Welcome to Module 9: Implementation Plan and Plan Review
You now know what your clients current Script is and he’s clear that it’s not going to help him create the life he wants and put him in control of his experience.
You also know the kind of life he wants to create and the Script’s that will allow him to experience what he desires.
But what’s next? How do you bridge the gap between his existing and desired Script?
Simple. You develop an Implementation Plan.
NOTE: If you don’t know your clients current Script or his desired Script, you can’t help him develop a plan to bridge the gap. If you’re still working on either the current or desired Script, wait until you’ve completed that process before moving on to developing an Implementation Plan.
NOTE: Over the course of this module, you’re working on the Implementation Plan for your client but for that plan, you’re only going to be developing one step at a time. You’re not going to be constructing an elaborate, 35 step process to take him from where he is now to where he wants to be. You’re just going to work on the next step.
This is for 4 main reasons:
- What your client is working on might change
Your client has come to you with one issue right now and it’s the highest priority in his life, but that might change. He might break up with his girlfriend and then connection might take centre stage. He might lose his job and then power might become his main priority.
Things can shift very rapidly in the world of your client and so developing complete, long, and intricate Implementation Plans can often be a waste of time.
- Predicting how your client will go with implementing a step is difficult
When you first start working with a client, it can be difficult to predict how he’s going to manage the process of shifting his Script. He might do incredibly well and fly through the changes with ease.
He might struggle and sputter and not make the progress either of you believe he can.
He might start out flying out of the gates and the struggle later down the line. He might start out slowly but pick up momentum as he moves forward.
When you’re dealing with a situation as uncertain as personal transformation, it’s better to wait and see how your client will adapt to changes before establishing a long and intricate implementation plan.
- He might try and jump ahead
Your client may think he’s progressed beyond his current point before he’s fully integrated these changes into his life and jump ahead to more challenging tasks.
As you’ll learn later in this module, this can be incredibly counter-productive and can actually damage your coaching relationship.
- You’re not very experienced with developing an implementation plan
The final reason is that at this point in time, you’re not very experienced with Implementation Plan development and so you most likely won’t be aware of the subtle shifts and elements you need to consider in the process towards helping your client develop Independence.
These 4 points are the reason you’ll only be working with one step at a time for now.
The Implementation Plan
An Implementation Plan is the step-by-step pathway you and your client decide is the best course of action for bridging the gap between their current Script and their desired Script.
It’s made up of incremental steps that take your client from where he is now to where he wants to be in a challenging but achievable manner.
It’s the roadmap you set for your client to get from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’.
The process of developing that road map is what you’re going to learn today.
In One Sentence…
The basic concept of an Implementation Plan is simple:
Give your client one challenging, but achievable task at a time that takes him closer to his selected Script.
That’s it. That’s all there is.
And the simple way to do that is by asking:
“So, from what we know, you currently desire x and the way you’ve been trying to do is get it through achieving y whilst being z. You also know that the way you want to be achieving x is by achieving a whilst being b. So, what’s one thing you can change about how you’re trying to achieve x that’s challenging but achievable?”
That’s it. That’s the ‘forest’. That’s all you need to keep in mind when helping your client make progress in their life.
If you can ask your client that question and he can give you a suitable answer, then your role in developing the Implementation Plan is done.
But, if your client can’t answer that question in satisfactory way, then it’s important to understand the ‘tree’s’ in the forest so you can come up with a solution that helps your client develop Independence.
Implementation Plan Foundations
In order to develop an effective Implementation Plan, you first need to understand the theoretical foundations that underlie this process.
There are three key theoretical foundations. They are:
- Focus
- Skill Development
- Flow
Here’s a breakdown of these three foundations:
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Focus
Despite what you might’ve been told or have had drummed into your head by the media, focussing on more than one activity at once does not allow you to operate at maximum efficiency.
Multi-tasking simply doesn’t work.
Your focus and attention can’t be evenly divided between two different actions evenly so you get as much benefit from each in the same amount of time as you would if you did them one after the other.
Your brain doesn’t work like that.
You can direct your attention to one thought, idea, or action and as soon as you introduce a second element into the mix, you not only have to focus on that second element, but you also have to focus on not forgetting one element whilst you’re focussing on the other element.
There’s now three things in your head to occupy your focus.
But, because you now have three things in your head, another element is introduced: ‘how do I stop forgetting the other element?’
Your brain goes into overdrive trying to come up with ways to manage this problem.
And then, as if all these issues weren’t enough, because you’re focussing on four different elements at once, you’re not focussing on the other people and elements involved in the situation right in front of you making you far less effective at fulfilling your desires so you’re also left feeling empty and like the whole process has been a waste of time.
For example:
Your client desires to experience more connection with women as his Script is currently unproductive and he’s ineffective at using it. After going through the Script Selection process, you work out that in his perfect world, he listens through to experience and connects on that so you develop an implementation plan that has the first step of listening through to experience with women.
