From GROW to ACHIEVE

The GROW model developed by Sir John Whitmore is probably the best-known coaching model in the UK. Many coaching training programmes use this model as the framework for developing the coaching relationship, however, I find the ACHIEVE model provides a logical progression from GROW .

The seven step model was developed by Sabine Dembkowski and Fiona Eldridge who conducted research to establish:

• How does the coach achieve results?
• How does the coach have a positive impact on an executive’s performance?
• What distinguishes an excellent coach from the average coach?

The ACHIEVE Model

Assess current situation
Creative brainstorming of alternatives to current situation
Hone goals
Initiate options
Evaluate options
Valid action programme design
Encourage momentum

 Where did I discover this Model?

I discovered the model in an article in The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching Volume I Issue 1 2003 and have consistently used it to progress coaching conversations with clients because the model enables the development of a coaching relationship in a systematic manner and provides both transparency and flexibility.

 How the Model Works

The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching Volume I Issue 1

Step 1 Assess the Current Situation

In this first stage of assessment coaches include all areas of a client’s life. As one of the coaches we modelled in Germany explained, “… you cannot separate the different areas of an executive’s life or for that matter anyone’s life – they are an interlinked system”. It is important to obtain an overview of the client’s current circumstances before focusing on the chosen area.

The most critical coaching skills at this stage are: rapport building, the use of open-ended questions and active listening.

The most critical coaching skills at this stage are: rapport building, the use of open-ended questions and active listening.

 Great coaches establish rapport by employing three essential skills:

• Matching
• Summarising
• Respecting

Of the three, matching is key and involves matching both physiology and language:

• Posture
• Gestures
• Facial expression & blinking
• Breathing
• Voice – tone, tempo, and volume
• Use of language – key words, common experiences and associations

The use of open-ended questions requires the client to answer with more than a simple yes or no. The purpose of this is to help the client to begin to explore his or her current situation which leads to different ways of thinking about it and ultimately to the self-generation of solutions.

In active listening coaches applied three techniques: repeating what was said word-by-word, reflective repetition (same sense) and interpretive repetition. In the latter step some coaches went as far as testing hypotheses and synthesising information from the client.  All coaches observed their clients very carefully at this stage and had developed a high degree of sensory acuity.  Sensory acuity includes observing such things as very small changes in skin colour and tone, the tightness of the muscles around the mouth, blinking rate and breathing rate.  They showed genuine curiosity towards the client and their stories and were demonstrably keen to learn more about them. Based on the initial assessment the shaped the specific course of the coaching programme together with the client.

 Step 2 Creative Brainstorming of Alternative Options

Clients who have either hired an executive coach themselves or where the organisation suggest one often experience a “stuck state”. This is a situation where the client feels trapped as if there are no alternatives or keeps circling around the same issue without being able to generate new options for behaving differently. Top coaches ask open questions at this stage that allow the client to open up and/or view the problem from an entirely different perspective.  A simple question such as “What would you do if money would not be an issue?” or “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?’ really stimulate the client to think in a very different way. Questions like these have the power to invite very open brainstorming at this stage.  It also was important for the coach to pace then lead the client.  That is to continue the rapport building and gradually ease into a new approach once the client is following the movements and language of the coach. 

Throughout this stage the coach observes the client very closely as even small facial changes or other shifts in physiology can be indicators that the client is beginning to change. 

 Step 3 Hone Goals

At some point during the first few coaching sessions the coach and client begin to work on goals. Sometimes clients know exactly what they want however others require more help in formulating the goal.  Whatever the starting point, all great coaches spend significant time to work with the client to hone the goal they wish to achieve from the coaching.  In the numerous sessions we observed it became clear that it is not a strictly linear process as the coach and client work back and forth until the goal is clearly formulated. In addition, we noticed that great coaches made sure that goals formulated in the right way we recognised that they conform to the principles of SMART goal setting. SMART as an acronym has been quoted many times and there are several different translations for the acronym especially for the A and the R. All are good: Achievable, Attainable, Actionable, Reachable, Relevant, And Realistic. The best coaches we observed asked penetrating questions about the goal to ensure that it had real relevance to the client rather than just being a restatement of organisational goals or a socially expected goal.

