The Best Business Coaching Models You Should Know About in 2021
A business coaching model can make or break a business coach. It doesn’t matter who you are; if you aren’t implementing and following a coaching model that isn’t effective or doesn’t fit your personality and needs, you won’t get very far.
Whether you’re a business coach looking for new coaching methods to help your clients, or a coachee looking for the best coaching options, being aware of the most effective coaching models is the best way to palpably see for yourself how business coaching can take you or your clients from where they are to where they want to be.
First of all, let us clear up the definition of the topic:
What is a business coaching model?
A good business coach doesn’t go about their business by coaching their clients on a whim and doing whatever pops into their head at random on any given day.
They follow strict and carefully constructed coaching models that they implement into their overall strategy and day-to-day sessions.
Some coaches create coaching models of their own while others use models that have worked faultlessly for other business coaches for decades.
In the simplest terms, a coaching model is the process of how you’re going to get from point A (where you are) to point B (where you want to be).
As a business coach, a concrete coaching model is a tangible framework to offer your clients; it shows how your coaching services will help them reach their goals.
It is the framework that will guide a coaching journey.
There are a lot of different types of models out there for different types of coaching services, as well as a variety of coach models that adhere to varying coaching principles and ideologies.
So, what might work for a specific personality type of profession might not work for someone in a different boat.
So, to make it easy for you, we created a guide that details the most popular and most effective business coaching models out there:
Coaching Models
GROW Model
The GROW Model is one of the most popular coaching approaches of problem-solving and goal-reaching used by coaches.
GROW is a coaching technique originally developed by Sir John Whitmore, Alan Fine, and Graham Alexander in the 1980s for the corporate coaching world.
GROW is a framework designed to guide your whole coaching structure, individual coaching sessions, and as a tool to help your clients move forward on their own on a day-to-day basis.
GROW Model stands for:
Goal-Setting realistic (see SMART below) goals that can be short or long-term.
Reality-Where you stand in the present in relation to your goal.
Options-The different routes you can take to reach your objective.
Way Forward-Decide on your route and create an action plan that will lead you to your desired destination.
The acronyms are the coaching tools that structure your journey of following through on immediate aspirations or big picture objectives.
During the coaching process, a coach's role is to help their client answer these coaching questions independently.
A coach should act as a sounding board and brainstorming partner for the coachee and help shine the light at the end of the tunnel.
SMART Goal Setting
Setting a goal might seem simple enough: pick something you want to achieve and then try to achieve it, right? Think again.
The key to achieving your goals—big or small—requires the skill of knowing how to set them effectively.
SMART is an approach to setting targets and is one of the most valuable coaching tools out there. It outlines how to create achievable goals that will get you better results and that you will actually follow through to the end.
In the 1960s, psychology leaders Gary Latham and Edwin Lock famously published their theories on effective goal setting—SMART adheres to their findings.
SMART stands for:
Specific-The more general and vague a goal is, the less effective and achievable it will be. Whether it’s an area of improvement or a specific outcome, focus on being as specific as possible.
Measurable-You have to measure your goal in some tangible way that indicates whether you are making progress.
Attainable-Aim realistically; if it seems impossible to achieve, that’s probably because it is. But don’t make it too easy to achieve either; otherwise, there won’t be enough motivation.
Relevant-Your objectives must be relevant to your reality and big picture ambitions.
Time-Your goal must have a time limit; if it isn't time-based, it will be hard to feel motivated to achieve it.
Business Coaching and Life Coaching Models
STEPPA
STEPPA is one of the most effective life coaching tools that can also be incredibly beneficial for individuals in business coaching as well as group coaching.
This coaching model was created by Angus McLeod as an approach guided by the emotions that arise from certain problems, situations, and environments and then repurposing those emotions to lead the way for creating new objectives, outcomes, and paths to success.
Simply put, this coaching model sees an individual’s emotions as the driving force of their actions, behavior, and motivation.
