The goal in this series is to show how best existing coaching practices can be married with certain methodologies I have seen utilized in software, and technology development to form a new Coaching methodology. This methodology has been branded as the ASCEND COACHING METHOD. There is a best sequence to follow in working with the new method. With the previous steps as foundation, I will outline step four in the method, called “Create a Plan”. As the previous steps have established the “what”, step four is around the “how”. That is, “how” will coach, and client work together to deliver the client’s vision, and the client’s goals. High level the plan will outline the steps, or actions that need to be completed to deliver on the client’s goals, or wants, and needs. The plan should outline what resources are needed, what work is to be done by the coach, and what work is to be done by the client, as well as an estimate of time frames to complete the work. This step closely mimics the overall Project Plan in software projects, that is typically created by the Project Manager, with input, and help from the project owner, and sponsors, and various technical teams that will deliver work to complete the project. Before we do a deep dive into “Create Plan”, let me recap the previous three steps.
In the first phase or step in the ASCEND COACHING METHOD, the coach will “Ask Questions”. In this step it is the job of the coach to understand the client’s vision, current state, timelines, and expectations. We have found that the best way to gather this information, which will be the foundation of the work to be done, is by asking the right kinds of questions. And the right kind of questions tend to be open-ended questions. Open-ended questions are questions that encourage the client to open up to discuss their dream, or vision, their expectations, and any concerns. The goal of this first step is to understand at a high level, the client’s vision, or “future state”. In software development this often parallels when the project owner first stakes out their high-level vision of the future state. In waterfall methodology the document produced by the project owner, in this first phase is literally called a “Vision Statement” or “Vision” artifact.
After step one, the coach can move on to the second step in ASCEND COACHING METHOD the “Assessment” phase. This second step is all about evaluating the important information the coach has gathered from the client in step one of the method, “Ask Questions” to understand what it means to the coaching process. The goal of “Assessment” is to clearly understand the client’s vision (future state), and the client’s current state to determine how realistic the vision is, and approximately how much effort will be needed to deliver on the vision. In this second step, the coach also needs to determine if any limitations will block progress, or if any limitations can be reduced, or removed. Also, in this second step, the client’s time frame needs to be considered. Coach, and Client need to determine if the client’s time frame is realistic. The coach will provide value if they call out time lines that are unrealistic. Deadlines that are too aggressive, and unrealistic can often lead to frustration for the Client.
Once the coach has collected critical information from the Client in step one, and completed the assessment process in step two, coach and client can move forward to the third step in the method, “Set Goals”. The idea of setting goals is not new in the coaching practice. But as we leverage processes pulled from software, and technology development, we can see that in addition to an articulation of the client’s needs, and wants, goal setting under the ASCEND COACHING METHOD also formalizes, and introduces scope to the work to be done. Several goal setting methods can be considered, but the SMART goal setting method provides a solid foundation, but one that is simplified in the ASCEND COACHING METHOD. Under the new coaching method, a valid goal needs to be specific, measurable, include a time element, and be achievable. Writing down goals improves the Client’s success rate, and also sets the scope of the coaching work to be done. Once the client’s goals are captured, and agreed to by both client and coach, we are ready to move forward to the next step in the coaching method; “Create a Plan”. “Create a Plan” has several components. I will outline these in some detail.
OWNERSHIP: This first question to consider in “Create Plan” is who owns the plan? Ultimately, the Client owns the plan as the method itself is “client-based”. Said another way, the method, and processes exist to satisfy the vision, wants, needs, and goals of the client. However, clients will look to the coach to be an expert in their field, and as such initial creation of the plan falls to the coach. It should be mentioned, that this new method diverges from some other coaching methods, such as Wieser Coaching method which puts setting of the agenda on the Client. Drawing from my several years in Career Coaching, I see again, and again, that nearly all the clients I have worked with prefer me, the coach to set the plan and the agenda. They perceive me as an expert in the career field, and look to me for guidance and an overriding plan.
