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In this chapter, I will discuss how REB coaches lay the foundations so that their coachees can get the most from the process of REBC.
LTF: Step 1. Respond to an initial enquiry
When a person first contacts an REB coach, that person may be in the role of āenquirerā (i.e. making enquiries about coaching) or in the role of āapplicantā (i.e. seeking help from the coach having decided to seek coaching help from that person). However, they should not yet be seen to occupy the role of ācoacheeā until they and the coach have contracted to work with one another. Whatever is the case, the person requires a response to their initial enquiry.
LTF: Step 1. Strategy 1. Conduct a brief, real-time conversation
Whether the coach has responded themself to the personās initial enquiry, I suggest that they themself carry out a brief, real-time (e.g. telephone or Skype) conversation with the person, unless there is a good reason not to do so. In my experience, ten minutes should suffice for this conversation, the purpose of which is for the coach to give information to the person in the enquirer role and to ascertain what help the person in the applicant role is seeking. If it seems that there is compatibility between what the applicant seeks and what the coach can offer, the latter should invite the former to a face-to-face1 assessment-based session, the purpose of which is to agree the type of coaching that is best suited to the person and to agree a coaching contract.2
LTF: Step 2. Ask the applicant to prepare for the face-to-face assessment session
One of the points that coaches can make at the outset is that they expect coachees to be active between coaching sessions. Thus, the REB coach can ask the applicant to prepare for the face-to-face assessment session.
LTF: Step 2. Strategy 1. Use a pre-assessment coaching questionnaire
Table 1 provides an example of a form the coach might suggest that the applicant completes before the session as one way of preparing for the session. Note that all the information requested is designed to provide the coach with information that will help the person get the most out of coaching, if they become a coachee.
Table 1:Pre-assessment coaching questionnaire
Please answer the following questions as honestly as you can. The information that you provide will help you get the most from coaching and help the coach tailor coaching to your individual situation. All information is confidential.
1.What do you hope to achieve from coaching?
2.What strengths do you have as a person that you can use during coaching that would help you get the most out of this process?
3.What resources in your environment do you have access to that could help you during the coaching process?
4.Which people in your life can you call upon to support and encourage you during coaching?
5.What does your coach need to know about your learning style to help ensure that you get the most out of coaching?
6.What style of coaching should your coach ideally adopt to help you get the most out of coaching?
7.What are some of your core life values that your coach should know about?
8.What do you find meaningful in your life?
9.How much time are you prepared to devote to coaching-related activities per day?
10.Is there anything that you would like your coach to know or think your coach needs to know before coaching begins?
LTF: Step 3. Carry out a face-to-face assessment session
As noted above, a major purpose of the face-to-face assessment session is to help both the applicant and the REB coach determine whether coaching is the right form of help for the person and, if so, which type of REBC is best suited to the person.
LTF: Step 3. Strategy 1. Determine which type of coaching the person is suitable for
When working with the applicant to see if the person is suitable for REBC and if so, which type, the following criteria can be used:
For development-focused coaching. Here, the applicant is doing satisfactorily in life and wishes to develop themself in one or more areas of their life. During the recent past, the person has neither experienced an emotional problem nor a practical problem that required professional help.
For emotional problem-focused coaching. Here, the applicant has an emotional problem or problems where the person has emotionally disturbed reactions to one or more adversities. The question arises as to whether the person should see an REB coach or an REB therapist. Cavanagh (2005) suggests that coaching is suitable for emotional problems when:
1.The emotional problem is of recent origin or occurs intermittently.
2.The responses of the person to the main adversity are distressing to the person, but lie within a mild to moderate range of distress.
3.The personās emotional problem is limited to a certain situation or aspect of the personās life.
4.The person is not defensive with respect to the problem.
5.The person is open to addressing and changing the problem.
To these, I would add that the person wants to see a coach and would not consult a therapist or counsellor, for example, because of the stigma of doing so.
For practical problem-focused coaching. Here, the applicant is confused, tangled up with an issue or issues and needs clarity and order, which they hope to get by talking things through with someone, but they are not emotionally disturbed about the issue(s). If they do have an emotional problem about their practical problem, the former in REBC is generally tackled before the latter, as the presence of the emotional problem will impede and distract the person from focusing on solving the practical problem.