STEPPA stands for:
Subject-what the client would like to focus on in terms of overall coaching objectives or specific topics to tackle within a session.
Target Identification-information on what the client wants and needs should be clarified.
Emotion-a coachee labels the combination of emotions that arise while the coach helps them process them in the right direction in order to generate positive results.
Perception-the coachee must decide what path feels best for them to follow that will allow them to reach their objective.
Plan-a coach should help their client create a comprehensive plan of attack with a timeline that highlights dates, specific tasks, and strategies to be able to see the goal in their heads and materialize their dreams.
Act-act on your plan and adapt it if emotions change and are not aligned with the process.
Emotions can be the perfect fuel to take action and attain success. However, if not guided properly within coaching sessions, emotions can only cause you more mental blockages and problems.
OSKAR Coaching Model
This is a solution-focused coaching model; developed by Paul Z Jackson and Mark McKregor in 2002 and has quickly become one of the staple tools in many coaching approaches worldwide.
OSKAR encourages people to overcome obstacles by taking the focus away from the problem and zeroing in on the problem’s solution.
This tool can be used in many ways but is more commonly implemented in a coaching session when a client’s behavior is stuck in a problematic place; OSKAR is then used to overcome short and long-term obstacles.
OSKAR stands for:
Outcome-The client states the outcome they want when solving a problem.
Scale-On a scale of 1-10 the coachee states how close they feel to reaching their desired outcome.
Know-how-Discuss how the coachee will close the gap between where they are and where they want to be—what skills, capabilities, qualities, knowledge, etc., will be needed.
Affirm/Action-Discuss what is positive in the client's current situation, uplift their self-belief by showing how hard they’ve worked to get where they are.
Review-Review the past, present, and future of the outcome.
The motivational and encouraging content within OSKAR is what makes it one of the most uplifting options coaches use within their coaching models.
It is easier for people to move forward when you focus on succeeding instead of getting stuck on the problem.
Executive and Leadership Coaching Models
Jay Wolf, a Forbes Coaches Council Member, and a New York-based executive performance coach for 15 years, states that “the coaching process is an investment in the development of an organization’s most important asset — its human capital. An effective leadership coaching model is needed for organizational success on a wider scale”
The Action Centered Leadership Model
An effective leadership coaching model can increase revenue, boost performance, and improve the lives of both your team members and yourself.
Whether you’re the leader of a few team members or of a big organization, the Action Centered Leadership Model is simple and effective enough to use for any kind of leadership position.
It involves 3 main steps:
1. Leadership Skills
It is important to start your leadership training with an executive coach that focuses on developing your core leadership values.
The cornerstone of every coaching session should touch on developing and maintaining these core skills.
2. Three Key Responsibility Areas
A leader should divide their time equally between these three areas, although sometimes, depending on certain circumstances throughout the year, one area might need more attention than the others.
Task Achievement-This involves your role as leader to get your team closer to their objective by identifying the goal, creating strategies to attain it, allocating tools and resources, etc.
Team Formation/Upkeep-Your team must work as a unified entity. You build your team up by setting team standards, monitoring conflict, encouraging good communication, giving constructive criticism, etc.
Individual Development-A team is successful when each unit is positively contributing. A leader’s job is to address each team member's personal needs so that their motivation and direction are aligned with the team as a whole. It’s important to dedicate time and resources to team individuals.
3. Repurpose this Model
This model was created to be flexible enough to be implemented in any leadership situation. Find ways to fit it into your coaching values and duties in any way you see fit.
Bottom Line
A coaching model acts as the bones of any coaching approach. Without the framework of a sturdy model, a coach's insights and skills have no way of holding themselves up independently.
Every year or so, new and exciting coaching tools hop onto the scene and have the ability to revolutionize the coaching industry.
What effective coaching models have you or your coach used in the past that we might not be aware of? Share your experiences below:
