Overview

This research paper is a case study on using visualization techniques in a coachee transformation process. The focus of this research was then narrowed down to the use of the application of visualization in a pure coaching situation, and to assess whether or not guided visualization can lead to a positive outcome towards the coachee’s goal, without the coach leading or advising the coachee. 

This research was conducted under strict confidentiality (the coachee name is not revealed), and with permission granted by the coachee to use the coaching session, as well as background information and follow-up discussions, for the case.

The Research Question

This paper focuses on the application of visualization techniques in the transformation coaching process. The following question will anchor the direction of this research paper:

Can the use of visualization be an effective tool in a pure coaching environment to effectively support the transition from extreme overwhelm and lack of clarity to a state of clarity and aspiration?

The Coachee Background and The Coaching Session sections of this paper will be used to explore and analyze the situation, the process, and the outcome against the posed question, to determine the efficacy of visualization in a pure coaching environment.

Coachee Background

The coachee is a 43 year old self-employed man, who is in the process of reinventing his life, after resigning from a high-stress work in the HR industry. He has been in the HR industry for almost 15 years but in his last position as a recruitment manager, he was overwhelmed and frequently felt aggravated with constant hawkish behavior of his boss. He felt under-appreciated for the contributions he had made from his superiors. 

His main values are relationship building with people he worked with. He was also a passive person and naturally non-contentious in intense situations. Therefore, he was more inclined to be at the receiving end of criticisms during intense situations with his boss. Needless to say, he eventually reached a point of feeling burned out, which he sustained for another year before finding the opportunity to exit the business. 

After resigning, he took some time to “deflate” from his past job, and began to seek new meaning in his life. He took up being an independent marketing agent for a reknowned funeral parlour which kept him earning an income through commissions. This had allowed him to be independent, but after a few months, he yearns to go back to a steady job in HR. He loved doing recruitment as it allows him to meet new people but given the challenging sof market scenario, he had yet to land on anything solid. 

I began coaching him in April 2020. In one of our coaching sessions, he expressed his yearning for a 9 to 5 job, his confusion during the lockdown period due to the MCO, and lack of clarity on his career path. He contemplated of totally focusing his efforts on the funeral gig but his desire to be back at the HR role in a corporate world would not leave him. In fact, he indicated that the more he sought clarity, the more confused he became, and that he was starting to feel paralyzed.  

My coachee was a highly visual person (i.e., through previous discussions and coaching sessions), I asked him if he would be open to using visualization to explore a possible new future for himself, and he agreed. 

The Coaching Session

The coaching session described below is the recollection of a one hour session with the coachee, following the GROW model for coaching, with an embedded visualization exercise.

• The Goal

The goal of the coaching session was expressed and confirmed by the coachee as follows:

“To find clarity on years of accumulated experience in a way that could help identify and develop clarity of his way forward while at the same time earn a decent income.” 

The goal was then played back by the coach, and confirmed by the coachee.

• The Reality

After articulating the goal, he expressed how overwhelmed he was with being pressured in his past role in corporate, and how he was beginning to feel confused about how he could move forward with his life. The essence of his feelings was expressed as a lack of clarity, confusion, paralysis, and being overwhelmed. At one point he mentioned that she thought about giving up on his endeavor, but his passion for the subject matter and the hopes of transitioning into a more “enlightened” career is what has kept him going. 

• The Options

The coachee agreed to go through a guided visualization exercise to explore new possibilities or options for his future. I guided and walked him through the visualization process with the following questions, providing ample time between each question to allow him to explore that aspect of his vision:

• Imagining that you could create a new reality, and see it unfold right before your eyes, where do you find yourself in this new place and time?
• Seeing all of your new knowledge and wisdom collected over the past years channel into your new life, what does your new livelihood look like?
• How is all of your knowledge and wisdom put to use in this new place and time?
• Who are the people around you that make you feel good about this situation?
• What else do you see, hear, smell, feel in this place?
• How does this make you feel?

Then, after allowing him time to explore his vision, I followed up with the following questions designed to reflect back on the vision, and explore the structure that was needed to enable his new reality:

• Looking back at your new vision that you created, how was your accumulated knowledge put to use?
• What did you have to do to enable this new life?
• In what way did you show up differently that enabled this new life?
• What did you have to let go of in order for this to happen?
• What about this new reality is bringing the most joy in your life?

More time was then given to allow the coachee to further explore the changes in his “new life” that enabled the vision, after which the coaching session commenced.

The Will

Immediately after inviting my coachee to return from his meditative vision state, I asked him to articulate his feeling for the future, and how he envisioned his new livelihood. He was highly animated, energized, and excited. He expressed the fact that he could see patterns of all of his work falling into place, including his being able to use his strength as a relationship builder. He said that he also could actually see the sequence of things unfolding, and the themes that arose from his years of hard work. “It is now crystal clear what I am going to do,” he said, and I followed up with the following questions to guide him into action, with the momentum he was riding on at that time:

• That’s great that you know what you are going to do. Would you like to share that?
• What will you do first?

The coachee explained that he will begin calling at least 50 of his networks and connect with them. His years of experience will enable him to do so with ease. Ultimately he is positioning himself as someone who may be able to help in getting the right people for the coachees, or even better to work with secure a permanent role in one of the organization as a recruiter.

At the end of the session, he agreed to have a follow-up session to discuss steps he had taken after the visioning, and to provide feedback on the coaching session.

Follow Up Session and Feedback

Two weeks after the visualization exercise, I met with my coachee, and immediately noticed that he appeared to have a higher level of excitement and enthusiasm than he had when we left the previous session. He explained to me how the visioning session triggered an “instant release” inside him. 

He had found a way too incorporate his skills as a recruiter into his funeral parlour business. The business had a system of promoting their agents to the level of Senior Director of Services SDS. The SDS would have a commission of 15% of which consist of 8 % of normal commissions and 7% of overriding commissions. But in order to be a SDS, he has to have 36 Senior Agents (SA) working with him.

My coachee is curretly at SA level earning 8% commissions and he currently have only one agent working under him. His intention is to be a SDS in one year’s time by recruiting 35 more new agents to work under him, a skill that he knows best.

Conclusions

My conclusions are that the visualization process can, in fact, support the transition from extreme overwhelm and lack of clarity to a state of clarity and aspiration. As I have witnessed with my coachee, this is possible. However, because this is an isolated case study, I would like to include the following caveats:

• The visualization process had proven to be effective with a person known to be highly visual in their learning behaviors.
• The visualization exercise can be more effective when a person is in a relaxed, or even meditative state, with the least amount of preoccupation possible.
• More research is recommended to examine the efficacy of visualization in pure coaching with a broader test population.

There is ample research that demonstrates the efficacy of various visualization exercises when applied to sports, music, health, performing arts, and business planning . When a person visualizes an occurrence, they are actually creating cellular memory, and the body’s response memory cannot distinguish experience from an actual event from a visualized event, leaving the person with a strong belief and conviction that it can be achieved, because it had already been achieved in their vision.

This article was first published on LinkedIn by the author. For more about coaching services, go to relaunchmenow.com for further details