SIEMARR.
Recently, I’ve observed several leaders who were frustrated by the lack of results they were getting from their efforts to coach members of their team.
The problem wasn’t with the individuals, it was the failure to use perhaps the most important model when coaching, one introduced to me by the late, (great), business coach Ed Percival, and the genius that is Colin Blundell, (two of the three most profound teachers I’ve ever known), on a course they ran 15 years ago titled: “How to Teach Anything to Anyone”.
It’s titled SIEMARR, and works like this.
State. If someone isn’t in the right state, then attempting a coaching interaction is pointless. All too often, a time is scheduled, without regard for the current workload, pressure and issues that require immediate attention, and to maximise the time available in the session, the coach starts immediately to diagnose, or worse prescribe, without creating the right state first. I’ve had sessions when a client has been ready for inputs within a few moments, but other times it’s taken 50 minutes of the allotted hour to enable someone to calm down and be receptive.
Input. Most often, it’s far better to go granular with inputs rather than attempting several things at once. For sure it’s fine to start with the big picture, but the most effective coaching tends to be delivered one piece at a time, rather than all at once.
Explore. This is when the magic happens. By agreeing on a topic (the input), the next stage is then to explore it (by asking great questions). The best coaches enable the people they’re working with to identify the solution themselves rather than handing it to them on a plate. It’s why the Property Academy issue process has “questions for understanding” before members make suggestions and idea generation.
Memorise. How often has someone been on a course, had intensive training or coaching, and within weeks, days even, they’ve reverted to old habits having forgotten all they learned? The key is to enable someone to identify how they will remember the lesson – this can be done in many ways, (perhaps a topic for another four-i), but in simple terms there needs to be something that ignites the senses. For example, if I’m coaching a leader on giving an awesome presentation to their team, I’ll help them to anchor the ideas and new behaviours with music. I still use this technique myself – if you catch me humming ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ then there’s more than a fair chance I’m about to go into ‘Presenter-I’ mode!
Action. It’s imperative to try out something you’ve learned – otherwise it will quickly be forgotten and the coaching will have been a complete waste of time. That’s obvious I know, and yet it’s one of the most common reasons why coaching interactions fail. The key is to identify exactly when the new behaviour will be utilised; a good coach will always ask, “and when will you do this?” and find a way for accountability and follow up.
Reflect/Review. I’ve added the extra R to this model, as I believe it’s important for the individual to Reflect on their Action, and then to Review it with their coach. These final steps are where magic round two occurs. It’s when the person being coached explains their first hand experience, which enables the coach to both tweak the prescription if necessary, and also to learn for their own improvement in future sessions, both with that person and others.
If you would like to experience SIEMARR then consider coming to a Property Academy ‘Leaders in Property’ Group meeting in March. Most are full, but we have a couple of spaces in our Group meeting on 20th March in Swindon, or at our Lettings Leaders focussed Group in Swansea on 21st March.
You can register your interest here and we’ll be in touch.
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