A Coaching Model That Helps Your Team Take Responsibility
You’re sure to have come across different coaching models in the coaching skills training that you’ve attended in the past. They all help you to achieve goals with your team, and allow you to get more involvement from people in making decisions and solving problems.
A famous one is, of course, the GROW model, where we set Goals, check Reality, look at Options and establish a Way Forward.
Then there’s the FUEL model, where we Frame the conversation, Understand the current state, Explore the desired state and Lay out a success plan.
Other models also help us to bring the team member into the conversation and help us achieve more than we would than if we were using a different management style.
Here’s one that will not only help you converse with your team member at a deep level, but will also help them to find the answers themselves.
It’s based on the four words Situation-Behaviour-Impact-Alternative
The situation part is obvious.
We allocate time to go through the facts of the circumstances as we see them.
It’s important to stick to the facts, not offer opinions at this stage.
Simply saying ‘You arrived late three times last week’ may be sufficient to gain a response from the individual, without having to say things like ‘I’m disappointed that your timekeeping is failing again. What is it this time?’
The ‘situation’ part is simply a statement of facts that can’t be denied, and gets clear on the areas for discussion.
The next part ‘behaviour’ is what you are seeing happen and can be more specific.
If the behaviour is something that needs attending to, you may see this as an opportunity to get the person’s feedback as to what they see is happening.
There may be a cross over between the situation and the behaviour you see happening.
That’s not an issue.
The most important thing is that there is clarity between you and the other person at this point.
This is followed by ‘Impact’ where we share what the results are of the behaviour.
You are trying to get the person to recognise what has happened and the consequences of the overall results.
This can give you a chance to discuss if those are the consequences you and they are seeking, or if changes need to be made.
The last part, ‘Alternatives’, gets the person to determine what other things could be considered to achieve the goals you have agreed.
Similar to the ‘Options’ part of the GROW model, the alternatives look at what the next steps are and how you can achieve them together.
By determining and agreeing the current situation, the behaviour you’ve seen or want to see, the impact the situation is having on results, and the alternative future paths you can take, you enable the individual to have a say on what needs to happen next and gain commitment for completing their side of the agreement.
It also builds trust between you as you work together to achieve better results.
