The PRACTICE Model of Coaching

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Help your coachees get on the right path.

The only solutions that are ever worth anything are the solutions that people find themselves. – Satyajit Ray, film maker.

If someone asked you for the best way to drive from point A to point B, you wouldn't advise him just to get in his car and start driving. He'd probably end up lost!

The same is true when you're coaching team members. You need to work with them to find the best route from problem to solution, dividing what they need to do along the way into easy, manageable steps. The PRACTICE model of coaching helps you do this.

About the Model

Psychologist Stephen Palmer first published his PRACTICE model in 2008. It's based on an earlier, seven-step coaching approach developed by Barbara Wasik in 1984.

PRACTICE is a simple framework that you can use to help people identify their problems and decide on the best solutions. The acronym stands for the seven steps in the process:

1. Identify the Problem.
2. Develop Realistic and relevant goals.
3. Generate Alternative solutions.
4. Consider the consequences.
5. Target the most feasible solution.
6. Implement your Chosen solution.
7. Evaluate.

Based on the terms from "PRACTICE: A Model Suitable for Coaching, Counselling, Psychotherapy and Stress Management," by Stephen Palmer. Published in The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 3, No. 2, August 2007. ...