Coaching Cut #34 Whole–part modelling

Coaching Cuts: Bite-sized tips for better coaching

Today’s tip

When modelling an action step for your coachee, ensure that you really direct their attention to key success criteria by first modelling the whole step and then re-modelling and highlighting specific criteria, which are proving harder to secure. This allows your coachee to notice specifically what you did and analyse why.

Watch how

Coach Adam models the whole action step to coachee Katie (narrating the positive after giving instructions). Coach Adam then asks Katie to watch the model again and pay specific attention to the use of positive narration.

Just listen to how much depth Katie is able to analyse this element of the model. Simply isolating one success criterion that’s going to be really important for Katie to adopt enables her to explain the value that it has in multiple ways.

Why might Whole – Part modelling be useful?

Firstly, it enables the coachee to focus on one super granular aspect of the practice. Rather than trying to analyse a whole teaching technique, directing their attention to the part of the technique that is most important for them allows for some targeted thinking.

Secondly, showing the whole model first and then the parts allows the coachee to see and understand how the part contributes to the whole.

When would and wouldn’t you use Whole – Part modelling?

Use Whole – Part modelling when you want to direct your coachee’s attention to one specific part of the whole, with the intention of developing that part with them.

Sometimes, there won’t be one success criteria you want to focus on. In this case it might be more beneficial to use wrap-around success criteria (read more about that coaching technique here) before and after the model to develop their sense of what each of the success criteria mean and how they look in practice.

With HUGE thanks to coachee Katie and our enigmatic Evian-drinking coach, Adam Kohlbeck!