We call this strategy the Goals Alignment Process. It’s about aligning the client goals with their values, and for it to work, you first need to understand what your client values most in life and work. This means you need to enter your client’s model of the world and ask what is most important to them about having a job. If you use Bounce Online with your clients, you’ll find values information included inside the program dashboard area. 

Once you know your clients’ values, you can align their commitments, goals, or tasks to these values.

The most effective way to do this is by asking the following questions:

• How will this task give you even more of what you value (e.g. the value of freedom)?
• How will not doing this task give you even less of your value (e.g. the value of freedom)

Here’s an example of how it works 

Let’s say a client value’s time with their family, and you need them to commit to applying for four jobs before your next appointment.  

Coach: How will applying for four jobs give you even more time with your family?  

The client might think about this and find reasons such as:

• I could ask one of my family members to help me and work together on the applications.
• I could potentially get one of the jobs and have money to take the family on a trip to the zoo.
• I could apply for the jobs early in the week and free up my time for the rest of the week for my family.
• I’ll feel good about reaching my goal of four jobs and then be happier around my family.

You can see there are plenty of reasons why applying for work will meet the value. It’s about exploring with them and finding the crucial point that connects a neural pathway towards the goal or action.

You can do this by posing a different line of questioning, which we refer to as ‘away from the goal’ questions.

Coach: How will not applying for four jobs give you even less time with your family?

See how we have framed the question. We have asked a question that is away from the action and away from the value as well. This allows the brain to think that if I don’t apply for the four jobs, I will get less time with the family, which is something they want to avoid. In turn, they do the opposite, which is to apply for the four jobs.

Try this line of questioning when creating your clients next job plan and test their ability to commit. The more reasons you can uncover, the easier it will be to get your clients to commit to following through on their commitments.

If your client still doesn’t want to commit, ask what’s getting in the way? There may be a deeper underlying issue you may need to help the client address before they can take the next step.

We used a very targeted and extremely effective system to help job seekers reach their goals and we teach this inside our Bounce Job Coach Certification course. Goals Into ACTION is a goal-setting strategy that gets real results faster and more effectively than the SMART Goals system. Find out more about our Job Coach Course here.