To be achieved a goal needs to become real to the client. As one US coach explained, “The more it matters to the client the more it acts as a magnet it will draw in the person rather than the person having to push for it.” In fact for her this was the most critical issue in the process. Only those goals that have personal relevance and meaning are ones that are likely to be achieved and bring fulfilment in the longer term.

Further to this we observed that great coaches made additional efforts to help the client to build a complete projection of the goal by exploring how it will look, sound and feel when they have achieved the goal. A US coach stressed that the “aim of a small series of questions at this stage is to build a very real picture of how the goal will appear.  This has the effect of making the goal seem achievable and helps the client have a much clearer idea of what they are endeavouring to achieve.  By giving the client the experience of really sensing the goal the coach is giving the client the opportunity of testing that this is what they want and also gives them a benchmark to measure their progress against as they work towards the goal.” 

 Step 4 Initiate Options for Goal Achievement

They then move on to helping the client to initiate a wide range of options for behaving to achieve the desired goal. This is an important stage where we noticed that novice coaches are inclined to rush ahead and begin to make suggestions to the client rather than taking it slowly and allowing the client to generate his or her own options. One key skill here is according to a British coach “to know when to be silent and provide space”.  Long pauses are perhaps embarrassing in everyday conversation but they are a vital part of the coach/client relationship.  A period of silent reflection may in fact be the most productive for generating fresh ideas and new ways of thinking about an issue. If the client generates options he/she also becomes more constructive in the face of other challenges that may appear in the future which currently appear to be unrelated to the subject of the current coaching sessions.

Having produced a range of options they establish criteria with the client for evaluating the different options. 

 Step 5 Evaluate Options

For this to be successful requires the coach to understand the world of the executive and to be skilful in asking questions to help the client to weigh up the different options. We observed a German coach who used a matrix where he asked the client to evaluate the options in terms of short and long-term costs and benefits.  Other top coaches asked clients to write things down as a list and then come back to them several days later with a fresh eye before determining which option was most appropriate.  The coach also needs to be able to synthesise the different options so that a more comprehensive approach may be formed.  The less experienced coaches we observed easily became impatient and rushed into the action plan design.  Again a critical skill here is the development of patience to allow the clients to come to their own decisions.

 Step 6 Valid Action Plan Design

This is the action planning stage where coach and client work together in developing a concrete plan to bridge the gap between where the clients are at present and where they desire to be. In our studies this step was revealed as critical to a successful outcome of the coaching partnership.  A real difference emerged between coaches that were very successful and those that merely went through the motions.  Good coaches are very rigorous and gain commitment from the client for action with concrete time lines and a clear statement of if and what support they need. The experienced coaches work with simple tables where they integrate all action items.  They also ask for very precise questions about how the client will know when they have achieved each action – this provides key performance indicators which are again self-generated. 

It also appears to be important that the client summarises the action plan in writing, often in an email, and commits to follow-up contact with the coach after each session.

 Step 7 Encourage Momentum

The final step in the process is ongoing. The coach encourages momentum and helps the client to keep on track.  As a German coach explained, “however it is done (in person, by phone or email), it is vital that the coach should maintain contact with the client to maintain motivation and demonstrate belief in the client. The coach continues to encourage action that leads to the desired outcomes, motivates the client when the going gets tough, challenges when complacency sets in and demonstrates belief in the client. In this way the relationship is ongoing and the client knows that they have a partner who is solely dedicated to helping them achieve their goals”.

