Do Your Ecology Checks Early!
When coaching, as clients think through their goal setting and action plans, I sometimes listen and feel, "Oh dear, I wonder if this will be okay..." In such moments, an ecology check is useful.
What is an ecology check?
An ecology check refers to confirming how a goal or execution plan will affect one's surroundings (ecology).
For example, suppose I want to go on a diet. By dieting, my appearance will improve, and my health checkup results will likely improve as well. As a result, I might receive positive feedback from those around me.
On the other hand, dieting means restricting my eating habits, so my participation in things like drinking parties might decrease. As a result, my drinking buddies might say things like, "He's changed," and there is a possibility that cracks could form in those friendships.
In this way, achieving a single goal is not necessarily all good; it also carries a side that includes negative impacts on those around you.
Therefore, while keeping the client at the center of the coaching process, it is important to also keep an eye on the relationship between the client and their surroundings to increase the client's satisfaction when they enter the execution phase after coaching.
At what stage should you perform the check?
Coaching time often passes in the blink of an eye, and it is not rare for sessions to end without being able to perform an ecology check. Therefore, you should try to incorporate an ecology check at the earliest appropriate stage.
1. The phase where the client is talking about their issues
When a client is talking about an issue and their focus is directed toward themselves, you can shift their focus to their relationships with others by asking questions such as, "What kind of impact does this issue have on those around you?" or "What do those around you think about your issue?"
By doing so, the client can gain insights such as, "This was a more troublesome (or less heavy) issue than I thought," or "Considering my relationships with those around me, I should work on that other issue instead of this one."
2. The stage where goal setting has settled down
Once goal setting has settled down, you can confirm whether achieving the goal will be a total net positive, including the impact on the client and their surroundings, by asking questions like, "What kind of impact will this goal have on those around you?" or "If your family or colleagues heard about this goal, what kind of advice do you think they would give you?"
Doing this can lead to reflections such as, "I might be happy, but it will be bad for those around me," or "I should change my goal to make it better for those around me as well," which adds depth to the goal setting.
3. When creating an action plan
When creating an action plan, you can check for tailwinds or headwinds from those around them by asking, "How do you think those around you will support you if you take this action?" or "Is there anyone you should get approval from before taking this action?"
By doing so, the client may realize that taking action is easier than they thought and feel encouraged. In the opposite case, they might revise their action plan to be a bit more cautious.
Won't this dampen their spirits when they are finally feeling positive?
When performing an ecology check, for people who are particularly cautious about human relationships, asking about the impact on others can sometimes act as a brake. I have tried to think of questions that avoid such risks as much as possible.
"What feedback have you received from those around you regarding this issue so far?"
"If there were someone who could give you advice on this goal, who would it be?"
"Who is most likely to react to you taking that action?"
I have designed these to be neutral (not evoking a sense of good or bad). By asking in this way, you can observe whether the response you get back is positive or negative, and then consider how to proceed.
Clients dislike being forced into a positive mindset or having their dialogue steered toward introspection, so by using questions like these, you can naturally guide the conversation to help them think in a balanced way.
Summary: Performing an Ecology Check is Etiquette
Coaching is a unique form of dialogue, and it often tends to focus inward on the self. Since the client will return to living within the complexities of their human relationships once the coaching session ends, I believe it is etiquette for a coach to incorporate ecology checks appropriately.
On the other hand, if you keep saying "those around you" too much, the client may feel restricted and find it difficult to generate ideas. Therefore, while I say to perform ecology checks early, I also aim to maintain balance by using neutral inquiries.