BITE TWO

10 MIN READ

 

SETTING DIRECTION IN COACHING

Google maps. BEST. INVENTION. EVER. Well, maybe that’s debatable, but to a person who is geographically challenged, it’s gotta be up there right? I mean, how convenient is it? Whenever you go to find directions in google maps, it asks you two simple questions; where are you now, and where do you want to be? Could it be that simple to set direction in coaching too?

Well, it is and it isn’t. Sometimes, the power of those questions alone, asked within a coaching context, are enough. Sometimes people need a little more. For the purpose of this bite, we’re going to keep it really simple and assume asking those two questions alone, within a safe and well framed coaching context, is enough to assist your coachees to find direction.

Don’t worry though, we will also give you a link to a couple of fab tools if those questions are met with utter confusion. For the sake of simplicity, let’s explore the two key questions...

 
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“I wonder what 10/10 in each of these areas would look like for you?”
— a fab coach
 

QUESTION ONE: WHERE ARE YOU NOW?…

So… where are you right now? Metaphorically speaking. Where are you in life, your career, as a parent, partner, friend. In all the aspects that make you, you, where are you right now? A great coaching resource to get the ball rolling on this discussion, is our LIFE DIAGNOSTIC resource. Click on the image below to check it out. When the time is right, download the worksheet and send to your coachee to complete. Then get really curious about their self-assessment. 

QUESTION TWO: WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE?…

Once your coachee has given a rating out of ten for all the areas of their life, a beautiful coaching question to ask is, “I wonder what 10/10 in each of these areas would look like for you?”. This will assist your coachee to answer where they want to be.

Allow your coachee time to really unpack the diagnostic questions. Ask them to be as descriptive as possible about:

  • What 10/10 would look and feel like?

  • What would a day or week in the life of them living 10/10 look and feel like?

  • What evidence would exist in the various areas of their life that would suggest they are living 10/10?

For example, in finances, would they have a certain amount going into their savings each week, in close relationships, would they have a regular catchup with mates? The more detailed they can describe that 10/10 state, the clearer their direction will be.

If they are keen to really explore this, have them complete a VISION MAP to start to really visualise what life at its most fulfilling looks like for them.

NOW WHAT…

So now your coachee has completed their LIFE DIAGNOSTIC, what now? Well, this is where temperance and wisdom is applied. If we aim for wholesale change across all areas of our coachees life, likely what they’ll encounter is wholesale overwhelm. We need to go with the power of small wins over time. Therefore, it’s best to assist your coachee to get strategic.

When you meet with them, look at the diagnostic and the vision map. Get curious about the area of their life they feel most motivated to do something about. Start there. Once they pick 1-2 ‘hot spots’, ask them to set goals around this. Goals they can achieve in the next 90 days.

BAM. You have direction.

To assist your coachee to set goals, assign our CHUNK IT WORKSHEET on the COACHING TOOL BOX page. 

Well that’s a lot of info hey? So let’s break it down…

DIRECTION IN A NUTSHELL

COACHING PROCESS TO FIND ‘DIRECTION’

  1. Invite coachee to complete the LIFE DIAGNOSTIC

  2. Get curious about what 10/10 looks like for them

  3. Help them dream a little through VISION MAPPING

  4. Apply temperance and wisdom to Identify some ‘hot spots’

  5. Invite coachee to complete the CHUNK IT worksheet.

 

BUT WHAT ABOUT WHEN IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE? What if someone is facing utter confusion trying to answer the questions ‘Where are you now?’ and ‘Where do you want to be?’ It’s not uncommon. They are bloody big questions right? If you are curious about what to do in the face of utter confusion, scroll down to the “P.S.” section below.

In the meantime, let’s keep it simple. Assign the life diagnostic, follow the process above and let’s see where the discovery leads. 

Next bite, is NAVIGATION. How to navigate the roadblocks that turn up when we start on a pathway. How pragmatic is the thinking in the course right!? (See what we did there).

P.S.…

WHAT TO DO IN THE FACE OF UTTER CONFUSION…

In terms of question one, ‘Where are you right now?’, wouldn’t it be nice if we could just click, ‘current location’, and someone or something smarter than us could locate us.

Well, while Google hasn’t cracked how to determine current metaphorical location in life, our fearless leader and CEO Ali Hill has. Ali is a best selling author and a down right wonderful human. In her book ‘Stand out’ she shares a crackin model that’s perfect for finding clarity in confusion. If you have a coachee struggling with this question, read her book Stand Out, especially chapter 1 for a quick intro.

In terms of the question, ‘Where do you want to be?’, what we’re talking about is working with people to set a vision for their future that excites them.

If they’re struggling to answer this one, chances are your coachee is unclear on their values. Why? Well, if discovering where we wanna be, feels like we are standing in front of a locked door, then getting clear on our values is the key to unlocking that door and walking through. If this turns up for your coachee, we refer you to the VALUES REFLECTION ACTIVITY on the COACHING TOOL BOX page. Follow this up with the VISION MAPPING exercise there and see what they come up with. This is a treasure trove of goodie goodness.