How to Coach Yourself and Others Popular Models for Coaching | Page 157

Coach - And did you do it?
--Ben - Yeah, you know, I did…and it really wasn’t that hard to
stay focused once I got into it. I stayed up all night to study for
that exam.
Coach - So the energy-zapper loses his power when you really
focus your attention on something.
--Ben - Yeah, I guess he does (laughs).
This conversation reveals a unique outcome for Ben.
Techniques
Techniques that will be examined in this article are:
1. Naming the problem
2. Asking externalising questions
Naming the problem is used as a way to establish a sense of
distance from, and control over the problem. This is a main aim
of the narrative approach.
Payne (2006) has identified a number of questions you may
wish to use to help the coachee name the problem:
“I wonder what we will call this problem?
Do you have a particular name for what you’re going through at
the moment?
There are lots of things happening to you- shall we try to pin
them down? What are they, what name shall we put to them?
I’ve been calling what they did to you ‘constructive dismissal’.
Does that seem the right term to use?
Judging by what you say, you’re been subject to emotional
abuse. How would it feel if that’s what we called it from now on?
Or perhaps there’s a better name?”
If the coachee has trouble coming up with a name, you could
suggest possibilities.
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