Multimodal Life Coaching

Welcome to my article on Multimodal life coaching, I hope it contains some helpful general tips to you as the reader.

Firstly; what is “Multimodal Life Coaching”?
Originally devised by Arnold Lazarus; multimodal coaching is where we look at ‘modalities’ – the ways in which an issue expresses itself in a client. By identifying these modes the coach works with the client, devising a programme to address the issue.

The Multimodal approach is eclectic, a synthesis of various coaching/counselling elements; it is not so much concerned with the underlying theories, but rather focuses on the practicalities (the tools and approach to work with the client on the modalities).

Although the example given in this article is an example of life coaching this method can be applied to other types of coaching e.g. business.

Using Multimodal Life Coaching To Help Personal Development

So what are “Modalities”?
From discussions and a completed questionnaire; the client’s modalities – ways in which the coaching issue is expressed, are noted. Modalities are covered by the acronym BASIC ID, where:-

B = Behaviour, A = Affect (feelings) S = sensations (physical)
I = Images (what comes into your mind) C = Cognitive (thoughts)
I = Interpersonal (relations with others)
D = Drugs/Biochemical (medication, smoking, alcohol).

Multimodal Life Coaching Case Study
Let’s see how the multimodal life coaching approach works, by looking at Jane (not her real name) who had a problem in getting work done. In discussion with the coach Jane mentioned various ways in which the issue expressed itself – these modalities were noted and then proposed life coaching interventions discussed.

“Jane” Modalities Profile. (BASIC ID): issue “Can’t get work done”.

Modality
Behaviour – Lack of prioritising. Avoidance (procrastination) – end up doing nothing. “Can’t say No” – Lack of assertion.

Proposed Coaching Program
Behaviour – Prioritising – Consider Franklin Covey Website, particularly the Julie Morgenstern book “Time Management from the Inside Out” plus Time Planner inserts. The Julie Morgenstern book has useful tips on saying “No”. Avoidance: schedule tasks, on completion award yourself a “treat” or reward.

Modality
Affect – Feel lost, anxious. “useless” feeling.

Proposed Coaching Program
Affect – Replace the negative feelings by taking more control of your time (taking action and doing will help change the feelings, not just thinking about changing them “don’t stew, just do!”.

Modality
Sensation(s) – Panic. Tired – lack of energy.

Proposed Coaching Program
Sensations – Panic – Can be improved by more time control, use a time planner to see where the time actually is spent. Tiredness – are you getting enough sleep? (7 hours) if not schedule this into your time plan.

Modality
Images – Lots of things to do, & work in house, through my mind. See also Images under Cognitive.

Proposed Coaching Program
Images – When the images pop up Mentally say “STOP!” then substitute with a picture of the reward you will enjoy after you have completed the current work you are busy with. Also substitute the negative images with a positive image, a Mastery image. Practice the image of the “perfect day” i.e. you sit down with your organiser/time planner and work steadily through the tasks, breaking to have a reward after completing each one – don’t forget lunch – you end your day at the scheduled time. You then join your partner to relax together

Modality
Cognitive – “Drowning”: as in sentence “Drowning, being pulled under water, not keeping afloat.” Too many balls in the air, danger of them falling.

Proposed Coaching Program
Cognition – See under affect – “don’t stew, just do!” – plus images (Mastery, “perfect day”)

Modality
Interpersonal. Possible work on replies & emails. partner wants company in the evening (he likes to watch TV, have a drink) complains if I’m still on the PC working. Comes over while I’m working.

Proposed Coaching Program
Interpersonal. Try scheduling “us” time for your and your partner into your time Plan. Share your plans Re using time Planning, and what your partner gains out of this.

Modality
Drugs/ Bio. Not drinking or eating more.

Proposed Coaching Program
Drugs/Bio. Maintain current healthy lifestyle (eating, drinking, exercise) since this is working for you. You are slightly overweight but your weight is stable. For interest you may want to check your Body Mass Index (BMI):- Height in metres squared, divided by total weight in kilograms. 19 to 24 = normal weight range, 25 to 30 over weight, 30 plus obese.

As you can see the corresponding interventions are entered under the proposed coaching programme in the Modality Profile Chart. It’s important to discuss and get the client’s agreement to the plan – as if the client does not “own” the plan, they are not likely to “work” it!

Personal Development With Multimodal Life Coaching

Rating Modalities, “Firing Sequence”
In the first part of this article we looked at Jane’s issue of “Can’t get work done”, defined her modalities (BASIC ID) noting these and devising a coaching programme. But where do we start – which modalities do we work on first?

Finding out which Modalities are most important to address first
Although the BASIC ID Profile gives a lot of information, not all modalities are of equal importance or effect to the client; therefore need to map the modalities on a bar chart – rating the modalities on a scale of 1 to 7, this then enables the coach and client to see easily the more important modalities to focus on first.

e.g. While the other modalities were scored as ratings around 3 to 4; Jane felt that the Images modality (“drowning”) was particularly disturbing to her; rating this as a 6. Jane also gave ratings of 6 and 7 to the Affect (feeling lost/useless) and Sensations (panic/tired) modalities.

After a few weeks of applying the life coaching interventions, it is useful to re-map the modalities on another bar chart to review with the client and see if the scores are better.

Firing Sequence – A Multimodal tool
This is where you think of a chain as it were, and ask the question: “what is the sequence of events in the chain?” e.g. A client is asked to do a major presentation to others – he avoids this as usually he ends up fleeing the stage. Let’s examine the “Firing Sequence” i.e. events leading up to the Behaviour (fleeing the stage).

In discussing the issue with the client, the modalities were identified as occurring in the following sequence:-

Images (mental) – “I can see me messing things up and them all laughing at me.”
Sensations (physical) – Panic, shakes, butterflies in stomach, dries up speaking, goes red in face
Affect (feelings) – “It’s awful – I can’t stand it!”
Behaviour – Leaves stage/room in hurry (flees)

So the “Firing Sequence” is: ISAB. By addressing the first modality in the chain (using mastery imagery: an image of things going well) we may be able to halt the rest of the sequence.

This has been a very brief introduction to Multimodal Life Coaching – but hopefully it has given an insight into it’s use with life coaching clients.

Notes:
- Client’s image of “drowning” came out of applying the one word technique, as used by Arnold Lazarus, i.e. .if you could describe in one word the issue what is would the word be? (then inviting the client to expand the word to a sentence, and then a paragraph).

- The client had not tried methods to get more organised previously.

- Client has two jobs (council worker plus gardener) therefore time planning may be difficult; I suggested adopting an approach of seeing where change is possible. For the longer term – consider ways of expanding the council work and reducing the gardener hours (do a brainstorm exercise on ways of doing this, then critically consider the ways after getting these down on paper, which ways seem the most possible to achieve, then steps to follow these up.

- I recommended using the Julie Morgenstern Time planner

- On this occasion as her coach I “self-disclosed” i.e. shared with the client what I found worked for me in time planners, the system mentioned also being one of the lower cost ones available.

About The Author
John Casson BSc. MISMA. CIPD Associate. Founder of Casson HR; business services include Coaching, Wellness @ Work, Stress Management, and HR Consultancy work. Business background in the Not for Profit, Government and Engineering sectors.

Article Submitted By
John Casson
Life Coach, Northampton

Date Published
28/07/08

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