In Episode 19 of the Catalyst Coaching Certification Programme, Coach Wendy took the class through a series of exercises to uncover what might be our distinctive characteristics that would help set us apart from other coaches.
She then shared examples of original coaching models created by students from past cohorts. What was clear was that the character of the coach and their unique 'brand' was carried through their models and originated often from an area of passion. Although we might come up with initial ideas, she encouraged us to not to worry, stay open to new ideas, feedback and experiences so that we might evolve our coaching models to better serve our clients and achieve meaningful outcomes.
My Process
I have been thinking about the kind of coach I want to be. Though I now have a bigger set of 'tools' in my Coaching Toolkit and I will freely use them depending on the Coachee's needs, I felt most comfortable because of my past experience working with Gallup CliftonStrengths and Positive Psychology. This approach would at least form the initial basis of practice and then as I slowly build confidence in using other coaching modalities, I can integrate other tools which I have been taught.
I also thought about who I would like to coach. I have enjoyed working with the age group between 17 - 27 ie from high school to college age. Although these are not exactly what are formative years, it is also the time when they transition into adulthood and are more aware of the realities of what they need in order to thrive in life. Hence, knowing their strengths and what they would be good at would help to build confidence and establish habits of thought and behavior which would last them for a lifetime. The alternative for them not knowing their strengths or using them unfortunately is to disengage as workplace statistics and news reports are anything to go by.
I went through the different established coaching models to see what questions provoked my own thinking could be included or modified accordingly.
I looked at appropriate words of between 5 - 7 letters and initially wanted more dynamic action words like ARISE. CREATE, JUMP but these were either already taken or didn't feel right. I then looked for a word which would be related to the concept of strength development. The search yielded the word FORTE.
The F.O.R.T.E. Coaching Model
Forte is often used to describe an area that one excels in. It suggests focus as well as development and growth. Forte is also used in fencing to describe the "strongest part of the blade".
I have always been inspired by Donald Clifton's Positive Psychology approach to developing human potential and believe that once a person understands how he is innately talented and invests in developing his talents into strengths, he is able to achieve his desired outcomes successfully and consistently.
Within each Step, there are 2 sets of questions which allow the Coachee and the Coach develop both breadth and depth of thinking and can be used firstly to set the overall programme as well as within each session. I also anticipate that for some of the sessions, the likelihood is to choose between one of the 2 sets in the interest of time and that towards the end of the coaching relationship, the questions which fall under Tracking, Timelines, Execution and Evaluation would feature more heavily.
Shaping the trajectory of the coaching conversation through F.O.R.T.E.
F is for FUTURE
What do you envision as your future?
What does success look like for you?
If we were to step into a time machine, and the doors opened to 10 years from now, what would look different?
F is for FOCUS
What would you like to focus for our overall programme?
What's on your mind today?
What specifically do you want to work on now?
O is for Opportunity/ Obstacles
What is one area of opportunity for you to grow in?
What might change if you grabbed this opportunity?
What seems to be holding you back from moving forward?
Which of your strengths can you use?
O is for Objectives
How can we turn desire that into an actionable outcome?
What are 3 objectives you want to set to achieve your goal?
List 5 steps you need to take to achieve your outcome.
R is for Realities
What has worked thus far? What has not worked?
What unique strengths have brought you to this point?
What remains feasible?
What might need to change?
R is for Resources
What strengths will be your inner resources?
What else do you need to make this goal happen?
Who else could give you more clarity or support with this?
How can I support you further?
T is for Tracking
How would you make your goal more measurable?
How will you know when you have made progress or succeeded?
T is for Timelines
By when would you like to achieve this goal?
If we were to measure our start as Point Zero and set our target date as Point Ten, where are we now?
What's your next milestone?
E is for Execution
When will you start?
What's your first/ next step?
Which of your strengths would be most useful in gaining traction?
E is for Evaluation
What have you achieved so far in ?
What have you tried that worked or didn't work?
What tweaks can you make?
Why F.O.R.T.E?
Gallup CliftonStrengths uses the "Name It - Claim it - Aim It" as a key process. Understanding and motivating from Strengths is necessary and powerful but I have noted for many who have taken the test, there are gap between knowledge and attitude and beliefs and behaviours. The danger of strengths-based coaching can be that it can stay in your head without being translated quickly into action and this may be a bit like navel-gazing or without a practical thrust, becomes easily forgotten.
F.O.R.T.E. can be used as an independent coaching model but is extremely powerful when integrated after Coachee has gained an understanding of his strength and moves very quickly into a Goal Focused Action-based Programme to be productively applied.
Final Thoughts
I somewhat wondered why it was necessary to evolve a coaching model when there were already so many established ones out there. Having at least had a stab at it made me realise that creating your own model makes you own it even if it is not perfect and needs a lot more work.
It was also a chance to review what I had learnt thus far in the Catalyst Coaching Certification Programme,
I tested a small part on my godson Benjamin with regards to his work future and his relationships and even though there was no conclusion, there was a slight shift as he had never encountered being coached like this before. He felt that it was useful and that the flow in the questioning process helped to connect different issues which he had not realised before. It does give me some encouragement to develop this further.
Coach Maire, en-garde!
Strengths based coaching support client to identify their own strengths as a means to build confidene and self-efficacy to face challenges, solve problems and achieve the changes they are seeking to make – str
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