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Stakeholder Engagement Strategy with Hindsight

There you were during the pre-project planning, identifying costs and timescales, manpower requirements and scheduling activities that would lead to the successful and timely completion of the project. Sure, there were some conflicts and some areas of discomfort while scenario planning, forecasting and the economic evaluation and trying to identify risks. Somebody asked about an engagement strategy as a guide to working with a variety of stakeholders and at the time it wasn’t a priority, the public consultation and disclosure plan was enough but with hindsight in a culture that was quite alien to you know now that building relationships takes time. Finally the project plan was produced; there was a lot of back slapping as you all celebrated your efforts.

Your risk assessment is comprehensive and obviously doesn’t cover every eventuality.  You expect delays and unexpected events at this dynamic stage of the project.  Despite following guidelines it may be that risks associated with poor stakeholder relations were understated now faced with many conflicts, delays, and misunderstanding you realise that the procedure to support stakeholder engagement should be inclusive and continuous.

Your approach doesn’t seem to be working. People, the government, the communities, suppliers, employees have raised expectations and rumours and misunderstandings about the company’s intentions are beginning to circulate. People are emotional you simply haven’t built sufficient relationship capital with these groups so there is a lack of trust and respect and low literacy levels place limits on methods of communication. Community relations staff actively visit and consult with communities and several unofficial parties seem to have become involved in liaising with communities, farmers, landowners and other stakeholders affected by the business of your company compensation is being discussed by those not authorized to have those conversations and grievances are coming at you from many directions.

Now forced to react and defend your company’s reputation is an uphill battle, perception has become reality and field based staff are having an increasing problem when trying to engage allies and intermediaries who do not wish to damage their credibility by associating with your company.

 Foresight!

Organisations who avoid the scenario described above realise that stakeholder engagement must be closely managed at each stage of the project; they take a long-term view with a strategy that includes allocation of resources and responsibilities supported by clear objectives. The “stake” that individuals or groups has in a project or investment will vary and of course the scale of activity is in direct correlation to the size and potential impact of your project, whether you are liaising with a small rural community, government representatives, tribal or religious leaders, remember stakeholders are people who are both directly and indirectly affected by your activities and who have the ability to influence outcomes both positively and negatively.

 The IFC have a comprehensive good practice handbook to enable you to plan your stakeholder engagement strategy the handbook describes the components of eight essential activities described below:

• Stakeholder identification and analysis – remember some stakeholders are determined by regulatory requirements, others are indirectly affected, and because your project is evolving, stakeholders and their interests will change over time.

• Information disclosure – ensuring transparency and making information accessible to affected groups and individuals is essential. Ask stakeholders what information they need and want and how that information should be delivered before making assumptions.

• Stakeholder Consultation – Consultation is a two-way process and therefore an opportunity for you to learn, listening to stakeholders can provide valuable information, clarify issues and help to avoid expensive mistakes and misunderstandings. Think about who needs to be consulted, over what topics, and for what purpose? Getting clear answers for these questions up front will save you time, reduce costs, and help keep expectations in check.

• Negotiate – while consultation is about the exchange of views, negotiation is about agreeing on specifics. Negotiation reduces risk by providing parties with the additional clarity, predictability, and security of a signed agreement.

• Manage Grievances – it is essential to ensure your grievance procedure is fair, accessible and transparent. The procedure must encompass the end to end process from how the grievance was received to what steps were taken to investigate and review, through to available appeal mechanisms. Put the procedure in writing and make sure it is followed for each grievance.

• Stakeholder Involvement in Monitoring – the participation of project-affected stakeholders in monitoring environmental and social impacts and mitigation can be a regulatory requirement. It is also good practice. Participatory activities could involve stakeholders in accompanying experts during observations, or scientific samplings

• Reporting to Stakeholders – An effective feedback mechanism is essential Determine what information needs to be reported to which stakeholders, by what method and how frequently

• Management Functions – The article above describes the consequences of failing to incorporate stakeholder engagement activities into each phase of the project cycle.  This is usually best achieved by giving a senior manager overall responsibility for stakeholder engagement and identifying the specific competencies required of those involved in stakeholder engagement.

