Stephen Covey reminds us to start with the end in mind. Any great coaching session will do just that, starting with the end in mind. In my work, I use a model to contract well, called CONTRACT. Whether you are a professional coach or a manager as coach, it works to provide a container within which new thinking can occur. Peter Senge talks about the chemical transformation of two compounds happening in a test tube – a container, and the transformation of our thinking is more likely to happen in a container too. I’m talking a metaphorical container here – that of the contract.
Here’s what CONTRACT stands for. I encourage you to try it out next time you are coaching, whether that’s a corridor conversation or a longer one.
This order seems to work better than any other – especially putting time, so that we don’t limit them too soon, but equally are realistic in what we work on in that time. And asking them where THEY want to start keeps the agenda squarely in their court, rather than us starting down a track that might seem important to us but may not be to them.
I encourage you to have a go, and to see what difference this makes to your conversations. (You can use it in meetings too). Do come back and let me know in the comments.
