How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 77

Notice how these questions acknowledge and validate what you have
already been doing to make the solution happen, and provide
behavioural reinforcement to your unconscious mind, encouraging it to
do more in that direction.


You can use scaling to begin to move towards your ideal solution,
like this:

(given that you are at n on the scale now) What will be different when
you are at n+1?
Notice that the question is not asking 'How are you going to get there?' just 'What will be different?'. This begins to build an image in your mind
of how things will be when they are just a bit closer to how you want
them, and what you will be doing differently - a form of mental
rehearsal which makes it more likely that you will take action.
Of course, if you are using scaling to coach someone else, you can
equally well use these questions to assist them in moving towards their
solution. You can also ask, for any action that they tell you they are
going to take: 'On a scale of 0-10, how committed are you?' For
anything they expect to happen: 'On a scale of 0-10, how confident are
you that this will happen?'
Normally I give sources for any research that I quote. Here's an
additional snippet I recall reading somewhere, but the source escapes
me - so it's up to you if you believe it or not: when we assign a
numerical rating to a problem, this engages the left hemisphere of the
brain, which is associated with more positive emotions. So just by
scaling a problem, we may start to feel better about it. If anyone is
aware of the research which backs this up, do let me know!

http://www.coachingleaders.co.uk/blog/nlpeq-tipsolution-focus-2-scaling.html (Andy Smith)
Sources:

The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching and Change SIMPLE - by Paul Z
Jackson and Mark McKergow

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