Stages of development of a coaching circles – Coaching posture

I was working with a group of facilitator-coaches recently and it made me reflect on what would be the normal progression of participants in a coaching circle from the perspective of embodying a coaching posture. In the organization we were working in, the new managers that participate in the coaching circle have little or no prior experience in personal or leadership development. I wanted to share with you the 5 stages I conceive of and to get your perspective.

• Stage 1: Moving from giving advice to simply asking questions (without holding too high of a standard for these questions)
• Stage 2: Moving to asking more open-ended questions that stimulate reflection
• Stage 3: Moving from « how » to « what » questions (« how » questions are not proscribed but they are often guided by a need to solve issues rather than open up the inquiry)
• Stage 4: Moving from questions that focus on the situation/issue to questions that focus on the person, i.e. their posture, reactions, responsibility, etc.
• Stage 5: Moving from the perspective of enhancing the person’s effectiveness in moving their project forward (horizontal development) to an inquiry that will help to reframe their habitual response from a deeper level of being (vertical development).

Participants in coaching circles always display varying degrees of capability. Not everyone learns at the same pace. However, I believe that supporting this movement is one of the key roles of the facilitator-coach. This can be done by being a model at each level of competence and by supporting participants with the inevitable struggles they face in shifting from an expert posture to a coach posture.