Phase 7: The Second Appointment and Follow-up Appointments

The second appointment and the appointments that follow offer more opportunities for deepening. By now you have already gathered quite a bit of information from and about the coachee, both from the first appointment and from interim check-ins, reflections and possible microlearnings. You can already see what your coachee is up against, how this manifests itself in practice and how he or she deals with it. The second appointment lends itself to further unravelling these patterns and giving the coachee insights and tools to break through them. 

7.1 Reflect

Take a moment to reflect with your coachee on what he or she has already done. Acknowledge and appreciate the steps he or she has already taken. No matter how small the steps, by acknowledging them the coachee has a sense of success and confidence and motivation are strengthened.

Reflection doesn't have to take up too much of the session, but it is important to acknowledge and provide feedback on the work the coachee has done. 

7.2 Deepening patterns and behavior

With the knowledge you have gathered so far, you can delve deeper into the coachee’s challenges during the second appointment. This is the time to further unravel patterns and make the coachee aware of behavior, beliefs and thought patterns that play a role in his or her situation.

For example, ask questions like:

• Can you describe how this pattern occurs in your daily life?
• What do you notice when you look back on the past period?
• How does it feel to be in this situation, and what do you think at that moment?

The goal is to not only make the coachee aware of these patterns, but also to discover how they are maintained. This awareness is often a first step towards change.

7.3 Exploring alternatives

After you have made the coachee aware, you can explore together alternative ways of dealing with situations. This helps the coachee to break away from fixed patterns and see new possibilities.

The following questions may help:

• What could you do differently in this situation?
• How would you want to respond if you were completely free of doubt or fear?
• What are some small experiments you can do to test this new behavior?

You offer the coachee a new perspective and inspire him or her to think outside the box.

7.4 Plan of action

Now that the alternatives have been mapped out, it is important that the coachee implements this. You conclude the session with concrete actions that the coachee can take. These actions are now becoming more specific and are aimed at integrating new insights into daily life.

With Trackler you can set up a to-do list or habit tracker in which the coachee can keep track of his or her progress. This not only provides structure, but also makes progress tangible.

Conclusion

The second appointment is a valuable moment in the coaching process in which you go beyond awareness and start interventions and concrete actions. By deepening, exploring alternatives and taking targeted action, you help the coachee not only to understand what is going on, but also to actually initiate change.

Trackler can support the coachee in integrating these new methods into daily life. Through the reflection forms the coachee remains involved and tools such as an action list or habit tracker give structure to the changes he or she has to make.

Want to read more about the other steps in the coaching process? Click here here.