When we have a problem, the reflex is to look for a solution quickly. A plan. A tool. Perhaps another model.
But sometimes the problem is not a lack of solutions. The problem is that we have not yet understood the situation well enough.
In 2020 I developed the LIVES coaching model from this starting point: before deciding what to do next, it is worth understanding where we are, what matters to us, what we feel and what is keeping us stuck.
A model should not do your thinking for you
I like models. They help us organise complicated things and notice stages we might otherwise miss.
But a model becomes useless when it is applied mechanically. People are not problems to be solved by a diagram, and coaching is not a place where someone with the right answers tells another person what to do.
For me, the coach is closer to a thinking partner: someone who creates the space in which a person can see more clearly, use their own resources and reach a choice that genuinely belongs to them.
LIVES is a structure for conversation, not a recipe.
L — Lifeline: before the problem there is a story
The first stage starts with the objective or challenge, but does not stop at ‘What do you want to achieve?’ I am also interested in the path that brought you here.
When did things feel meaningful? What activities made you feel engaged? What have you done well before, perhaps without noticing that it contains a resource you could use again?
When we look only at today's problem, we risk forgetting everything we already know about ourselves. Lifeline brings experiences, choices and meaningful moments back into the conversation.
Sometimes part of the answer is already in your own history.
I — Introspection: what is actually happening?
Here we slow down enough not to confuse the first answer with the real problem.
What does the situation look like now? What would you like it to look like? What is the gap? What prevents you from getting there? And, if we go a little deeper, what problem are you actually trying to solve?
It is surprisingly easy to spend months working on a symptom. We change tools, processes, jobs or strategies and discover that the original tension is still there.
Clarity does not automatically solve the problem. It does at least help us work on the right one.
V — Values: what matters enough to be worth the effort?
Two goals can sound almost identical and still have completely different meaning for two people.
That is why values in LIVES are not a decorative list of words to complete and forget. They help us understand why a goal matters and whether the chosen direction fits the person who wants to reach it.
What matters to you here? What would you lose if you did not make the change? What would you protect at almost any cost? What fear sits behind the decision?
A goal that looks good from the outside can be very difficult to sustain if it has no real connection to what matters to you.
From idea to practice
Want to put the idea into practice?
Executive coaching for managers and leadersE — Emotions: emotions are not background noise
We often treat emotions as something to manage quickly before returning to the ‘rational’ part of the problem.
But emotions can carry information. They can signal a violated value, a fear, a need, an old experience colouring the present situation or simply something we are not yet willing to look at directly.
What do you feel when you talk about this situation? Where does tension appear? What do you not want to see? What does your reaction tell you about what matters?
That does not mean every emotion should be followed. It means it is worth noticing before removing it from the equation.
S — Shine: what becomes possible once you can see more clearly?
The final stage is not about forced optimism. It is about perspective and recovering the ability to choose.
After exploring the situation, your story, values and emotions, what has become clearer? What other perspective is now available? What options could you not see at the beginning of the conversation?
Then comes the question that matters in every reflective process: what will you do with what you now understand?
Insight is useful. Action tests it.
Sometimes progress starts with a better question
LIVES does not promise that every problem can be reduced to five steps. Life has a bad habit of ignoring our diagrams.
The model does offer a route for exploration: from experience to introspection, from values to emotions and then toward a perspective that can support action.
When things are unclear, the temptation is to speed up. Sometimes it is more useful to do the opposite and ask the question we skipped too quickly.
Not ‘What is the solution?’ but first: ‘What is actually happening?’
A good model does not give you the answer. It gives you a better way to have the conversation from which an answer can emerge.
For me, that remains the central idea of LIVES: first we understand. Then we choose what to do next.
Sources and context
This article develops ideas from the LIVES coaching model created by Bogdan Vizitiu and published in 2020 through International Coach Academy. The present text is an editorial reinterpretation for the current context, not a translation of the original material.
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