Coaching Resources - the 3 levels of coaching

Coaches - what do our clients want from us? Sometimes the brief is straightforward –a client wants a job promotion or to de-clutter their house, and we will work with them to find a technique that they can use and to develop a plan of the steps they need to take.

But so often there is more to it than that, and our clients actually have deeper needs, which they may not have realised or articulated, and which require different interventions than pure goal setting. The client may have fears around achieving the promotion and the clutter in the house may be a symptom of some other issues. The coach who focuses solely on having the client set some goals and feels a failure when this doesn’t happen or the client subsequently takes no action, may have missed the ‘other stuff’ – the area that I call ‘coaching for the soul’. My coaching supervisor once described this as the columns supporting the bridge that spans the gap between where the client is and where he or she wants to be. Nice analogy!

I discuss this with all the coaches I mentor – it is so important! In his book Supercoach, Michael Neill writes about the three levels of change. When I read this, I realised that this elegantly explains what I have been talking about in the mentoring sessions and applying in my own coaching.

Michael calls level one ‘traditional’ coaching and it’s about ‘change in a specific situation’ or getting ready for a particular event. This can be straightforward goal setting: to succeed at a job interview, run a marathon or communicate a difficult message to a member of staff. Coaching at this level may be structured around the GROW model, and the result is the client having a step-by-step plan for getting from A to B (building the bridge), and/or a specific technique for a specific situation.

Level two involves working in a specific life area, such as sales, presentation skills or confidence. The client will take away a range of strategies, and maybe increased skills, which can then be applied throughout that area so they are more effective and successful in a variety of situations.

Level three is my ‘coaching for the soul’ level, which Michael Neill has named ‘global change’. This level involves transformation for the client; new perspectives and different ways of seeing themselves. The client will be exploring the way they are being in the world, and their relationship with themselves. It’s this work - which brings about personal insights, increased self-awareness, and a shifting of beliefs - that can be truly life changing, which will have a long lasting, profound effect on every area of the client’s life.

Why do I think it is so important to understand these different levels? Firstly, to be aware that clients have different requirements – some will just have a clearly defined goal and require an action plan, and that’s fine; others do need to deal with the obstacles and limiting self-beliefs. Secondly, it is so that coaches can see that they haven’t failed if a client leaves without a tangible goal – the new self-knowledge they have gained may be of much more value to them and will have an ongoing, positive impact on their lives, and those around them.