I have a claim that I make to my clients: that with the Inquiry Method, I can teach them to coach anyone. Inquiry alone can bring people to “AHA!” moments and breakthroughs. The more you can set yourself aside and be curious, the more hidden, subconscious limitations are uncovered and resolved.
In this series I am going to offer another framework that dovetails with Inquiry; what I call the levels of consciousness. Each week I am going to share coaching secrets that will support you in your inquiry and help you get even better results with your clients. Understanding these levels will also help you understand yourself better.
How to Coach Anyone: Starting With Level 0
Today we start with what I call Level 0.
At Level 0, we (and I use we because we will all be at this level at sometime in our lives, maybe many times) is when our consciousness is no longer able to really function. The body or mind has taken over. We are either a danger to ourselves or others.
This could be actually suicidal (not just talking about it). It could be a physical thing, heart attack, allergic reaction; it could be overcome by fear or anger; it could be so deep in addiction that there are no choices or ability to self-regulate left.
In other words, it is a situation where there is no or little ability to self-reflect or resolve the problem with the person. Many coaches fear this situation, and can freeze or get jammed up.
Hopefully this blog will help to remove the fear so that taking action is easy, kind of like a fire drill.
I myself have only been in this situation a few times in my 25 years of coaching, so it is actually quite rare.
Initiating Interventions With People in Crisis
As a coach you have some authority with your client so you can use your authority by giving a quick authoritative assertion to your client. First recognize as a coach you are totally unqualified to resolve an issue at Level 0. But you are often able to initiate a resolution.
Someone at Level 0 needs immediate professional intervention. Often you can be an authority that gets the client to take the immediate action that is needed.
Instructions may be something like:
- “Call an ambulance.”
- “Put yourself in a recovery centre.”
- “Call your spouse.”
- “Sit down, relax. Start slowing down your breath.”
Some inquiry may be helpful to find out what the situation is. But ultimately at Level 0, direct instructions are necessary because the client is not able to do this for themselves.
Remember, you are not responsible for this, nor do you have the ability to resolve it. Your job is to represent their higher consciousness and give them instructions to get the help they need. It is perfectly appropriate to hand them over to someone who can intervene. Someone at Level 0 needs an intervention.
Accessing Level 4 Consciousness With People in Crisis
When you are faced with something like this you want to be able to access Level 4 consciousness, meaning your attention is not on yourself. All your attention is on the other person and what is needed.
In this state you are in flow and very present. The better you are able to access and hold higher consciousness, the more able you are to respond to difficult situations. And this is all a matter of practice and doing your inner work.
Just like any other coaching situation, your ability in this area invokes all of your hidden and brilliant capacity.
Becoming Present in a Crisis
In any “crisis” situation, the key is not to see it as a crisis, not to take it personally, or even take on the responsibility. These are all ways of becoming self-conscious and will take you out of being present for what is happening.
In these situations, and really any other coaching situation, when you are not sure what to do, pause, relax and get quiet. What is it that you don’t know?
Ask a question and keep asking until it is clear. From the clarity that brings, you can then take action or ask more questions to reach a resolution together.
The real key is the pause and getting the mind quiet.
The bottom line as a coach is if you don’t have what the client needs, get them to someone that does. Especially at Level 0.
Stay tuned for the next blog post on Level 1: Emotional Reaction.