Are You Noticing The Bigger Picture With Your Coachee?

A practical checklist for coaches to unpeel systemic issues

How do you know what you don’t know?

Here’s a practical checklist for coaches to enable them to unpeel some of the systemic issues in their coaching. No coach or client operates in a vacuum and what is going on around them will certainly be showing up in the coaching room.

It is based on Mode 7 of the Seven Eyed Model used in coach supervision which focuses on the ORGANISATIONAL, SOCIAL, CULTURAL, ETHICAL AND CONTRACTUAL.

What are the implications for the coachee of what is going on in their organisation? How many of these questions will be affecting the coachee?

7.1 Physical setting :

  • What is the organisation’s building/premises like?
  • Their workspace?
  • Where do you meet and why?
  • Look for misalignment between rhetoric and reality. For example, the organisation states that people are their biggest asset but the toilets leave a lot to be desired.

If as a coach you know nothing about the physical setting, why is that and what does it say to you?

7.2 Behaviours:

  • What type of behaviours do people show in their organisation?
  • What have you learned from the coachee about the values and assumptions operating in this organisation?

Is what shows up in the coaching room a reflection of the culture rather the specific actions of the coachee?

7.3 Stakeholders:

Who are the key players around this?

  • For the coachee?
  • For the success of the organisation?

Are there any gaps in the coachee’s story?

7.4 Sector issues:

What is happening in the sector at present? Go beyond the immediate organisation and look at the broader business issues of the sector as a whole, including the regulatory environment.

Are there different pressures in different parts of the organisation relating to their sector?

7.5 UK/Euro economy:

How is their organisation performing?

Take care that a presenting problem by the coachee is not just a local difficulty. It may be related to a macro-economic difficulty that they have to ride out.

7.6 PESTLE issues:

Political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental issues. As coach do you have any awareness of this with these with the coachee’s organisation?

If not then maybe your coachee doesn’t either? Checking this out may lead to new insight.

7.7 Global issues:

Does the coachee come from a national organisation which is affected by anything going on in the World at present? This may seem high-blown for an SME in Blackburn for example, but all companies are affected by global issues – financial, trade laws, resources shortage and even wars.

I’ve based this short summary on systemic coaching issues on the Seven Eyed Model from Supervision in the Helping Professions by Peter Hawkins and Robin Shohet, 2000. For a full description of the model check out my video.

If you think you would like to explore more systemic aspects of your coaching work with an experienced and qualified supervisor, then get in touch with me for an initial chat about how supervision could work for you. You can call me on 01785 603726 or email

Published

9 years ago : Jul 28, 2014

By Julia Menaul