PARTS OF A PLAN: There should be several items to be addressed in a valid plan. One of the first is a reinstatement of the vision, and client goals. These should already exist, but should be captured again in the plan to call out the scope of the work to be done. There should also be a calling out of resources. That is, who, and what will be leveraged to deliver on the client’s goals. The obvious resources will be the coach, and the client themselves. But there may be others. For example, if the plan is to have the client complete evening coursework, and they have family obligations, the added resource may be a significant other that needs to step up and cover family obligations so the client can attend, and complete courses. And in this same example, the school becomes a resource, as it is needed to fulfill on the client’s goal. More than just identifying resources, it needs to be understood what each resource will be supplying. In the case of job interview practice, the client will be providing time, attention, and answers in a mock interview, and the coach will be providing interview prep, asking questions, taking notes, and finally be providing constructive feedback to the client. This mapping out of resources to provide different types of support may change over time, but it is still useful to go through this exercise so resources can be identified, and obtained as needed. In the case of one parent taking on evening coursework to reach a goal, their significant other needs to commit to be supportive, and may need to step up to take on added responsibilities for the plan to be successful. The plan should contain an outline of action steps. The coach needs to understand the proper sequence of the action steps, and at a high-level call this out in the plan. The action steps should be specific, and measurable. For example, “Complete Accounting 101 class”. This is an action step that is either complete (successfully completed the class) or incomplete (enrolled, but dropped out – leaving it incomplete.) Another action step example could be “obtain 5 professional letters of recommendation”; this is either complete (obtained the 5 letters), or incomplete (have not started, only have 3 letters – both can be measured as “incomplete”, or if you like, a “work in process”). The point is these action steps are measurable as completed, or not completed. Also, a high-level time line needs to be called out. Will it take weeks, months, or years to deliver on the client goals? This time frame needs to be realistic, and called out in the plan. Also, if there are limitations, or constraints that impact the execution of the plan, these should be noted, and possible remedies, or work-arounds provided by the Coach.
CLIENT REVIEW: As stated above, as the coach is responsible for draft of the plan, but ultimately the client “owns” the plan, the plan needs to be shared with the client, and any feedback collected, and edits put in place. If this is a plan that requires a long-term engagement, say several months, or even years, my suggestion is that this is done in a formalized way. This means the plan should be created as a document, sent to the client for review, and then reviewed together in real-time by both coach, and client. This is done so any concerns, or mistakes can be addressed, and edits made to the plan to obtain sign-off by both Client and Coach. For example, in the interview process the Coach might have understood the goal of “Complete a bachelors in Accounting”, when the client really meant “Complete a bachelors in Managerial Accounting”. These gaps can be identified, and usually resolved when they are called out in the plan, and reviewed by both coach, and client. In some cases, the client may have very useful ideas, and input that can change the plan. These alternatives need to be discussed high level during the plan review, and the best options incorporated into the plan.
AGREEMENT: After review, and incorporation of any edits, the Client, and Coach can come to agreement on the final version of the plan, and it can be signed off by both Client, and Coach. In extreme cases, if there is great reliance on other resources, it makes sense for them to also review the final plan, and get buy-in. An important point to mention is that the plan is not “etched in stone”. Life can, and often does, introduce changes to the best of intentions. But it still has value to create a plan that says in essence “at this point in time, knowing what we know now about the client’s current state, vision, and constraints, here is our agreed plan going forward”. The aim is to impose structure around the work to be done.
As I move forward and describe the steps of the new method in detail, I think it is easy to see that these steps are like building blocks; one step logically follows the prior step. You can’t build a plan, if you don’t understand the goals, and you can know the goals until you have interviewed the client. Just is in building a structure, the footings need to come first, before the first floor is built, and the first floor needs to be roughed in before the second story is roughed in, and so on. In the detailed description of step four “Create a Plan” I have stated that ultimately the Client “owns” the plan. However, as the Coach is generally considering the expert in the process, it falls on the Coach to create the draft of the plan. I have also laid out the necessary components of the plan. The first component is to re-state the client vision, and the client goals. This is done to clarify what the desired client future-state is. It is called out to answer the question “why are we going through this effort?” and “what is the point of this coaching work?” The answer should be to deliver on the client’s vision, the client’s goals. These points are so critical they need to be contained in the coaching plan. In addition, the plan should call out all the identified resources needed to support execution of the plan. At a minimum this would be client, and coach. But it may identify other people, or institutions if they are critical to success of the plan. Also, at a high level the plan should call out the action steps that need to be completed during execution of the plan. The action steps need to be measurable to track progress within the plan. The plan should contain an estimate of completion time for execution of the plan. Will the plan take many weeks? Many months? Or even years to complete? The plan needs to estimate the timeline for completion. In addition, if the coach identifies any constraints, or block to completing action steps, they need to call these out, as well as suggesting ways to reduce, remove, or work around any blocks. The completed plan then needs to be shared with the Client, who ultimately owns the plan. By way of review by both Client, and Coach, any mistakes, suggested edits, and alternative approaches need to be discussed, and any improvements incorporated into the final plan. If there are critical resources, and stakeholders impacted by the plan, it is best to draw them also into the plan review. The last step in the plan process is agreement, or “sign off” on the final plan. I recognize as well that a plan may change in time, due to life changes, unforeseen obstacles, or other changes we can not always predict. But is still has value to go through the process of creation, review, and sign off of a plan so both client, and coach can agree “given what we know now, and with the aim of delivering the client’s goals, here is our plan going forward”. With the plan created, reviewed, and agreed upon by all important players, coach, and client can move forward to step 5, “Execute the Plan”. This next phase will be discussed in the next segment.
