BITE ONE
10 MIN READ
FINDING MOMENTUM IN ACTION
Once we have set our direction and planned how to overcome roadblocks the action begins.
But what if it doesn’t?
How can you work with your coachee to ensure that action happens? This model assists you to diagnose why action may be stalling and how to respond to that in a coaching context.
For action to begin and find a sustainable rhythm, then a coachee needs three things; momentum, feedback and tracking. Lose any one of these three elements and it’s easy for your coachee to start to falter. Let’s unpack what we mean by each of these conditions.
A coaches needs to feel like they are making progress. Progress will only happen however, when action begins. As a coach, you need to ensure your coachee both begins moving toward their goals and stays motivated to continuing progressing. This is called momentum. How do you get it? You apply this model.
1. MOMENTUM:
First step is to build momentum. Once both you and the coachee, are crystal clear on the goals you are tracking for and why this is intrinsically important to the coachee, set small, clear and easy to achieve first steps, to ensure some momentum is experienced. This is about developing habits. The next bite will give more detail on this stage of the model. But for now, we are looking at it from a high view. When in the MOMENTUM stage, stay close to the coachee to ensure part 2 and 3 of the model are applied; TRACKING and FEEDBACK.
2. TRACKING:
Is a way the coachee can maintain moment by moment accountability for the action they are seeking. To not track is to lose the power of the action to build momentum. Tracking makes both you and the coachee stay accountable and provides the much needed dopamine hit required to keep the coachee wanting to keep momentum.
Once MOMENTUM and TRACKING in place, be sure to set up regular check ins to provide much needed
3. FEEDBACK:
Without thoughtful feedback, the coachee can quickly wonder if the progress they are making is meaningful. They can start to question the validity of their goal in the first place. This is why feedback is so crucial. When you hold a feedback sessions, remain curious, offer positive reinforcement for any growth and look for specific and detailed feedback to supply. Personalised and thoughtful feedback, that shows interest in the progress being made. While a coachee is establishing new actions and building habit, keep your feedback regular. At this stage, quantity trumps quality.
So that explains the three main elements of the ACTION model. Let’s now explain the three overlapping states when one of the elements are missing.
A. DISTRACTED:
When momentum and feedback are in place, but the coachee is not tracking their progress, they can quickly become distracted. We live in a very distracting world. The hustle for our attention is real. As humans our attention span is getting smaller and smaller. Tracking, as the name suggests, keeps us on track and stops us becoming distracted.
B. DISCONNECTED:
When momentum and tracking are present, but the coachee is receiving little to no feedback, they can quickly become resentful or disconnected. Nobody likes to feel like they are working in a bubble. We need to know our efforts are being noticed and that we are making a difference. Self-regulation and self-efficacy are vital for coachees to develop, but this should never be a complete replacement for feedback. Feedback reminds us we are connected to others or to a greater purpose. This is important for humans to stay on track.
C. LACKS VISION:
When feedback and tracking are present, but there is no momentum to the greater goal, then we have lost vision. We are busy for busy sake. While action may look like it’s happening due to the tracking, real growth and change is being compromised because its not aligned to the greater goal.
D. HEALTHY:
So as we can see, all three elements are needed for a healthy state of action to be experienced.
Use this model to help you as the coach, know best, about how to support your coachee through the action stage. If your coachee is becoming distracted, resentful, disconnected or lacking vision, then simply ensure the missing element in the model is applied.
So that’s the theory of the action model, but make no mistake, it will only come to life when you start applying. So let’s go ahead and do this. Head back to the session home page and check out the activity sheet related to this bite. Here you will learn practice to apply the ACTION model.