The Achieve Coaching Model

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Home About us For executives For HR directors Thinking The Achieve Coaching Model Writing Contact us News Articles We are members of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC) and subscribe to the EMCC code of ethics (see www.emccouncil.org). The EMCC exists to promote good practice and the expectation of good practice in mentoring and coaching across Europe.	The Achieve Coaching Model® - banishing the black box Our thinking for the Achieve Coaching Model® has been developed through reviewing the literature and best practice in Germany, the UK and the US. It aims to make the coaching process completely transparent and credible for the client – rather than a magical process in a black box. The model reflects our findings that experienced coaches who achieve tangible and sustainable results use seven elements in their coaching, whether consciously or unconsciously. These are described below. Assessment of current situation – to get where you where you want to go, it helps to know what’s not working where you are. This time and space is the starting point of any coaching assignment and highlights for the client potential areas for the coaching, examining the factors that have led to the current situation, including their own behaviour. A smaller, but still vital benefit is that this session also helps the coach understand the context in which the client works. Creative brainstorming of alternatives – this phase of the coaching is about the exploration of possibilities – what might change the current situation. Many clients we see are “stuck” in a particular situation, with seemingly few alternative ways of doing things. Here, we work with the client to clarify what they want to achieve, and increase the options that they have to tackle their goal. Hone goals – generating alternatives to the situation gives clients a sense of what they want to achieve. The next step is to get SMART – or define exactly what it is they want, so that it’s measurable and they know when they’ve achieved it. Initiation and evaluation of options – When the client has a clear goal and a range of options to get there – that’s when we evaluate what’s the best option to take. This isn’t a case of sticking with the familiar, this element of the process is to carefully sift ALL the options to choose, and then take, a first step. This incorporates thinking from business planning processes, but we’ve kept it simple – a straightforward evaluation matrix with the criteria defined by the client. Valid action plan – with the deliberation over the ‘what’ nearly completed, we now move onto the ‘how’. A concrete and practical action plan breaks down what are often big changes into smaller, doable steps. Encourage momentum – all the way through the process, the coach is there to keep the client on track, enthused and positive. This takes place between each session as well as at the end of the sessions. This last part illustrates an important characteristic of our model – although it’s displayed in a linear diagram, the process is not linear – it is iterative and completely dependent on the client, and so parts of it are used at different times, and may be repeated. For example, setting goals is done at the end of every session not just the end of the process. Coaches may generally all start in the same place and finish in the same place, but they’ll use parts of the process depending on issues brought up and discussed in the coaching.
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Action provocateurs

EMCC - European Mentoring & Coaching Council

We are members of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC) and subscribe to the EMCC code of ethics (see www.emccouncil.org). The EMCC exists to promote good practice and the expectation of good practice in mentoring and coaching across Europe.

The Achieve Coaching Model® - banishing the black box

Our thinking for the Achieve Coaching Model® has been developed through reviewing the literature and best practice in Germany, the UK and the US. It aims to make the coaching process completely transparent and credible for the client – rather than a magical process in a black box.

The model reflects our findings that experienced coaches who achieve tangible and sustainable results use seven elements in their coaching, whether consciously or unconsciously. These are described below.

Assessment of current situation – to get where you where you want to go, it helps to know what’s not working where you are. This time and space is the starting point of any coaching assignment and highlights for the client potential areas for the coaching, examining the factors that have led to the current situation, including their own behaviour.

A smaller, but still vital benefit is that this session also helps the coach understand the context in which the client works.

Creative brainstorming of alternatives – this phase of the coaching is about the exploration of possibilities – what might change the current situation. Many clients we see are “stuck” in a particular situation, with seemingly few alternative ways of doing things. Here, we work with the client to clarify what they want to achieve, and increase the options that they have to tackle their goal.

Hone goals – generating alternatives to the situation gives clients a sense of what they want to achieve. The next step is to get SMART – or define exactly what it is they want, so that it’s measurable and they know when they’ve achieved it.

Initiation and evaluation of options – When the client has a clear goal and a range of options to get there – that’s when we evaluate what’s the best option to take. This isn’t a case of sticking with the familiar, this element of the process is to carefully sift ALL the options to choose, and then take, a first step.

This incorporates thinking from business planning processes, but we’ve kept it simple – a straightforward evaluation matrix with the criteria defined by the client.

Valid action plan – with the deliberation over the ‘what’ nearly completed, we now move onto the ‘how’. A concrete and practical action plan breaks down what are often big changes into smaller, doable steps.

Encourage momentum – all the way through the process, the coach is there to keep the client on track, enthused and positive. This takes place between each session as well as at the end of the sessions.

This last part illustrates an important characteristic of our model – although it’s displayed in a linear diagram, the process is not linear – it is iterative and completely dependent on the client, and so parts of it are used at different times, and may be repeated. For example, setting goals is done at the end of every session not just the end of the process.

Coaches may generally all start in the same place and finish in the same place, but they’ll use parts of the process depending on issues brought up and discussed in the coaching.