Coaching Conversations : CASE STUDY INFLUENCING OR PERSUADING IN RELATION TO COVID VACCINE

Sunday, 2 May 2021

CASE STUDY INFLUENCING OR PERSUADING IN RELATION TO COVID VACCINE

CLIENT

The client wanted their parents to have the COVID vaccine, but felt that their parents were hesitant. The client wanted to explore ways of influencing or persuading without the topic becoming heated, or indeed provoking an opposing response.

SESSIONS

The session explored the parent and child relationship and the adult to adult relationship and how conversations could be very different in mode 1 (parent and child relationship) compared to mode 2 (adult to adult relationship). This lead to an exploration of how to set-up the best mode for this type of conversation.

There was also an exploration of the thinking and feeling differences between people and whether influencing or persuading should be based on logic (facts) or emotion (feelings) and indeed whether it should be PUSH (you should, you must) or PULL (what do you think if, what do you think of).

There was also discussion of the risks/reward pay-off and whether the motivation might be carrot (we can travel to places with a vaccine) or stick (not having the vaccine is a high risk)

This combination of relationship modes, thinking and feeling, carrot and stick, PUSH (telling) and PULL (asking) provided a complex and rich combination of options and approachs which offered the client choice and flexibility. This made the feel far more confident about how to approach the future conversation.

REFLECTIONS

The session was a client-lead Carl Rogers style coaching with the work, thinking and outcomes coming from the client based on occasional questions and curiosity from the coach. This was less about how to win an argument, and more about having many options available when going into a discussion. The client was very happy having explored different strategies and thinking about what combinations would work best for them in this scenario.

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

The article below provides some context to the coaching style adopted.
https://adaptcoaching.blogspot.com/2021/03/finding-your-own-coaching-style.html

Glossary

Person-centered coaching
The goal of Person-centered coaching is to provide clients with an opportunity to develop a sense of self where they can realize how their attitudes, feelings and behavior are being negatively affected.

Useful reference
https://positivepsychology.com/client-centered-therapy/

Psychodynamic coaching
The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality.

Useful reference
https://www.hrgrapevine.com/content/article/2014-08-07-5-top-tips-to-systems-psychodynamic-coaching

Behavioral coaching
This approach seeks to identify and help change potentially self-destructive or unhealthy behaviors. It functions on the idea that all behaviors are learned and that unhealthy behaviors can be changed.

Useful reference
https://www.businessballs.com/coaching-and-mentoring/cognitive-behavioural-coaching/

Existential coaching
Existential coaching emerged from existential therapy, which focuses on the human condition as a whole. The approach is informed by existential thinkers such as Sartre, Kierkegaard, De Beauvoir and Fanon, and is the only form of psychotherapy based in philosophy. Existential work looks at what it means to be an individual, how we can use our inner wisdom to resolve issues, and how we can view our struggles as inherently human rather than as dysfunction or defect.

Useful reference
http://www.plexworld.com/coach02.html

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I found Tim's approach to coaching extremely helpful in exporting ideas and thinking of solutions. Tim really helped me to identify the cause of a particular stumbling block I had, thus enabling me to address it and move forward.

Tim's approach will always help you explore and reveal more options and solutions. Tim knows how to motivate and guide you to find and achieve your goals. His ideas and way of thinking are built to help you eliminate any challenges you might face. Happy to have worked with him and would warmly recommend to anyone.

It’s great working with Tim, it took me a few sessions to understand that there was almost nothing he couldn’t help on. He’s encyclopaedic on concepts that aid all areas of working life. His ability to be a head of the conversation creates a clear and effective pathway for any idea or challenge that is presented to him. He helped me with understanding the potential of myself, improved how i communicate and manage information, whilst maintaining a deep integrity for detail and complexity. Like with all excellent educational experiences my first thought is, how I wish more people can access it. He’s helped specifically in two areas, to present a systems approach methodology to a governmental group, and to rationalise my ideas for a small food business that I am a director of.

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