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Pillars of the Coaching Model

Explore the foundational principles shaping our unique coaching approach at Effective Effort Consulting.

The 4 Components of

The EEC Coaching Model

EEC believes in a team-based and strength-based approach to building skills. This means we will involve those who are needed to help the skill development process of the client. The goal of coaching is to build the client up to a level of competence and confidence in using the skills and strategies that matter in their personal growth and development. There are 4 components in the EEC coaching support model. This model allows for intense skill development but also fades support as the client builds confidence and competence.

  • Direct Coaching

    Direct coaching is when the client and coach are working 1:1 together. This can be over Google Meet, in person, or over the phone. The duration and frequency of these sessions are determined by the team’s goals and the desired pace of change. One to two direct sessions a week during the onset can be common and fades as the client achieves a meaningful level of progress. This model of coaching is the most common form of coaching and is required in the beginning for all of our clients. Simple text check-ins and/or motivational messages are also included in this service option. Over time, once the coach and client have an established working relationship and effective momentum in the skill development process, the two will decide how frequently to meet directly.

  • Indirect Coaching

    Executive Function Case Management (EFCM) provides a more comprehensive and increased level of coaching support for clients and/or parents looking for a higher level of support, monitoring, advocacy, collaboration, and/or accountability. In addition to the direct 1:1 coaching, EFCM also provides the following elements of support: Coach initiated prompting and check-ins outside of the direct 1:1 sessions to allow for increased external accountability and in-the-moment motivation and support; Coaching for parents/family members as needed to support client progress and client and family goals; Facilitated family meetings to provide an opportunity to discuss goals, progress, and to allow for transparency among/between family members; Collaboration and communication with established members of the client’s team and/or recommendations for other related services/additional professionals who could support the client (i.e. therapists, teachers/professors, tutors, advisors, advocates, neuropsychologists, special education services, disabilities services, etc.).

  • Executive Function Case Management

    Executive Function Case Management (EFCM) provides a more comprehensive and increased level of coaching support for clients and/or parents looking for a higher level of support, monitoring, advocacy, collaboration, and/or accountability. In addition to the direct 1:1 coaching, EFCM also provides the following elements of support: Coach initiated prompting and check-ins outside of the direct 1:1 sessions to allow for increased external accountability and in-the-moment motivation and support; Coaching for parents/family members as needed to support client progress and client and family goals; Facilitated family meetings to provide an opportunity to discuss goals, progress, and to allow for transparency among/between family members; Collaboration and communication with established members of the client’s team and/or recommendations for other related services/additional professionals who could support the client (i.e. therapists, teachers/professors, tutors, advisors, advocates, neuropsychologists, special education services, disabilities services, etc.).

  • Check-ins

    This is a client-initiated process where the coach and client set a schedule of when the client will update the coach on their daily or weekly progress. The ultimate goal is for all clients to embrace this check-in model and develop the skills to independently initiate updates with their coach as they progress through the coaching process.

Cultivating Success Through Holistic Change: The EEC Approach to Executive Function Coaching

At Effective Effort Consulting (EEC), we're devoted to fostering success through a personalized, research-grounded approach that brings about comprehensive changes - emotionally, cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally. Through our Cycle of Empowerment, we CONNECT with clients, facilitate reflective discussions, develop goal-oriented plans, INSTRUCT in new skills, and ALIGN actions with aspirations. Our methodologies blend motivational interviewing, mind-mapping, and visualizing techniques, contributing to the enhancement of executive function skills, autobiographical planning, and working memory. Whether it's daily routines or long-term college planning and professional skills, we help clients manage their lives more efficiently and proactively, leading to increased self-determination and self-efficacy. At EEC, we're your partners in achieving a fulfilling and purposeful life.

Our team-based and strength-based approach to coaching  is grounded in research-based methodologies that foster emotional change, affective change, cognitive change, and behavior change. Through this holistic approach to intervention, we help our students, parents, and adults achieve long lasting positive and productive patterns in their lives.

EEC coaches believe that each client deserves to live productive and meaningful lives, and that executive function skills can be developed to support that journey. This belief informs our approach to coaching which is client centered, strengths-based, collaborative, and rooted in our cycle of empowerment.

Following the cycle of empowerment, our coaches CONNECT with our clients to create safe and trusting relationships that allow each client to REFLECT with authenticity and without fear of judgment on their strengths, their challenges, their successes, their failures, and their goals. With that information, coaches then help clients PLAN and identify a roadmap for achieving that goal, including anticipating what obstacles they might encounter along the way and what they can do in the face of those obstacles.  Each session includes  time for coaches to INSTRUCT clients in a new skill, strategy, or new way of looking at a situation and provides incentive for using that new skill as they work towards their goals.  With new skills, strategies, encouragement and the “just right” level of accountability, clients begin to ALIGN their actions with their goals. This cycle of CONNECTING, REFLECTING, PLANNING, INSTRUCTING, and ALIGNING continues throughout the coaching process with the ultimate goal being to EMPOWER our clients to develop executive function skills as well as a level of  self-awareness, self-advocacy, self-determination, self confidence, and self-agency that results in them achieving their goals.

An illustration of EEC Coaching model for Executive Function Coaching.
An infographic explaining the 3 part cycle of Effective Effort named Plan, Reflect, and Initiate.

An EEC coach instructs clients on how to align priorities with their desired outcomes, goals, expectations, and standards. By reflecting on the past and discussing the  future a client can learn to develop an effective relationship with their future self. The coach does this by using techniques like motivational interviewing, mind-mapping, and visualizing and verbalizing in order to strengthen autobiographical planning, as well as verbal and nonverbal working memory. Once the client knows where they want to go, the coach helps the client develop a plan to get there. Whether it’s working on daily routines, weekly schedules, study skills, college planning skills, professional skills, the coach helps the client develop individualized and strength-based systems and processes, tools and strategies to manage each day. From developing a morning routine and effective homework habits to attending office hours and managing sleep hygiene, clients learn how to anchor their attention into their daily habits and routines.  As clients progress through the executive function skill development process, they find it easier to filter information, manage priorities, as well as anticipate future problems and initiate solutions, even before they happen. It’s at this point that our clients reach an effective level of self-determination and self-efficacy.

What are executive functions?