Video Transcript: Managing the Plan of Action Part 1
Hello, Steve Elzinga here again. We're in the coaching class, and in this session we're going to deal with managing the plan of action.
Remember, coaching is about getting your client to some form of action. It's not just reflecting on the past. It's not trying to understand necessarily what happened or some childhood memory or some background with a father or a mother. It's really about behavior — trying to change future behaviors to make a difference in a person's life.
So we're trying to get them to a plan of action.
Three Things Coaches Do
You should know these by heart by now:
Help the client figure out what they want to do about their lives — make a decision about some kind of action to take.
Help your client figure out how they want to do that action — what kind of plan they are going to come up with to reach the goal they want to reach.
Help the client do what they plan to do — that’s management.
That’s what we're going to be looking at in the next three sessions.
What Is Management?
Management is the process of accountability as the plan is carried out over time. It's accountability to the plan — not the plan itself — as it is carried out over time.
Why Do People Need Help Managing the Plan They Decided to Do?
In some ways, the hard part is getting people to figure out what they want to do — what area of their life they’re struggling with, where they want improvement, where they want to go to the next level. That’s the hard part.
Then the second part is breaking down the goal into its many parts — the steps. That’s the plan.
Management is helping people actually do what they said they want to do. And you might think, “Why do you have to do that? Here’s the plan — go do it.” But there are many reasons why people need this.
1. Lack of Endurance
People are enthusiastic when they start something, but as time goes on, they get tired.
That’s what happened to Nehemiah building the walls. He motivates the people, they start rebuilding, but when the wall got half its height, the workers quit. They started complaining.
People start something with enthusiasm — maybe you were motivated to take a lot of classes at CLI — but it gets harder as you go. There are bumps in the road. There are obstacles. Most people don’t have the endurance.
2. Lack of Focus
Without having to come back every week or two to the coach, people get scattered with demands.
In your office, it’s clear — they know what they want to do. But when they leave, they face real life:
family demands
work demands
community demands
church demands
The thought of what they want to do and the reality of life are two different things. They need accountability — someone who will ask, “How did it go?”
3. Lack of Discipline
People lack discipline — that’s why they need a coach. If someone is extremely disciplined, they probably don’t need a coach; they just go and do.
4. Lack of Support
The systems that used to support people have fallen apart.
In the 90s, Henry Reyenga and I tried to help people develop a daily walk with God. We thought it would be easy — just tell people to do devotions Monday through Saturday. But it wasn’t easy, because the support systems were gone.
Families used to eat together. Food took time to prepare, so everyone sat down together. While eating, we read the Bible and prayed. Eating together was a support system for spiritual life.
Fast food came. Schedules scattered. Families stopped eating together. The support system disappeared.
Now when people try to do devotions, they fail — not because they don’t want to, but because the support system is gone.
This is true in almost every area of life. People used to live near extended family — uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents — all helping shape and support each other. Now we’re on our own, and when people are on their own, they don’t succeed.
We need support. That’s what the church is. That’s why coaching is necessary.
5. Lack of Negative Consequences
We live in a rescuing world. We don’t want people to feel bad, so we remove consequences.
When I was a kid, if I missed the bus, I had to walk. Now parents drive the kid to school. So what’s the incentive to make the bus?
People need to feel consequences to learn.
If I stop walking with God, I can hide in a big church where the pastor does the walk with God for me. I don’t feel the consequences.
6. Lack of Positive Reward
People need both:
the carrot (positive reward)
the stick (negative consequence)
These motivate us.
We need reinforcement to help us figure out what works and what doesn’t.
7. Lack of Criteria for Success
People have broad goals:
“I want more respect.”
“I want to be cared for.”
“I want to be a better Christian.”
“I want a better walk with God.”
But these are so general that you can’t measure them.
A specific goal might be:
“I want to walk with God for the next 21 days. I will read one chapter of the Bible and pray five minutes each day.”
Now there is criteria. Someone can hold you accountable to that.
Management is about holding people to specific criteria so they know when they’re making progress.
What Management Is Not
(These are common coaching mistakes)
1. Not Controlling
You’re not trying to get them to do what you want. You’re trying to help them do what they want.
Avoid leading questions like:
“Don’t you think you should…?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if…?”
“In my experience…”
That’s mentoring, counseling, or parenting — not coaching.
2. Not Guilting or Shaming
Avoid guilt-based motivation:
“What is it going to take to get you to do what you said?”
“How do you expect things to change if you don’t?”
“How do you feel about wasting your time and mine?”
These are frustration-driven statements. They don’t help.
Let the client wrestle with their own frustration. It’s their journey, not yours.
3. Not Pushing or Directing
Avoid:
“Don’t you think it would be better if…?”
“Maybe it’s time to try something new because this isn’t working.”
That’s you trying to solve the problem. The client must solve it.
4. Not Judging
Avoid:
“Why didn’t you do what you said you were going to do?”
“Well, that wasn’t very good, was it?”
You’re not the judge, parent, or teacher. You’re the coach.
What Management Is
Management is making the client accountable to:
the decision they made
the plan they chose
the action steps they committed to
“How can I hold this client accountable to the thing he decided to do?”
That’s what we’ll look at next time.