He goes out with the goal of listening through to experience and approaches a woman with simply that goal in mind.
He approaches, she talks, he listens to her because listening is the sole focus of his activity, and he makes progress towards his selected Script.
Great. Everyone’s happy.
But, if you give him two tasks to complete at once, things become far more difficult.
If you send him out the door with an implementation plan that says he has to not only listen through but he also has to stand up straight with his shoulders back, things get complicated.
He approaches but as he’s doing it, he’s focussing on standing up straight and misses the subtle clues she’s giving about her current mood and desires. She then talks and he listens through to the first part of the conversation, but as she’s speaking, he realises that he should be standing up straight and tunes out of the conversation to adjust his posture. This means he misses a crucial statement that really defines her experience.
He then has to ask her to repeat what she said and whilst she’s talking, he’s trying to work out how to focus on listening through whilst trying to stand up straight at the same time and even though this woman is repeating what she just said, he’s too busy stuck in his own head to really pay attention.
She quickly realises that he’s not paying real attention to her so she gets the shits and moves on and all your client has for his time is he’s more stuck in his head and he’s reinforced the idea that women don’t want to talk to him.
So how soon should you spend focussing on one element before you jump to the next?
Good question. And the answer is…
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Skill Development
The second theoretical foundation that underlies Implementation Plan development is the idea of skill development.
This has two very important parts so they’re broken down here
Part 1: When do you learn a new skill?
When does your client actually learn something? When does it go from being a theoretical idea to an actual skill?
- Is it when your client reads it for the first time?
- Is it when your client watches a video of it in action?
- Is it when you client repeats it to himself 100 times in the shower every morning for a week?
No. It’s none of those.
Your client doesn’t transform a theoretical idea into an actual skill until he practices it enough so that he can do it without thinking – until it becomes a part of his unconscious processes.
That’s when your client develops a skill.
And that means that in order for your client to be able to focus on only implementing one skill at a time, he has to practice a skill until it becomes an unconscious behaviour before you introduce the second step.
Yes, it seems slow. Yes, it will take your client some convincing to take this slower route. But yes, it’s the only way to get real and long term results.
“But do I have to really wait until it’s COMPLETELY unconscious before introducing the next step?”
No. You don’t. But just keep in mind as you’re walking down this path that if you introduce the next step too quickly, your client is likely to forget the previous step and have to go back before moving forward.
Your client hasn’t developed a skill until it becomes second nature and it doesn’t become second nature until he’s done it over and over again.
For example:
Your client from the previous example has had some success listening through and now wants to take connecting to the next level. You look at his selected Script and see that it includes sharing as part of his mechanism for connecting, so you add that as the next step.
He goes out but as listening through hasn’t become second nature just yet, he forgets to do it whilst focussing on sharing. This means he ends up sharing based on logical fact rather than experience and so the level of connection he experiences is actually lower than what he experienced on the previous night and he’s actually further away from his desired Script.
To fix this, you have to go back to the listening through exercise and ingrain that into his unconscious before moving on.
Part 2: How to learn new skills as quickly as possible
The other important element about skill development to keep in mind when creating an implementation plan is that the fastest way to help someone develop a new skill is to get the practicing it as often as possible and the easiest way to get someone practicing a new skill as often as possible is to get them to integrate it into every area of their life.
Which do you think would be the fastest way to develop the skill of listening through?
- By just practising it when you go out to clubs on Friday and Saturday night
- By practicing it in every moment you get a chance throughout the week
Which do you think would be the fastest way to become more comfortable pushing through fear?
- By trying it once a week on Saturday afternoon by approaching women
- By consciously finding ways to push through fear in every moment of your life
Not a difficult one to wrap your head around…
If you want your client to turbocharge his progress, don’t just give him an Implementation Plan that has him practising a new skill once a week under certain conditions in a certain environment.
Get your client integrating this into how he lives his life and the skill will become second nature.
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Flow
Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of Flow (being in the zone, being in state) is one of the corner stones of the positive psychology movement and offers many insights into how to experience more ‘peak moments’.
But for this section of the program, we’re going to focus on one area – the skill challenge paradigm.
Csikszentmihalyi has identified that for a person to enter a state of Flow, they need to be participating in an activity where the person’s skill meets the level of challenge of the activity at a challenging but achievable level.
If the skill level required it too low, the person will get bored. If the challenge level is too high, the person will experience anxiety.
If they meet at a challenging but achievable level, they will experience flow.
The way this relates to Implementation Plan development is that if the step you give your client is too challenging, they will experience too much anxiety and most likely not go ahead with the activity.
If the step you give them is too easy (the level of skill required is too low), then your client will get bored and not make any significant or real progress.
