Laurie Beth Jones Blog

The Elements in Stage 5 of Change

Maintenance – Self-efficacy

In this phase the desired behavior has become a habit and is being demonstrated consistently and automatically without struggle. Confidence in their ability to sustain the behavior is high. As a result, productivity and a sense of fulfillment is enhanced. Clients are discovering new and exciting things about themselves, and at the same time they are coming face to face with challenges as well as setbacks. This means strategizing with clients to prevent relapses into old behaviors.

The challenges for Earth clients at this time is to keep the forward movement and not get stalled by their desire for perfection and begin to backslide. A major coaching interaction at this time is to help clients recognize when plans need to be reassessed and adjusted and to become more comfortable with adjusting their behaviors and actions as a result of the shifts occurring in their lives.

Water clients are generally good short-term planners but their challenge is their tendency to lose sight of the long view and get sidetracked or discouraged. Keep them in touch with their core strengths. Help them stay in alignment with their vision. Provide support to help them get closure on the short-term goals or help them tolerate incomplete closure so they can move on.

Wind clients face the challenge of managing boredom and procrastination while new behaviors are jelling. Help them keep growing by setting new goals that are interesting, observable and attainable (and involve fun and other people when possible). Call the Wind’s imagination and creativity into play to find new motivators and keep themselves engaged in a plan of forward action. Help them strategize around their inate restlessness and impulsivity, and keep them aware of in tune with their commitment.

Fire clients may revel in their success at this stage because they measure success primarily in terms of outcomes. The challenges may come in the form of burnout from their “do or die and do it quicker and better than anyone else” approach to actions. Another challenge at this stage may be related to shifts in interpersonal dynamics that the client perceives as a loss of control or prestige. Help your clients appreciate the ways in which the new behaviors are serving their vision and goals.

This is a time for celebration – Help your clients take time to acknowledge, reflect, and enjoy the sense of becoming the best they can be.

Jacque Salamy, Path Coach Instructor

The Elements in Stage 4 of Change

Action – On the Path –

Clients in this stage are moving on their Path. With your coaching they have built their confidence, made their commitment, garnered support, and created their plan of action. They have identified the behavior they want to establish and are doing it consistently. Now the coaching steps up to provide the necessary support to keep moving along the path . . . this is the time when we get out our coaching pom-poms to manage progress and accountability. It’s also the time to be on the lookout for signs of lapses or relapses.

Because Earth clients thrive on getting tasks done according to plan, in this stage they feel like they’ve hit paydirt . . . but it can turn into quicksand because of their need for perfectionism. While practicing new behaviors and establishing new habits, help them establish realistic standards of measuring success for new actions taken. This is really important because the Earth client is so averse to making mistakes. Reframing is a valuable tool here to help them evaluate any misdirection or “less than perfect” performance as a learning opportunity rather than a failure.

This can be a delicate time for Water clients because of their desire to please others. Managing their progress and accountability requires helping them stay true to their path and not be swayed or distracted by the needs or agendas of others.  Help them anticipate and be prepared for lapses by developing strategies to cope with situations before they actually arise. Be generous with acknowledgment and affirmation for the steps they’ve taken, while continuing to challenge them to set short-term objectives.

In this stage encourage your Wind clients to develop new relationships with people who share their interests and behavior goals . . . more cheerleaders, so to speak. These individuals need a social context of fun and relationships in a network that will help them prioritize according to purpose rather than urgency. In addition, this network will help you  help your client  objectively assess their behavior and by-pass their tendency to self-promote with exaggeration or manipulation.

The biggest challenge for a Fire client during behavior change may be their fear of being seen as vulnerable or of losing a sense of prestige. In order to maintain their sense of being in control, they may try to exert pressure on others to respond in kind to their own behavior change. Help these clients think about the value of re–engineering their environment instead of the people in the environment.

This phase is a time for choosing, refining, and committing to specific behavior changes. It is a time for learning effective problem solving processes and taking corrective actions as outcomes are assessed. It is a time for brainstorming and experimenting. A key component of coaching during this phase of behavioral change is helping all clients, irrespective of their Element, appreciate that setbacks are normal and are to be appreciated for their learning value, not viewed as failure.

By Jacque Salamy:  Path Coach Training Instructor