Learn How To Apply My CLEAR Framework for Success

Having completed a coaching session with a client recently in which she had significant, emotional self-discovery, I was asked by her at the end as to how I had managed that. I was unclear as to what she had meant, so asked her to clarify.

She wanted to understand how I managed to take her through the journey of self-discovery, having started the session with her talking about one thing, and having it end up on something wholly (but not unrelated) different.

“Magic!!”, I replied with a smile.

But more seriously, I countered with the fact that it was my curiosity and genuine interest to help and support her goals. It was my thought-provoking and challenging questioning to understand the reasoning behind her series of responses, which led us both on the journey throughout the session.

I believe most successful coaches would agree that this kind of approach would lead to successful outcomes for their clients. But the key to all this was my coaching philosophy or some may call my business model.

And it’s a model which will not be readily be replaced by technologically, as it requires that all-important human element.

“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” — Steve Jobs

Many prospective clients who know a little about coaching, tend to ask me which coaching model I use. Is it GROW, Gestalt, Co-Active, etc? As everyone is different, I don’t believe there’s a one model fits all, and my personal preference is to use a combination of many. But as I mentioned, the key to all this is my coaching philosophy — CLEAR, which underpins my approach. CLEAR is an acronym for the family of values and behaviours that I apply to each of my sessions (developed as part of my training with the AoEC).

• C — Connection — Who doesn’t like to be liked? It’s so important to get on with and trust those you work with and want to work with. And for me, quickly establishing a rapport is essential in initial meetings and subsequent sessions. To build a trusting relationship is important in terms of coaching, as it is in any business. Knowing one’s body language (constituting up to 70% of non-verbal communication) is key, being familiar with NLP techniques is advantageous, but I believe it’s very hard to beat a genuinely warm smile and a firm handshake.
• L — Language — Stemming from a young age (and to this day) in needing to make myself understood with older family members and friends whose first language was not English, I’m quite simple when it comes to the use of the English language. I like to be clear and to the point. Why use big words, when small ones will do. When dealing with my clients, I enjoy interacting at a basic level without jargon. This gives me the ability to be able to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds and diverse cultures. A great asset to anyone wanting to deal with a global community.
• E — Enthusiasm — Anyone who has worked with me would tell you the enthusiasm and positive energy I have. And they will also tell you it is very contagious. Having great enthusiasm is both inspiring and motivating. “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” is a very apt quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. When times are tough, enthusiasm counts a lot. The greatest advantage is that is it goes a long way to building persistence and perseverance: the attributes you really need to keep going when there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.
• A — Awareness — I’ve always been a keen learner but over the past few years, it’s been learning more about myself. My own strengths and weaknesses. Realising my blindspots. Becoming self-aware raises consciousness, which then stimulates change in yourself. This raising of my awareness has come about from educating myself further in different ways (as opposed to the more structured classroom format); be it by reading books, viewing educational video content and most importantly spending time with those that have been able to diversify my thinking to act as positive role models. As Abraham Maslow so rightly said, “What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”
• R — Results — We all do things with an end result in mind, even when a specific result is not our intent. Working with my clients it’s important to get them to understand what result(s) they desire. Be it a goal or an outcome, my clients approach me because they want change. Either within their business or with themselves. This is their result, which I support and help facilitate. The coaching sessions focus long-term on achievement and getting results. But with this comes the understanding that in order to receive the required results, they need to put in the hard work and the necessary essential action.

“I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.” — Michael Jordan

This CLEAR approach works very well for me, but I think it is an approach that has a much more universal application. CLEAR is a necessity wherever human interaction is required; in business and in life. The values and behaviours described are necessary to achieve success in both. And for many, this could just be the start of a very simple business or life approach.

Dr Rakish Rana is a warm and caring executive life coach who transforms you to become the best version of yourself, by instilling confidence & self-belief and focussing on general well-being.