The INSPIRE

A Coaching Model By Camilla Born, Success Coach, HONG KONG

To Inspire: to exert a stimulating or beneficial effect upon a person, to animate or invigorate.

What Is the Inspire Coaching Model?

The INSPIRE coaching model is structured but by no means rigid or prescriptive 

coaching framework aimed to guide clients through seven steps to achieve their desired goal or outcome.

It is aimed to be client-centered and therefore flexible and tailored to the client’s individual needs. The INSPIRE model is a representation of the journey that the client will go on with the coach in the passenger seat helping the client connect to their strengths, values, and motivations.

My role as a coach is to help focus the client on their road map and empower clients to define their next steps. The INSPIRE Model can support clients to take stock of their successes and wrong turns and to assist in facilitating learning and next steps. The model will give clients valuable space to get unstuck from their worries, gain new tools and perspectives to allow them to be the very best versions of themselves.

The INSPIRE Model can be seen as a metaphor for the inspiration that clients will feel during and after their coaching journey.

The verb inspires collocates with numerous nouns to produce powerful word partnerships. These word partnerships are highly transferable to coaching, for example, to inspire new ways of thinking, inspire trust, inspire hope, inspire change, inspire growth and inspire others. The word inspires throws up a world of possibilities and through the INSPIRE Coaching Model, doors will open to greater self-awareness, improved potential, greater problem-solving abilities, and improved stress management to name just a few.

Key Demographics of the Client

I aim to specialize in coaching young people for success. This is quite a new but growing market sector that is gaining traction in America, Canada, and Singapore. I have a particularly keen interest in Generation Z with a 20 year plus background in education. I have had the privilege to teach hundreds of Generation Z students. Generation Z will soon overtake Millennials as the most populous generation in the world, currently, more than one-third of the world’s population belongs to Generation Z. Born between 1995 and 2012 and currently making up 24.3% of the US population.

What Might Generation Z Come To Coaching For?

This particular generation is extremely competitive and striving for exceptionally high academic and career standards. This in turn creates huge amounts of pressure and stress.

Some of the key areas I am aiming to focus on are:

• Stress Management and Strategies
• Time Management
• Reducing Exam Anxiety
• Building Resilience
• Managing procrastination
• Building Self Confidence and Self Esteem
• Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals
• Learning Style Study Tips
• Managing Post Covid Studying
• Increasing Self Awareness and Emotional Intelligence
• Listening and being a non-judgmental sounding board.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are perhaps the most common areas that I have encountered during my time as an educator and mentor to students.

The Name of the Model Is an Acronym for the Seven Key Stages in the INSPIRE Process.

How Does the INSPIRE Model Work?

The INSPIRE Model is a comprehensive Seven step process. The INSPIRE Model aims to uncover and understand the topic and goal that the client is bringing to the session. The model has a clear coaching agreement working in line with ICF core competencies, an enlightening and enriching section allowing the client to connect with their deepest feelings, emotions, and core values. This section will also build self-awareness and allow the client to identify their key strengths. The final stage will allow for robust action planning, key learning, and accountability for their goals.

The client will leave the coaching session with a clear and robust action plan to work on. They will have also explored their learning from the session and be able to use this in the larger picture of their life and their work and studies.

The name is an acronym for the seven key stages in the INSPIRE Process:

I: The Client introduces the topic and the coach asks questions to identify what the client is bringing to the session. It is of paramount importance that the coach can build trust quickly especially with this market, where the use of laser coaching is frequently used. The sense of trust and non-judgment will enable clients to build strong foundations to grow from.

N: Understand the Nuances. At this stage, the coach must dig deeper to understand what the client is bringing to the session. The coach needs to be fully aware not only of verbal communication but non-verbal communication too. Picking up on these subtle nuances is going to uncover what the client is bringing to the coaching session.

S: Setting the goal and the success measures for the session. Setting a goal gives the client focus and inspiration. “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible”– Tony Robbins. Without a goal, the coaching session will become disjointed and confusing. Goals help to measure progress as do success measures. Being able to measure progress is extremely rewarding and will help the client and coach maintain focus for the session. Goals also assist in motivation; on our coaching journey, we must have a destination to arrive at.

P: Powerful questions. The power of questioning is enormous, a great question can stop the receiver in their tracks. Powerful questions can stop the inner conversation from thinking in its usual way, and suddenly the client is thinking “outside” the realm of what they used to. It is in this new realm that great ideas and thoughts will come to our clients, creating pivotal moments for them.

I: Investigate further. For the success of the coaching session, it is key that the coach investigates further and not just focuses on the issue the client is bringing to the session but also on the “who” of the client. It is vital to explore the feelings and emotions of the client too.

R: Reframe perspectives. This is an essential coaching skill that helps clients see things differently and come to more empowering conclusions and feelings. Things that seemed impossible now seem possible.

E: The client will leave the coaching session feeling empowered, enthusiastic, evolving, re-engaged, and excited. This final journey of the coaching session allows clients to put thoughts into action and to start taking on new and exciting challenges. The client will leave the coaching session with a clear and robust action plan to work on. A greater sense of self-awareness facilitates growth. They will have also have explored learning from the session and be able to use this in the larger picture of their life and work and studies.

INSPIRE Model Allow Clients to Be the Very Best Version of Themselves

As a success coach focussing on working with Generation Z clients, I hope my clients will feel motivated and empowered after an INSPIRE coaching session.

The raison d’être of the INSPIRE model is to allow clients a safe and trusted space to get unstuck from worries and stress, gain new tools, start thinking “outside” the realm of what they are used to, allow new perspectives to emerge, and allow clients to be the very best version of themselves.

References

Brian Tracy 6 Reasons Setting Goals is Important
International Coaching Academy Resources
Collins Dictionary
Exploring and Understanding Coaching Models – Business Coaching International