Changing to learn

As a coach I encourage my clients to try and look at things from a number of different perceptual positions and notice what difference that makes to their understanding. With that in mind it seems useful to apply the same discipline to my research; I started from a perspective of e-Learning and I’m now looking at it from the perspective of change. Why? Because change is what coaching is all about. If a client doesn’t want to change in some way there is little point in them being coached. Over the next few days I’m going to considering a number of different views on change. In particlular I’ll be looking at Prochaska and DiClemente’s Stages of Change model, Boyatzis’s Intentional Change Theory, and Gardner’s Changing Minds Theory.Prochaska and DiClemente, researching the success of various therapeutic interventions identified five stages, and found that each stage needed different therapeutic approaches. While coaching is not about therapy it is about change and so the stages of change model is likely to be relevant.At the pre-contemplation stage, the client is not yet aware that change is needed. In coaching terms I would say that the client may be aware that some sort of change is necessary but not what that change might be. So, they may want to become better leaders, without knowing what changes they would need to make to achieve that aim.At the contemplation stage they have yet to make a commitment to a specific change. I would expect this to be the situation when the client is considering being coached, or possibly even during the initial part of the first coaching session, when coach and client are designing the coaching alliance; in other words, agreeing on the sort of working relationship they want to have.The preparation stage involves identifying the problem and planning how a solution will be reached. This in essence is what most of the coaching session is about; identifying where the client wants to be and how they will get there.The action stage takes place mostly outside the coaching sessions, because that is where the client is practicing the new behaviours that will lead to their goals. The coach will usually provide some support during this period. Often just checking progress will be sufficient.Finally, the maintenance stage will make sure that the new skills are kept up to date and in practice.My research is concerned with managers learning coaching skills, and the simulation program or game software being tested is focused on the action stage. The managers will be practicing the necessary skills and these involve listening, questioning, and familiarity with the coaching process or model being used.An inevitable question concerns motivation. Many of the therapeutic processes used, during progress through the five stages, are concerned with motivation for change. In the coaching process the coach helps the client identify why they want to change and what additional motivation, if any, they will need. However, the managers who will be using my game or simulation are in a self-directed learning environment where they will have chosen to learn coaching skills because they want to. As research has shown, adults learn what they want to learn. So it will not be motivation as such, but ensuring that the programs will not turn them off! Will the games provide them with fun during their learning, or will the challenge of the simulation be enough on its own to keep them practicing. That is the nub of my research question.