The CLEAR model: using session structure to increase client accountability

In preparation for a coaching certification exam, it is useful to review the basic principles of a transformational session, one of which is the structure of the session.

When we are learning the coaching methodology, being able to follow steps, such as the GROW model, gives the coach security as well as helping to maintain the focus of the conversation. Later on, years of experience sometimes invite us to use the structure more freely, and we no longer use it as an "anchor". But I would like to recall here the great value it brings, not so much for ensuring that all the elements that make a conversation a coaching session are present, but for its power to exponentially increase the transformational impact on the client.

In this regard, I have found the CLEAR Model, created in the 1980s by Professor Peter Hawkins, pioneer of the supervision methodology for coaches, consultant and researcher in Executive Coaching, Leadership and Organizational Development, to be particularly effective.

The model describes 5 phases of the session:

C: "Contracting": It consists of supporting the client to understand and focus the challenge he/she wants to address, to clarify the desired outcomes, to clarify the focus of the session, and to establish together the basis of the coaching encounter ("What helps you to learn? What do you need from me today?").

L: "Listen": Through active listening and catalytic interventions, such as paraphrasing, mirroring, articulating intuition, and an attitude of curiosity, accompany the client to increase their understanding of the situation and self-awareness.

E: "Explore": Gather the emotional impact of the current situation on the customer and challenge them through effective questioning, brainstorming or reflection to discover new perspectives and options.

A: "Action": Support the client to choose the new path to follow and to define his next steps, including as a key element a "fast forward rehearsal" or "dress reh earsal" of the action to be taken ("Tell me how you are going to tell him...").

A: "Review": Review and reinforce the agreed action plan, and agree on follow-up mechanisms. Get feedback on the effectiveness of the session, what was useful, what was difficult, and what you both want to be different in future sessions.

The great contribution of this structure is that it reinforces the responsibility and commitment of the client, in the relationship with the coach, with himself and with respect to the challenge he wants to achieve, through steps 1 and 5.

Inquiring into the meaning of the initial challenge for the client, exploring where the real difficulty lies, and asking the client to specify the desired outcome of the session ("If this session were really useful for you, what would we have achieved together at the end of it?"), allows the coach-client alliance to clarify the focus of the session and allows awareness to begin in the first minutes of the meeting. It is important that it is a focus co-created from the coachee's concern and the coach's inquiry and reflection.

Step 5 closes the circle by directly asking the client to evaluate the extent to which he or she feels the session has met the initial expectation. This is another opportunity to reinforce the client's sense of being in charge of his or her process: measuring progress, celebrating achievements, and verbalizing what is not working. This is not about putting the coach in the position of "seller" and the coachee in the position of "buyer", but about opening a constructive space to take joint responsibility for the process.

These two phases of the CLEAR model are also fully aligned with the ICF Coaching Competencies, specifically Competency #2, "Establish the Coaching Agreement" and Competency #11 "Manage Progress and Accountability," and I recommend it to coaches preparing for ICF certification.

More information about CLEAR: Coaching, Mentoring & Organizational Consultancy, 2nd Edition, Peter Hawkins & Nick Smith, Open University Press, McGrawHill (2013)