LTF: Step 3. Strategy 2. Determine if the person is suitable for REBC
Once the coach and applicant have decided which type of coaching is suitable for the person, then the coach should literally give an overview of the REB approach to coaching so that they can both determine whether this type of coaching is suitable for the person and is what the person is looking for. While each coach will tailor this overview for each applicant, the following is an indication about what should be covered in the overview:
Development-focused REBC. Here, the coach should say that the focus will be on enhancing the personās development and that this process can be underpinned by REBCās rational principles of living that have been outlined in Bernard (2018a). Examples of such principles should be given to the coachee so they know what the coach means. It is important that the coach explains that while it would be good if the person makes unimpeded progress towards their development-based objectives, obstacles to that progress may well arise and, if so, the coach will help the person address these obstacles by examining the thinking, emotion and behaviour implicated in the obstacles and changing those aspects, which will result in the resumption of objective-focused coaching.
Emotional problem-focused REBC. Here, the coach should say that addressing the personās emotional problems will be done by setting goals and then helping them to identify and change the rigid and extreme attitudes that underpin their problems. Goals are achieved by attitude change, which occurs when the person acts in ways that are consistent with their alternative flexible and non-extreme attitudes while facing problem-related adversities. Again, the coach should explain that while it would be good if the person makes unimpeded progress towards their problem-based goals, obstacles to that progress may well arise and, if so, the coach will help the person address these obstacles by using similar methods that are employed in helping them address their emotional problems. Once this is done, resumption of problem-focused coaching can occur.
Practical problem-focused REBC. Here, the coach should say that addressing the personās practical problem will be done by helping them to learn and apply a practical problem-solving framework designed to help them identify and evaluate a range of possible solutions and to apply the one most likely to be successful. In addition, the coach should say that if the person has an emotional problem about their practical problem, then this former problem needs to be tackled before the latter and, if so, the coachās explanation should be as in the previous section. Similar points about obstacles to progress in practical problem-focused REBC should be made as were made in the other two types of REBC detailed above.
Once the person and the coach have jointly decided that REBC is a suitable approach, have selected the type of REBC to be used, have discussed issues arising from the personās responses to the pre-assessment questionnaire presented in Table 1 and have settled a number of practical issues, then a coaching contract should be agreed and signed, if this is the coachās practice. At this point, the applicant becomes a coachee.
LTF: Step 3. Strategy 3. Decide with the coachee how you are both going to evaluate coaching
REBC is an evidence-based approach to coaching (see David, David & Razvan, 2018) and therefore the coach is concerned with evaluating their work with all coachees. At this point, I suggest that the REB coach ask the coachee how best they think that they both can evaluate their work. If the person defers to the coach on this question (as frequently happens), the coach should suggest that the two of them evaluate coaching outcomes and progress with respect to: (a) whichever problem the coachee seeks help for in problem-focused REBC and the goal related to the problem; and (b) whichever objective is chosen in development-focused REBC. Once this has been agreed, the coach may suggest how this may be done. I will revisit this latter issue later in this book in the āEPF: Step 3ā section.
LTF: Step 3. Strategy 4. Help the coachee to identify and use their strengths in REBC
Coachees bring to REBC a range of strengths that can help them get the most out of all three types of REBC to be discussed in this book. Thus, it is important for the coach to help the coachee identify these strengths and specify how these might be used in coaching.
Strengths are the internal attributes or personality traits and characteristics that can help the coachee get the most out of REBC. They can be assessed by the coach asking several questions. For example:
ā¢āWhat would you say are your strengths as a person that you can bring to the coaching process?ā
ā¢āWhat would others who know you well say were your strengths as a person that you can bring to the coaching process?ā
ā¢āIf you were being interviewed for a job and you were asked what strengths you had as a person, how would you respond?ā
Once identified and noted, the coach can then encourage the coachee to use these strengths at salient points in the coaching process.
LTF: Step 3. Strategy 5. Help you...
