Susan Britton MCC explains why coaches must establish Point A, a baseline of the client's current thinking and feelings, before moving forward. Skipping this step leaves you without a reference point to measure progress, as shown in an executive coaching scenario about motivating a team during budget cuts.
Susan with a walking tip on ICF PCC Marker 7.1. So 7.1 has to do with asking the client about their current thinking, feeling, values, needs, wants, behaviors around the situation that you're coaching on. So for example, if you're working with an executive and they've just brought to you a situation where they're wanting to be able to motivate a team because there are perhaps big budget cutbacks or some big mountain to climb. If you don't ask first how they're thinking, feeling, what they need, what they want, what their values are around the situation, you really don't have a point B to go to. So 7.1 is kind of your point A within the conversation. That way, if you understand where their thinking is, they're gonna have a better chance of knowing by the end of the conversation that they've really made progress in the conversation. So sometimes coaches want to jump quickly to understand what it is that they want and what are the options and what could it look like, and that's all good. Well, but that's really going to be one of the different competencies like 7.2 or the markers 7.2 or 7.3 or 7.4. So make sure that you also get where are you currently before you start jumping towards the future, and that will make sure that you hit 7.1.
Susan’s ICF Educator Award | The Heart Behind the Impact Katy Montgomery, PCC
