A Coaching Model By Adrian Secolof, Business Coach, ROMANIA
Check IN vs. Check OUT, two contradictory words that make out thoughts fly to holidays and hotels where we check in when we start the holiday and check out when we leave or move to a different place in our journey.
However, we meet this concept in everyday life where we do check in to opportunities, we do check in to our kids’ education, we do check in to social events but sometimes we also check out from kids’ education not being involved, we check out from opportunities by not appropriate behavior, we check out from social life when we get massively overweight, etc.
The Check IN vs. Check OUT power tool is built with a thought to the coaching power tool “empowering vs. disempowering” and embraces the principle that either you are empowering by checking IN or choose not to involve and make a step back, falling behind and check out.
Definition of Check IN vs. Check OUT
According to the Cambridge dictionary checking in implies first having the willingness to show up and present the ticket at an airport to register for the flight or to report your arrival, esp. at an airport or hotel, so that you can get the service you are paying for. Checking out refers to leaving, to leave a hotel after paying for the room and services.
When our habits become toxic and do not lead to the dream we have we end up isolating ourselves, we get in a position of disempowering, we tend to lose opportunities, we tend to gain weight, and finally, we check out from a beautiful and successful life.
The only way for a person to check out is to move away from people, from things, from places. Modern human beings can rarely live away from other people but there are moments when we opt to check out due to things we can not control, like habits that bring us in a position of overweight. Overweight people check out from society as they do not fit well in social events, they can not travel easily using airplanes or other forms of transportation. In America, 36% of adults are obese or overweighted and puts them closer to a position of checking out from society.
Check IN vs. Check OUT/Empowering vs. Disempowering
Applying the Check IN vs. Check OUT approach allows a team member to concisely reflect the path to choose to go forward. This power tool can be used in many aspects of life or career opportunities. While these are just examples, a team member may choose to check in or check out to any one of the following:
- Goals to embrace it or not
- Innovation
- Opportunities
- Growth
- Environment
- Education
- Society
To determine an area to check In or check out, here are some questions to ask:
- What does it mean to you the goals set by your manager?
- What innovation can do for you?
- What is holding you back to embrace new opportunities/growth?
- What growth means to you?
- Does your company impact positively or negatively the environment? What contribution can you make?
Check IN vs. Check OUT Case Study in America
In America, the obesity rate in 2018 was 43% and from 2000 to 2018, US obesity prevalence increased from 30% to 43%. Severe obesity increased in the same period of time from 5% to 10%. What happens to people when they get obese? They do the Check OUT from society; they lose contact with friends as they are not able to integrate as easily as normal people. Checking Out from society means in the end checking out from life.
Coaching can play an important role in making a paradigm shift for obese people to understand the path they go on in life and make a change in their life to Check IN to life and choose to be healthy.
Likewise, many people choose a path in life without putting too much reflection into it. You should not just look at a thing from a single dimension and expect results from it. You must take enough time to analyze it well and, thus, take steps accordingly. Also, you must have clarity in the decisions you make, and if you want different results, you need to change your choices too!
Coaches are well trained to listen intently and ask powerful questions that help people to reflect and take actions and be accountable for their actions. If we could do it again, what would it look like the life for you? What would we have to solve for? This shifts the focus towards a solution and allows the client an opportunity to contribute and make a change.
Understand the Power of Perspective
One can ask themselves the following questions to understand the power of perspective. Try to compare two different experiences, one positive and one negative. For the positive one, what could make it better? For the negative experience, is there anything you learned from? Now you may find a different perspective that you could not find back in time at the event.
Re-framing is an art and when done effectively, it can change a client’s life in an instant. Sometimes it can be as simple as asking the client to pause for a moment to reflect on what they have said, and what perspective it might indicate.
- Here are some powerful questions you could use to help someone discern and reframe their perspective:
- What is the current situation?
- What is in your control?
- What are you doing well? What can you do better?
- What are the beliefs that may have formed this perspective?
The Check IN vs. Check OUT is a powerful tool that helps people to reframe perspective
- How often do you feel that the problem lies in perspective than the issue itself?
- When have you experienced a change in your perspective? What did it take for you to change your point of view?
- How will you make your clients discern their unhelpful perspectives? How will you then support re-framing them?
- What do you think mastering re-framing means? What would be possible if you become a master at re-framing?