  Download the IFC guide here: http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/attachmentsbytitle/p_stakeholderengagement_full/$file/ifc_stakeholderengagement.pdf

Employee development or are you running a flea circus?

We all know the story of the experiment in which a number of fleas were placed in a jar. The initial reaction of the fleas was to jump, and jump very high out of the jar, but then, the lid of the jar was replaced and after several attempts to escape from the jar, the fleas simply stopped jumping as high and only put in just enough effort to jump to just below the lid so that they would not bang their heads

Good People … Old Habits

People, like the fleas, establish habits very quickly. They think, act and respond in the same way over and over and over again and once learned through repetition which really doesn’t take very long at all, human beings habituate and then automate those habits, behaviours and beliefs.

 But what if we lift the lid?

A smart manager had an idea, “what if we lift the lid” Surely then under those new conditions people will respond and realise that yesterdays old habits are not appropriate in this new environment. So, the lid was removed, nothing changed, the fleas continued to jump to a height just below that of the container lid no further. They were stuck in a state of constraint even though the lid was removed.

Is it Employee development or are you running a flea circus?

• Managers, how many of your employees resemble those fleas?
• Do they operate in a comfort zone, doing just what they have to do to get by?
• Have some been promoted beyond their level of competency and do nothing to raise their performance?
• Who is content to stay in the jar?
• Who could take giant leaps forward?
  

 How have you contributed to employee containment?

Containment keeps us trapped in the limitations of yesterday, we cling to old habits like fleas cling to a dog. Our environment has become limiting we are afraid of hurting ourselves on the lids of our reality. Containment breeds statements like can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, mustn’t….and so we don’t!

For managers who demonstrate no understanding of what it takes to get people to want to change, failure is the most likely outcome The effort required to aim and achieve higher standards of performance is freely given by employees who can see the perceived gain. People need to understand what excellent performance looks like in their role at work. They also need to be involved in establishing their own targets. Allowing employee to come up with their own strategy and goals creates ownership and what they aspire to might surprise you – Managers often impose targets that limit the employee’s real potential.

 The New Flea in the Jar

Take a moment to review, what the standards of performance are TODAY for employees in your department, what competencies are required to help you to deliver your goals, or strategy, what new habits need to be encouraged. What is your role in encouraging those new habits?

Time to put a new higher performing flea in the jar,

 The End…..what happened next?

A new flea that had not been in the container was introduced into the jar and out it jumped  it was only at that moment that the other fleas realised that the container was open and with a variety of giant leaps and small steps they followed…..Lift the lid on your performance management activity.

AIM HIGHER

Spectrain design competency based learning solutions that enable you to take GIANT LEAPS FORWARD: http://www.spectrain.co.uk

Media Misdemeanours in the Middle East

While developing a competency framework for a large telecoms provider in the Middle East I was interviewing middle managers who occupied a range of roles. One manager was involved in marketing the organisations products and services. An aspect of our conversation focused upon advertising and the challenge of appealing to a variety of market segments in an environment where cultural taboos impose strict rules on what can and cannot be shown in public. The conversation provided a useful reminder of those social and cultural taboos, and of the importance of carefully selecting media for training and development events in the region that is appropriate for the culture.

It would be irresponsible to recycle a set of slides, a workbook or learning aids without checking their suitability in this region.

Visual Media

Although we cannot generalise about Middle Eastern cultures there are some similarities in the rules for appropriateness of eye contact. Middle Eastern Muslim cultures have traditions connected to religious laws about appropriateness regarding eye contact between the sexes. Only a brief moment of eye contact would be permitted between a man and a woman, if at all. Avoid media that shows prolonged eye contact between the sexes. Notice, the eyes on some TV programmes are often pixleated.

Female western consultants should also be aware that their appearance is different and this can attract male attention in the form of eye contact, however, returning that eye contact, can be considered the same as saying, “Yes, I’m interested!”

