CASE STUDY CAREER CROSSROADS

CLIENT

The client felt torn between their existing role which brought with it some frustrations, a potential future role which brought opportunity but also lifestyle compromises and other factors affecting the ambition and evaluation of choices.

SESSIONS

The sessions were broadly person-centred coaching without specific life, career or other "goals", but instead the clients exploration of thoughts, feelings, options and possibilities in relation to their role, career and the balance against other priorities including family and personal time.  

The sessions were more experiential rather than classic person-centred coaching (ref Ewan Gillon 2007 Pages 45,48,49,59,60) ie rather than simply listen to the client and reflect by repetition or rephrasing to play-back what was said the coach more actively inquired, probed and explored area that seemed significant based in the clients choice of words and emphasis.

The first session was effectively an exploration of "what am I now and what are the possibilities" without any evaluation of options. The second session was more focussed on what outcome(s) the client valued, with this then becoming the criteria against which possibilities might be evaluated.

One element of the discussion put forward the hypothetical proposition that the client might have to jars (Option A and Option B) which they filled with marbles based on their daily experience and that this process, will over time, inform them of which may be the better option. This is an example of the coach offering a resource (tool, framework, model) but not being directive (whether they should actually do this) or presumptive (what the outcome might be). This there for was not non-directive in-so-far-as the coach did introduce a concept, but was non-directive in-so-far-as the client was free to adopt or reject the idea and at no point was their presumption on what the marbles "meant" or which jar might become more full.

In this content the marbles are a metaphor and the coaching is content free because the client can keep secret the "meaning" from the coach and thus the coaches focus is upon the process and not on the hidden meaning which is confidential to the client. This appears to offer some psychological safety and thus allow more confidence in the client.

It was in fact the client who put meaning to what the marbles might measure and which they institutionally felt would become full thus evoking awareness without them having to articulate which option might be better for them.

The coach emphasis is in supporting the client to help themselves and therefore the emphasis is not wholly on the actions of the coach or indeed the dialogue but instead upon the client and their resources. In that context the second session was followed-up my email as follows.

Here is some stuff to explore…..

PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING
-----------------------------
In the article below, look at the OCEAN and IKIGAI elements

UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF IS THE FIRST STEP TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU CAN DO IN THE WORLD
https://adaptcoaching.blogspot.com/2021/01/understanding-yourself-is-first-step-to.html

FLOW
-----------------------------
The following is an extract from another blog..

When we talk about Capacity and Pace we might think of the concept of "flow". A flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Our aim should be to create this zone of performance. Schaffer (2013) proposed seven flow conditions:

Knowing what to do
Knowing how to do it
Knowing how well you are doing
Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved)
High perceived challenges
High perceived skills
Freedom from distractions
There are a number of models, references and lists here which may be useful for discussion and diagnosis

What might be a solution or how to find it:

The answer may be different for any organisation or circumstances so it would be wrong to declare “this is the answer “. The above gives us plenty with which to work but instinctively some useful steps may be as follows...

Identify and remove distractions
Focus and nurture competence, capacity, drive and desire
Improve team effectiveness using the 5Cs above
Create the conditions of "flow" by alignment of corporate and personal goals, technical training and performance coaching

Useful Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

THE JAR OF LIFE
-----------------------------
A variation on the 'good day' and 'bad day' jars for your marbles

A Valuable Lesson For A Happier Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqGRnlXplx0

The client seemed satisfied with this as subsequently wrote  "Sorry for being so quiet. Ive been super busy at work! I think im good  for the moment. Your sessions were really eye opening.  Could i get in touch again in the future?"
 
REFLECTIONS

It would have been interesting to have more coaching sessions to find out the outcome of the coaching however the open-ended arrangement, effectively drop-in or on-demand coaching means there is no extended commitment, for example a package of 5, 10 or even 15 sessions and the client is free to continue, pause, restart or stop whenever feels right for them.

Whilst this arrangement may not suit the coach financially, not satisfy the coaches curiosity as regards outcome it does feel right to offer the freedom and choice to the client.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The Coach engages in training and continuing education pursuing and/or maintaining ICF (International Coach Federation) credentials. All coaching conversations are confidential and the abbreviated case above has been amended so as to protect the anonymity for the client whilst providing evidence of coaching practice, reflection and learning, for the purposes of ICF education, supervision, or oversight.

All coaching engagements follow ICF Policies and Principles Resources, Terms and Conditions https://www.adaptconsultingcompany.com/coachingtoolkit/client.php