How to Coach a Client on Personal Vision

I was typing out some notes today for a mentee preparing for the IAC certification exam, and when I finished I realized that others might find this useful as well. It’s by no means “the right” way to coach a client on personal vision, it’s simply the framework I use.

The idea is to have the client describe where they are at now, and where they would like to be. Then identify the gaps and make a plan.

1. Start by asking them where they are now. Draw out their strengths and achievements, as most clients tend to overlook what they’ve already achieved.

2. Ask them to close their eyes and describe what they are ideally doing in five years. Prompt them to describe details about what they are doing, with whom, what the environment looks like, how they feel, etc. If time allows, it’s nice to do a short guided visualization

3. Debrief with them about the vision. Depending on what they have visualized, you may need to do a reality check or more likely, help them think bigger:

• what would be the ultimate thrill?
• where are you stopping short of all you could be?
• what is a big enough game?
• why bother? what makes it worth it?
• what have you wanted to do but haven’t?

4. This is the point where you will hear the client’s energy shift, if they are working on their true vision. If the energy seems either hesitant or over-the-top excited, the visioning needs more work.

5. Now you want to tie the vision into their values. If you’ve already worked on values together, you can remind them of their values and ask how this vision aligns with their values. (note: this is  Mastery #9, Supportive Environments because aligning vision with values makes the vision intrinsically sustainable). At this point I like to ask some version of:

• how does this tie in with your top three values?
• who will you be when you do this?
• what impact will you have?
• how could you make this align with your values even more?

6. Summarize, and move on to identifying the gaps between where they are now and where they want to be.

7. Help client identify what they will need to move forward on vision. Help them see strengths and resources they already have.

• what resources do you already have?
• what successes have you had in the past with ________?
• what do you need to do or get?
• who could help you?

8. This is usually where I stop with a session on vision. There’s a lot for the client to process, and moving immediately on to action plan  robs them of the time needed to sit with the learning from the visioning process.

I hope this has been helpful. What framework do you use? Would you be willing to share it with us?