Third session
Alice started the session very enthusiastic, she looked happy – because of the wins she couldn’t wait to share with me. She shared that the day after our session she tried to take the elevator… And it was absolutely OK for her! I acknowledged her for curiosity, bravery and getting rid of non-working underlying belief. She also shared that she is going to attend self-protection courses just for fun, but she finds it essential especially if you are a mother of three children – not only to protect them but also to show the confidence of managing all kind of the situation and for giving them additional feeling of confidence.
I asked the client what is the second goal she would like to achieve and she told me that after overcoming this small childish fear she sees so many opportunities in her life and in her job too. I let her to express these thoughts more and she shared that she realised, that the only restriction which disturbed her in job promotion was her fear to fly by the plane, but it was essential element in getting more international experience. Now she doesn’t see this restriction anymore and they have already booked the airplane tickets for the holiday this summer – they will go to have some rest in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. That sounded so confident and future-oriented!
I asked the client how I can help her more. And she told me that maybe we have to take a break and continue exactly career coaching maybe in a half a year, before the end of her maternity leave. Before ending the session we just looked once again at the list of her life areas and she put 8 near the Career item. Alice commented that it is much clearer now where to move forward and she feels very satisfied with her maternity leave saving the position within the entire governmental institution.
Questioning/coaching issues scheme
- Which area you would like to focus on during our sessions?
- What are the options for you here?
- What do you like the most about the current job?
- How do you see your development in the current organisation?
- How can you to verbalise the fear?
- What are the approaches you have already tried to overcome this fear?
- Are there any other options?
- How this fear is disturbing her in everyday life?
- What is the first step you would like to take towards overcoming this fear?
- Please imagine all the situations when you were comfortable with it?
- What are the reasons of my client’s specific experience in the past?
- What is the difference between the situation in the past and with current situation?
- How dangerous are elevators themselves?
- How dangerous can be the situations themselves?
- How can we prepare for the negative situations right now?
- What would you like to do to prepare for the unwanted situations?
- What are the benefits of being prepared in advance?
- What is the progress now?
- How it is affecting her career and life in general?
- How can I help you more?
Power Tools
I used very active listening, full focus on the client, powerful questioning, reframing perspectives and scaling the satisfaction on the areas of life. All these simple tools combined together give the awesome outcome.
Outcome
The outcome after 3 sessions from desired 12 was just surprising for both of us! We were shocked how proper questioning and focusing can unravel the situation so fast. The outcome was very much aligned with the goals set in the beginning – a client got more clarity on moving forward as a professional, throwing out the restrictions and underlying beliefs which don’t work for her anymore. The client’s life became easier and more comfortable immediately after releasing the ineffective behavioural patterns, the future became clearer, and the past doesn’t have so much impact on her. The client decides to use the rest sessions more effectively after some time when she will need it.