Key steps to writing an action plan - coaching business

This article answers the most basic instructions to take into account when drafting an action plan.

First step: establish the coach's multiple objective[s], and jointly assess the meaning that would correspond to its success. Once this point has been reached, it is important to recapitulate to the client certain characteristics of the coaching process, especially what corresponds to the possible constraints, and the moment he/she has to do his/her part in attitude.

There is a very important factor to work on the action plan, which will determine the different stages of evaluation, and it is time. >How long will it take to reach the objective?

The idea is not to stipulate an inviolable deadline, it does not make sense to impose so much rigor in a process of personal transformation, it would be counterproductive in all senses. A timeline is established so that the coachee can visualize a timeline, associating what he/she desires with a real future. This step also ensures the measurability of the action plan.

Second step: At this point it is valid to develop exercises where the client is mentally taken to a moment of the future he/she longs for, so that it no longer appears to him/her as a dream or remote idea, and he/she begins to familiarize him/herself with the emotions of such a situation.

This is where it becomes essential to adopt a state of deep observation and active listening, the purpose is to obtain an understanding from the reactions, whether verbal or gestural.

Third step: Once you are convinced of the client's involvement in your exercise, propose to take a step back from that future that mentally lives, it should be only one step, the idea is to refer to the process immediately prior to the achievement.

What was the trigger for the achievement? >What do you think it might have been? >What are you doing there, which as we already know led to the achievement?

Here we have to emphasize necessary psychological factors, such as the client expressing himself in the first person and in the present tense, we want a genuine sense of progress. Insist as a coach on the most honest and concise confessional answer possible, and once you get it, take notes.

Step Four: The next step is a repetition of this step, the client will have to take a number of steps back, and in each scenario visualize and communicate to you what he/she is experiencing, what exactly he/she is doing, who he/she is with, where he/she is. On each occasion you will take notes, this is a joint write-up, which when finalized will be a raw action plan, only laid out in reverse. The coach will see himself as the author of his self-improvement program, that is to say, as an individual capable of generating an itinerary based on what he really wants, he only needed an appropriate methodology.

Fifth step: Once back to the real present, it is time to discuss the plan that has been conceived through the exercise. >How does the client feel about it? It is time to take an analytical distance, and be clear about the potential of the program that was accessed. It is time to recognize the effort, which was not little, and the ability to manage step by step a process of change.

Final step: Now it is time to take the steps and place them in a bottom-up manner. We must develop what we referred to earlier when we mentioned the time factor: determine the deadlines. The client will be asked how long he/she thinks each step in the action plan will take. It is reiterated that it is not an irrevocable structure, it is an itinerary that is worked out in specific circumstances, and it is not designed to remain intact in case of obstacles or theoretical changes. But, even so, it is necessary to agree on deadlines to be able to measure progress. Now that you have a plan of action, with dates for testing its effectiveness, the first task should be given to the client. To maintain enthusiasm and focus on the process, each step should be celebrated.