The Islamic culture is very conservative. Showing any skin other than the face, hands or feet can be considered sexually arousing, carefully select images that demonstrate respect for your audience’s preferences. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking sophisticated places such as Dubai will be more conservative, while Dubai is quite liberal your delegates will be diverse and have have different values views and standards.

There can also be issues with images of animals, although many people keep and dogs, they are kept outside because they are considered dirty, an image of a fish is related to Christianity, Images of pigs may be offensive due to references in the Quran about the flesh of swine and prohibition of pork consumption in Islamic law.

Design of Instructional Materials

Culture also plays a role in the visual design and layout of instructional materials. Choice of language, the use of signs and symbols and the layout all affect how a learner interprets and uses instructional materials.

When designing culturally appropriate materials take into account layout, images, symbols, colour and sound in order to fully acknowledge cultural influences Design in the western world is based on reading from left to right, Societies that read from right to left may be at a disadvantage when faced with western design, leave plenty of margin space for notes on both the left and right of the page, and be aware that symbols are not universally understood, for example using arrows ► meaning next or go to the next page , are not universal, the thumbs up sign can have negative connotations. Do check that phrases and metaphors are meaningful for global readers; the phrase “everyman for himself” may be considered highly offensive in a collectivist culture where belonging to a formal or informal group is important.

Recently I have been working with a large retailer who is setting up an expansive operation in the Middle East, while coaching the store managers who will relocate to various countries it became apparent that they had overlooked the country of origin on product ranges that are made in Israel. Using images of products that have Israeli associations should be avoided.

Use of Online Content

 Internet Access in the Middle-East can be different from the western world because It’s filtered, blocking access to various parts of the Internet based on political, religious, economic or cultural values. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, flickr, and YouTube have caught the attention of the cyber police, who have the authority to block or filter content from these sites.

A study by the research group Open Net Initiative on internet content control claims the countries that practice the highest amount of political filtering are, Iran, Bahrain, Syria and Tunisia, while “social filters” can mainly be found in the Gulf and include Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

If you plan to use content from the internet be aware:

•  Social networking video sites/pages may be blocked
•  Websites visited today, may be blocked tomorrow
•  Your travel website could be blocked because of forbidden content in the form of images
•  Websites updates show only after a while due to local evaluation of content
•  Main stream websites are self censored and deliver different content locally
•  Filtering makes internet access slow
•  Some Google search phrases are blocked
•  Skype services can be blocked by regulators if considered a threat to national security

Spectrain provide training materials, articles, competency frameworks and events across the Middle East. Our designs are sensitive to the culture and the development needs of learners. See what our clients say here:

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The Story of the Lebanese Tailor

A lawyer and a Lebanese tailor are sitting next to each other in an airport lounge.
The lawyer is thinking that Lebanese people are so dumb that he could get one over on them, easily.

So the lawyer asks if the Lebanese would like to play a fun game.

The Lebanese tailor is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines, and tries to catch a few winks.

The lawyer persists, and says that the game is a lot of fun. I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me only $5; you ask me one, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500, he says.

This catches the Lebanese tailor’s attention and so to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game.

The lawyer asks the first question. ‘What’s the distance from The Earth to the Moon?’ The Lebanese doesn’t say a word, reaches in his pocket, pulls out a five-dollar bill, and hands it to the lawyer.

Now, it’s the Lebanese tailors turn. He asks the lawyer,

‘What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?’

The lawyer uses his laptop and searches all references he could find on the Net. He sends e-mails to all the smart friends he knows, all to no avail. After one hour of searching he finally gives up. He wakes up the Lebanese tailor and hands him $500. The tailor pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep.

The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer, so he wakes the Lebanese gentleman up and asks, ‘Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?

The Lebanese reaches in his pocket, hands the lawyer $5 and goes back to sleep.

The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.
Claude Levi-Strauss

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