Blend Transformational Coaching and Cognitive Coaching

In September, at one of my in-person Art of Transformational Coaching workshops in Minneapolis, a school group grappled with how to combine Cognitive Coaching with Transformational Coaching to achieve better results.‍
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The protagonist in our story was part of a school group attending together, drawn to the workshop because they were mandated to use Cognitive Coaching but weren’t seeing the types of results they wanted. They had shared that they read Arise and were invested in Transformational Coaching, but this participant was struggling to see how the two methods could work together.

How Transformational Coaching and Cognitive Coaching Work Together

On day two, it clicked. It was like a lightbulb went off above her head. I watched as a participant, who I could tell had been struggling to put the pieces together, made a breakthrough. If we were in the movies, a triumphant song would have played. 

Here’s what she realized:
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💡Transformational Coaching includes approaches that address cognitive processes, and so the strategies she used in Cognitive Coaching could be incorporated into this model.

💡Cognitive Coaching has limits. When a client experiences strong emotions (which everyone does, at some point) a coach needs to employ strategies that go beyond addressing cognition – a coach needs to address emotions. 

💡Because Transformational Coaching addresses ways of being, and core values and core human needs, clients are more easily and quickly bought into it. This means that the coach often experiences less resistance.

💡Transformational Coaching is a comprehensive model that includes Cognitive Coaching. Cognitive Coaching on its own it not enough to achieve sustained change.

These are my absolute favorite facilitation experiences because I know powerful learning occurs when there is some cognitive dissonance involved. 

This is also why patience and trusting the process is essential as a coach and facilitator!

Keep Learning:

• Subscribe to my Weekly Wisdom Newsletter to get content like this sent straight to your inbox
• Listen to the 6 Elements of Transformational Coaching to learn more about my signature approach
• Want to facilitate more lightbulb moments? Read Four Design and Facilitation Learnings
• Get your copy of Arise: The Art of Transformational Coaching and download Arise Book Study Guide (Free)
• Want to learn more about Transformational Coaching? Attend The Art of Transformational Coaching workshop

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