AUTHOR: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a Professional Certified Career, and Executive Coach. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
In the first phase or step in the ASCEND COACHING METHOD, the coach will “Ask Questions”. In this step it is the job of the coach to understand the client’s vision, current state, timelines, and expectations. We have found that the best way to gather this information, which will be the foundation of the work to be done, is by asking the right kinds of questions. And the right kind of questions tend to be open-ended questions. Open-ended questions are questions that encourage the client to open up to discuss their dream, or vision, their expectations, and any concerns. The goal of this first step is to understand at a high level, the client’s vision, or “future state”. In software development this often parallels when the project owner first stakes out their high-level vision of the future state. In waterfall methodology the document produced by the project owner, in this first phase is literally called a “Vision Statement” or “Vision” artifact.
After step one, the coach can move on to the second step in ASCEND COACHING METHOD the “Assessment” phase. This second step is all about evaluating the important information the coach has gathered from the client in step one of the method, “Ask Questions” to understand what it means to the coaching process. The goal of “Assessment” is to clearly understand the client’s vision (future state), and the client’s current state to determine how realistic the vision is, and approximately how much effort will be needed to deliver on the vision. In this second step, the coach also needs to determine if any limitations will block progress, or if any limitations can be reduced, or removed. Also, in this second step, the client’s time frame needs to be considered. Coach, and Client need to determine if the client’s time frame is realistic. The coach will provide value if they call out time lines that are unrealistic. Deadlines that are too aggressive, and unrealistic can often lead to frustration for the Client.
Once the coach has collected critical information from the Client in step one, and completed the assessment process in step two, coach and client can move forward to the third step in the method, “Set Goals”. The idea of setting goals is not new in the coaching practice. But as we leverage processes pulled from software, and technology development, we can see that in addition to an articulation of the client’s needs, and wants, goal setting under the ASCEND COACHING METHOD also formalizes, and introduces scope to the work to be done. Several goal setting methods can be considered, but the SMART goal setting method provides a solid foundation, but one that is simplified in the ASCEND COACHING METHOD. Under the new coaching method, a valid goal needs to be specific, measurable, include a time element, and be achievable. Writing down goals improves the Client’s success rate, and also sets the scope of the coaching work to be done. Once the client’s goals are captured, and agreed to by both client and coach, we are ready to move forward to the next step in the coaching method; “Create a Plan”. “Create a Plan” has several components. I will outline these in some detail.
OWNERSHIP: This first question to consider in “Create Plan” is who owns the plan? Ultimately, the Client owns the plan as the method itself is “client-based”. Said another way, the method, and processes exist to satisfy the vision, wants, needs, and goals of the client. However, clients will look to the coach to be an expert in their field, and as such initial creation of the plan falls to the coach. It should be mentioned, that this new method diverges from some other coaching methods, such as Wieser Coaching method which puts setting of the agenda on the Client. Drawing from my several years in Career Coaching, I see again, and again, that nearly all the clients I have worked with prefer me, the coach to set the plan and the agenda. They perceive me as an expert in the career field, and look to me for guidance and an overriding plan.
PARTS OF A PLAN: There should be several items to be addressed in a valid plan. One of the first is a reinstatement of the vision, and client goals. These should already exist, but should be captured again in the plan to call out the scope of the work to be done. There should also be a calling out of resources. That is, who, and what will be leveraged to deliver on the client’s goals. The obvious resources will be the coach, and the client themselves. But there may be others. For example, if the plan is to have the client complete evening coursework, and they have family obligations, the added resource may be a significant other that needs to step up and cover family obligations so the client can attend, and complete courses. And in this same example, the school becomes a resource, as it is needed to fulfill on the client’s goal. More than just identifying resources, it needs to be understood what each resource will be supplying. In the case of job interview practice, the client will be providing time, attention, and answers in a mock interview, and the coach will be providing interview prep, asking questions, taking notes, and finally be providing constructive feedback to the client. This mapping out of resources to provide different types of support may change over time, but it is still useful to go through this exercise so resources can be identified, and obtained as needed. In the case of one parent taking on evening coursework to reach a goal, their significant other needs to commit to be supportive, and may need to step up to take on added responsibilities for the plan to be successful. The plan should contain an outline of action steps. The coach needs to understand the proper sequence of the action steps, and at a high-level call this out in the plan. The action steps should be specific, and measurable. For example, “Complete Accounting 101 class”. This is an action step that is either complete (successfully completed the class) or incomplete (enrolled, but dropped out – leaving it incomplete.) Another action step example could be “obtain 5 professional letters of recommendation”; this is either complete (obtained the 5 letters), or incomplete (have not started, only have 3 letters – both can be measured as “incomplete”, or if you like, a “work in process”). The point is these action steps are measurable as completed, or not completed. Also, a high-level time line needs to be called out. Will it take weeks, months, or years to deliver on the client goals? This time frame needs to be realistic, and called out in the plan. Also, if there are limitations, or constraints that impact the execution of the plan, these should be noted, and possible remedies, or work-arounds provided by the Coach.