In order to keep your client engaged in the activity and ensure they’re making progress, you have to set challenges that get your client stepping over their edge and pushing their boundaries but not too far that it causes them to freak out.
For Example:
Your client has identified that he desires more power in his relationships with women. His current mechanism is walking down the street and not approaching women. You discover that in his perfect day, he’s able to approach women he finds attractive and you know you need to develop an implementation plan to get him there.
If he’s never approached a woman before and your implementation plan involves him approaching the hottest women he’s ever seen whilst she’s making out with her boyfriend, what do you think is going to happen?
Is your client going to feel confident taking that step? Is he going to be able to push through the barriers? And, is he going to be able to get the positive feedback necessary to believe in the process?
Doubtful…
He’s most likely going to freak out, not take action, have a terrible coaching experience, and never come back to you for more coaching.
But what about if you changed the Implementation Plan and broke it down into much smaller steps?
What if your Implementation plan started with him sitting next to women on public transport? And then moved on to making eye contact with women as he walked down the street? And then moved on to asking sales assistants for help with clothes? And then moved on to asking them information not related to clothes, like the time, or recommendations of places to eat? And then… And then…
Which do you think if more likely to end up with your client getting results?
When you’re creating an Implementation Plan for your client, it’s very important to make sure the plan has your client leaning taking challenging but achievable action towards implementing his desired Script.
Developing an Implementation Plan
So now you know the theoretical foundations, how do you develop a plan? How do you wrap it all up together into a neat little package that allows your client to make big strides towards the life he desires?
Simple. Here’s how:
NOTE: You cannot develop an Implementation Plan without first knowing the current or desired Script so make sure you have those first before proceeding.
Step 1: Identify the area of the Script that once changed, will produce the biggest return on investment
When developing an Implementation Plan, it’s important to start by changing the elements that are going to give you the biggest return on investment. It’s good for you to see your client making progress and it’s great for your clients to feel like things are working well.
The way you do this is to start with the macro elements and work down towards the finer elements of the Script.
This is because if you don’t change the larger, macro elements, changing the smaller micro elements will have little impact.
For example:
If you client desires deeper connections but hasn’t left his bedroom in 25 years, giving him listening and expression exercises isn’t going to produce much benefit. It’s only once he’s around people and talking to people that those exercises will show results.
Here is the order of the elements you can focus on to determine where you need to change first working from macro to micro.
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Location (where you are)
Changing location can play a significant role in helping your client develop a more productive Script.
The simple act of spending time in environments that your client has previously been intimidated by or afraid to enter (like clubs or large social gatherings) can help him experience a greater sense of power and freedom in his life.
Getting your client out of isolated environments and around more people can often be the first step in developing a great sense of connection with people.
Spending time in areas with people who’re struggling with day-to-day existence (like homeless shelters or even developing and third world countries) can be the foundation for experiencing a deeper sense of fulfilment.
The reason location is first on the list is if your client is not in the right location to find the experience they’re looking for, then no amount of tweaking actions or way of being is going to produce many results.
For example:
If your client wants to connect with more people but he spends all his days asleep in his bedroom, no amount of expression exercises will do anything for him.
If you believe the location your client is currently in isn’t appropriate for them to experience what they desire, then suggest a change.
2. Time (when you do it)
Time of day is another element that can be used to take steps closer to the clients desired Script.
Switching from times that don’t have many people around to times that do have many people and many different kinds of people around can assist in all experiences.
Taking new actions in front of a lot of people can help develop a stronger internal sense of power and freedom.
Larger crowds also increase the chances of finding the kind of people that your client can connect with naturally and effortlessly.
Changing the time of day you attempt to connect with people can often result in deeper levels of connections. People who’re rushing between work tasks in the middle of the day usually don’t have the headspace to connect but chatting with the same people after they’ve finished work or even on the weekend can often result in deeper levels of connections.
The reason time of day is second on the list is if your client is going to the right locations but at the wrong time of day, once again, tweaking actions and ways of being will produce no results.
For example:
If your client wants to connect with more people and he’s going to the farmers markets to meet more people but he’s going at 11pm when no-one is there, it won’t matter how much he practices opening up to people because there’ll be no-one there to open up to.
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People (who you’re with)
Changing the people your client surrounds himself with is a very powerful way to takes steps towards a new and more productive Script.
Finding and spending time with people who have similar drives and desires to your client is a powerful first step in building real and deep connections based on honest expression.
Hanging out with other people who believe in challenging your personal limitations and beliefs is a great way to motivate your client to start challenging their own limitations and experiencing more power.
Associating with people who’re making a real difference to the world will often put your client on the path to experiencing a greater sense of fulfilment.
The reason people are third on the list is if your client is going to the right location and the right time with people who are just on a different wave-length, then it can be hard to find what he’s looking for.
For example:
If your client is hanging out w