client and how he/she feel about the changes and goals that has been achieved.
It is important to celebrate and recognize that the client has achieved his/her goals. The type of celebration or a specific reward can be defined already in the first sessions of the programme and included in the action plan. The vision board is a powerful motivational tool that can include how to celebrate a fulfilled journey. So, what will be the next step? Some clients might feel that coaching is no longer needed after they have achieved their targets. They might need to take a break, reflect on their journey and enjoy their hard work.
However, to sustain changes and grow as a person is an ongoing process. Some clients will feel confident enough to work on and motivate their own development. Some would like to continue a coaching programme, i.e. by identifying new goals or revisit old ones, prioritize actions and move forward.
If the coaching continues in a new cycle I will support the client to define those new goals and we will again use the dynamic phases in the CHANGE model to start a new journey. There could also be instances where the client would like to use me as a coaching advisor over a longer time period. In those situations we will define regular sessions where the topics and goals can change depending on the clients actual life and work situation as well as his/her needs. Powerful questioning and active listening will be key coaching tools and a customised setup will be discussed and agreed with the client to ensure best possible support.
Examples of coaching tools:
©2012 Copyright Rosie Kropp. The CHANGE model cannot be duplicated without permission from the author.