Coaching with the Garden Model

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Christopher Spalek, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.

It was one of these great coaching sessions where something transformational happened. One of these Aha-moments, where the client gets a complete new insight and a new approach to his or her topics. – This time I was the client and came up during the session with a new tool for myself to manage my day, business and life; I call it the „Garden-Model“.

When starting a coaching program, a value exercise or an assessment of the current situation is often used. In many cases, the “wheel of life” or a “business wheel”are very helpful to create clarity and to identify a starting point for the upcoming coaching sessions.

Either we fill the segment titles by the current needs of the client, aligned business goals or values. When identifying values I use both peak moment memories and negative moment experiences. Often the negative experiences result in more insightful values. Now we go through the different headlines and evaluate the satisfaction level, giving one clue, where to start the coaching with.

Example of a business wheel as it can be used during coaching sessions to identify the current level of satisfaction and coaching needs.

Looking at the distribution the client gets a good idea if values and goals are balanced. Not everything needs to be perfect in one step, it can also be gradual increase over time in the various coaching sessions. And also the grading is a beautiful starting point for coaching.

So, what is the benefit of another approach?
I observed that not every client feels comfortable with this kind of “number-based approach”. I sense this even more in life-coaching than in business environments. I am a big fan of metaphors; they allow changing perspective and to perceive a or a topic from a complete new angle. It is crucial to meet the client in her world and when a number system does not resonate, another approach might be helpful.

At this particular day I did not want to limit myself to one specific topic. And even less I wanted to give numbers to my values or targets. I was looking for an approach which gives me more clarity. And here the power of metaphors came in. My situation felt like an octopus juggling many balls simultaneously in the air. But even better was the picture of a gardener who is taking care of many plants in parallel. There are plants which need a lot of care, significant amounts of water and probably also supplements and there are other plants like a cactus which only needs a little water and is otherwise also very robust.

Using this picture, I imagined a table in front of me with many flower pots, representing all the things which are currently important for me – on my desk. And here it is totally irrelevant if we talk about values, a project, relationships, dreams or other things on your mind. Each of these is a plant in a pot standing on the table in front of me and needs care.

This care – or the amount of water – is influenced by internal and environmental factors and so is the space on the table. This translated beautifully into my garden model or greenhouse. I evaluate every single value/project/topic (or plant in this metaphor) and see how it currently looks like: is it blossoming, is it ok or is it already so dry, that it is hardly alive?

From here you can generate great powerful questions: How do you feel about this plant being dry? How do you want it to be? What plants do you want to have on your table? How would it be if this plant is not on the table any longer? How does this align with your values? etc.

Yes, in a way it is similar like a “wheel of life” but with 2 specific differences:

The status or satisfaction with one item is related to something living. I made the experience that this gives a more insightful feedback about the current status. It also creates a different sense of urgency.

This model is highly flexible by adding or taking away items. When comparing wheels of life over a period of time, certain values might have been added or taken away, making it more difficult to compare and follow up. The garden model – either with post its on a wall or electronically with apps like Trello provides a very high flexibility – even from day to day or one moment to the next.

I can imagine having a set of garden cards on the wall and if something changes – like a contract won or a great workout completed – the corresponding sticker moves to a higher level. Some people might prefer using plants or landscapes, other might resonate more with buildings, hiking tracks or other references. But also a simple numbering system or high/medium/low is an option.

I like the flexibility this model gives. It is a simple tool to visualize the current situation and helps to reflect and plan the day.

And in the end it all comes down to meet your client where she is and I love this model as it introduces something with life and vulnerability into the whole story in contrast to a number based grading system like the business wheel. It is a nice addition to the repertoire of coaching tools.

I am happy to hear your comments, ideas and experiences.

Stay safe.

Christopher Spalek