GILBERT AND WHITTLEWORTH’S OSCAR MODEL
Use this when you want to have a solution-focused coaching model.
Andrew Gilbert and Karen Whittleworth suggest that solution-focused coaching differs from other approaches in that it focuses on solutions rather than problems. They claim that their model is designed to discover what is working well and to replicate that, rather than continuing to do what is not working well. The model is based on the OSCAR acronym and the various constituents of the model can be summarised as:
Outcome: This is where the coach determines what the individual wants to achieve.
Situation: This is where the coach clarifies what the individual’s current situation is.
Choice: This is where the coach and the individual discuss what options are available and the consequences of making particular choices.
Action: This is where the coach encourages the individual to take responsibility for their own action plan.
Review: This is an opportunity for both the individual and coach to reflect on the interventions so far and evaluate what’s worked well and what needs to be modified.
Gilbert and Whittleworth suggest that their model will bring out the existing skills and capabilities of the individual and that ownership of the process is transferred from the coach to the individual.
HOW TO USE IT
The essence of good coaching, using this model, is getting the person being coached to visualise where they are, where they want to be and how you, as the coach, can support them to get there. Here are some useful questions that you can ask the person being coached in each stage:
- Determine the desired outcomes by asking: What do you want to achieve by working with me? What specifically do want to achieve from the present session? How will you know when you have achieved the outcome?
- Clarify where the client is currently by asking: Where do you see yourself now? What specifically has happened for you to get there? What do you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses?
- Discuss what options are available by asking: What are the opportunities and threats facing you? What specifically are the consequences to you of these? What will happen if you don’t face up to them?
- Decide what needs to be done next by asking: What is going well? What specifically is the next step to take? How will you know when you have achieved this step?
- Confirm that the client is on the right course by asking: What did you do to make the changes happen? What specifically are the effects that the changes have had? What do you think will change next?
QUESTIONS TO ASK
- Have I pinned them down by asking challenging but not intimidating questions?
- Are we both clear of where the individual stands at present and where they are going?