Ep 243: Are Coaching Models Dying?

Our coaching models dead. I'm Ruth Kudzi, this is the coaching hub. Today we're talking coaching models. (upbeat music) So I remember when I first started training as a coach, actually when I first started training as a coach at work, and it was very much based on a model. The growing model we know is very popular. There are other models like Claire and Oscar, lots of different ways that we can structure coaching conversations. And these models are still very much in use now. In fact, some coach training providers still base their training purely on these models, but times have changed. In fact, times have been moving on for a long time. I remember when I set up Optimus in 2019, I was really clear I didn't want a school that was dependent on a model. Because even when I was training, I was thinking, "But what else?" Actually, models are great for a starting point. But what about psychology? What about neuroscience? What about depth? Do we really get that one when we're actually putting people through? I always say a sausage machine. Everybody is the same. So we're going to start and everyone is going to be that structured. That is not how brains work. So everybody's brain is unique. I wonder if my neurodivergence plays into this sometimes. But when I think about models and having to go through a structure, it seems like we are doing this to a client, rather than with a client. But saying all of this, I still think they can be useful. So let's rewind a bit. Right now, the context is that we can train AI on any model. So we can train AI on the grow model, or the clear model, or the Oscar model. So what we're doing is we created a place where models can be great at coaching at that simple transactional level. And one of the things that optimists that we do is that we actually encourage all of our students to be trained by AI, to be coached by AI. Because then they are going to start to recognize that the way their clients is showing up to coaching is going to be different. So clients would have had that transactional experience in many cases, but they haven't done it. They know what the plan is. They've got their options. They've got their ways forward, but there's still something stopping them. So recognizing that there is this change in clients where they will have experienced these models. That will be normal for many, many of our clients, because of the growth of the AI, we need to be different. So AI can be trained. So what are we doing that is different as a coach? As a brand new coach in training, models give you security. They give you scaffolding, they give you confidence, and they are there to build your competence. So I still think that is a place for a model or structure when you are starting out as a coach. Because otherwise, if we're looking at relational coaching, if we're looking at going deeper, if we don't have the foundations, it's going to be built on shaky ground. So there is still a place for new coaches to learn their trade by actually going through an evolution of coaching. Let's look at a model first approach. So if you're a new coach, please put those foundations in place. It's why we still have models in our training. It helps. It helps you to have the confidence to actually start coaching. It helps you when you've got that security of these coaching questions I could ask. But it is a starting point. It is not an ending point. And very soon, when people are evolving their coaching journey, they'll recognise that actually the sausage machine does not work for everyone. Some clients don't like models. Some clients resist models. Clients do not fit into boxes. We don't necessarily know what our goal is. As soon as we come into a coaching session, maybe we need to explore context first. So recognising each client as an individual means that we let go of the need of models and frameworks and we can really focus on the client. It's why, at Optimiz, we talk about a flexible framework. Our whole personal approach is meant to be there to personalise the experience based on the client requirements. And there's a reason why we do this. It's because the most effective coaching is personalised. The most effective coaching is relational with the client at the heart. And that doesn't mean that we don't have a direction. It doesn't mean that our coaching sessions don't tend to have a similar flow. You know, actually narrowing down what we're here for, opening up possibility and then coming to that kind of wrap up. That is still normal. Although even within the session, we might have a renauring, a widening, a wrap up, reconfirming. You know, there may be very much different types of flow depending on that client. So flexibility comes from having the foundations in place. So I always think that at the beginning when we're learning, structure supports us to start to think about how do we actually hold space and be with somebody for 30 minutes or 60 minutes when we're not used to it. And then it becomes something that we can loosen. We can adapt. We can be flexible with. We can start to be more relational. So it changes. So again, at the start, great as you grow, you can put down grow. But it might also work in some contexts. So for example, I remember a few years ago I was working with an engineering firm looking at embedding coaching into their culture. They hadn't used coaching. They were an organisation that had a lot of processes, structures and systems. It made sense that we created a simple structure that we were able to easily teach leaders and managers to support conversations. So in those kind of contexts, in many of the larger organisations I work with, there is a model first approach. Because you can have consistency, because there is not so much impact on psychological safety, because it is more transactional, because everyone can be doing the same thing. And because if everyone's doing the same thing, then we're not having variation. So at a kind of macro level, that can work really, really well. We know that people have a system in the structure, which actually has been shown to work on a transactional performance-based level. And then we can build. So if you're starting with a coaching culture in an organisation, starting again with a model, easy to understand, unlikely to do psychological harm, steps and processes to follow. But then you'll want to build on it. So again, what we are not saying is these don't have a place. That will be disrespectful to people who have been using them for 30 odd years. It will be disrespectful for those who have developed them. But we're saying think about that place. Is the model actually appropriate for the client in front of you? Is it great for you because you're a new coach? Are you actually holding it really tightly when you could let it go, when you could be more present, when you could be more people focused? Is it there because maybe you're embedding a coaching culture, or is it there because maybe you're working with somebody who is a little bit unsure of coaching, and they want to have that security and that structure for their own certainty and their own brain to start with? Sometimes even experienced coaches might have a model first approach with people. And again, we're in a landscape now where we can be asking our clients what is your experience of coaching? How have you used AI to have coaching conversations? And if they have, they have probably already experienced a model so we can explore that in our first session or in our discovery session and then build from there, it might be that there was elements of that model they enjoyed. Maybe we start there and we build and we go deeper. So again, we're thinking about having models there if they are appropriate, about not completely discounting things because we know that the world has moved on, but using them and holding them lightly. And instead, developing real relational coaching where we are present and focused on the client, not the sausage machine. So we are partnering with them on a genuine and deep level to go where they want to go. Not where they need to go next because we've got a series of questions or we've got a letter, but where they want to go. Where we are helping evoke deep awareness, which means that they're getting new insight into their brain, which is helping support building new neural pathways and strengthening existing ones. This is real transformational coaching. So what I recommend is to use models, not to experience exclude them, but to see them for what they are, a starting point, not the ending point. I'd love to know how do you use models in your coaching? If you like what you've heard today, subscribe or follow, or if you want to find out more about Optimus Coaching Academy, head to our website and we'd love to hear from you.