CLIENT REVIEW: As stated above, as the coach is responsible for draft of the plan, but ultimately the client “owns” the plan, the plan needs to be shared with the client, and any feedback collected, and edits put in place. If this is a plan that requires a long-term engagement, say several months, or even years, my suggestion is that this is done in a formalized way. This means the plan should be created as a document, sent to the client for review, and then reviewed together in real-time by both coach, and client. This is done so any concerns, or mistakes can be addressed, and edits made to the plan to obtain sign-off by both Client and Coach. For example, in the interview process the Coach might have understood the goal of “Complete a bachelors in Accounting”, when the client really meant “Complete a bachelors in Managerial Accounting”. These gaps can be identified, and usually resolved when they are called out in the plan, and reviewed by both coach, and client. In some cases, the client may have very useful ideas, and input that can change the plan. These alternatives need to be discussed high level during the plan review, and the best options incorporated into the plan.
AGREEMENT: After review, and incorporation of any edits, the Client, and Coach can come to agreement on the final version of the plan, and it can be signed off by both Client, and Coach. In extreme cases, if there is great reliance on other resources, it makes sense for them to also review the final plan, and get buy-in. An important point to mention is that the plan is not “etched in stone”. Life can, and often does, introduce changes to the best of intentions. But it still has value to create a plan that says in essence “at this point in time, knowing what we know now about the client’s current state, vision, and constraints, here is our agreed plan going forward”. The aim is to impose structure around the work to be done.
As I move forward and describe the steps of the new method in detail, I think it is easy to see that these steps are like building blocks; one step logically follows the prior step. You can’t build a plan, if you don’t understand the goals, and you can know the goals until you have interviewed the client. Just is in building a structure, the footings need to come first, before the first floor is built, and the first floor needs to be roughed in before the second story is roughed in, and so on. In the detailed description of step four “Create a Plan” I have stated that ultimately the Client “owns” the plan. However, as the Coach is generally considering the expert in the process, it falls on the Coach to create the draft of the plan. I have also laid out the necessary components of the plan. The first component is to re-state the client vision, and the client goals. This is done to clarify what the desired client future-state is. It is called out to answer the question “why are we going through this effort?” and “what is the point of this coaching work?” The answer should be to deliver on the client’s vision, the client’s goals. These points are so critical they need to be contained in the coaching plan. In addition, the plan should call out all the identified resources needed to support execution of the plan. At a minimum this would be client, and coach. But it may identify other people, or institutions if they are critical to success of the plan. Also, at a high level the plan should call out the action steps that need to be completed during execution of the plan. The action steps need to be measurable to track progress within the plan. The plan should contain an estimate of completion time for execution of the plan. Will the plan take many weeks? Many months? Or even years to complete? The plan needs to estimate the timeline for completion. In addition, if the coach identifies any constraints, or block to completing action steps, they need to call these out, as well as suggesting ways to reduce, remove, or work around any blocks. The completed plan then needs to be shared with the Client, who ultimately owns the plan. By way of review by both Client, and Coach, any mistakes, suggested edits, and alternative approaches need to be discussed, and any improvements incorporated into the final plan. If there are critical resources, and stakeholders impacted by the plan, it is best to draw them also into the plan review. The last step in the plan process is agreement, or “sign off” on the final plan. I recognize as well that a plan may change in time, due to life changes, unforeseen obstacles, or other changes we can not always predict. But is still has value to go through the process of creation, review, and sign off of a plan so both client, and coach can agree “given what we know now, and with the aim of delivering the client’s goals, here is our plan going forward”. With the plan created, reviewed, and agreed upon by all important players, coach, and client can move forward to step 5, “Execute the Plan”. This next phase will be discussed in the next segment.
AUTHOR: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a Professional Certified Career, and Executive Coach. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
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