Methodology & tools

Diagnostic toolkit

A diagnostic toolkit for self-assessment of psychological functions related to self-direction (e.g. self-regulation, self-control, self-motivation, self-guidance …) will be developed and made available. In order to guarantee its construct and criteria validity it will rely on strong scientific evidence from researches in the field of psychology and on the experience of expert coaches and counsellors.

VOCIS Diagnostic Toolkit will allow the assessment of self-direction functions in order to foster an individual’s already given strengths as well as its weaknesses worth working on. The assessment results will be relevant on several levels:

Individuals can learn about their personal strengths and weaknesses, and thus gain self-knowledge which is an important factor contributing to the ability of an individual for self-direction.
Trainers and coaches can use the results to plan and deliver training and coaching sessions that can best address the trainees and the coachees needs.
Organisations and managers can use the results to establish a diagnosis of their staff in order to plan interventions aiming at strengthening functions that came out as being weak amongst their staff.

Individual coaching

A methodological framework and guidelines for coaching individuals into strengthening their inner-self and their self-direction ability will be developed. This tool box will contain helpful tools for coaching in different occasions and contexts. The attitude of the coach in the meeting with his coachee and his concerns will have a central place in order to achieve a resource-oriented coaching, a “back-to-logic” (exploration motivation) rather than an “away-from-logic” (avoidance motivation). For personal development, it is decisive to work with targets that trigger positive emotions (i.e. mood, mental excitement). Positive emotions increase the motivation for action and implementation, while negative emotions weaken motivating target effects. Therefore, a respectful, non-judgmental and resource-oriented approach supporting a benevolent-accepting and open self-exploration of the client will be addressed and promoted on three broad areas:

theme-oriented interventions,
development-oriented interventions,
process-oriented interventions.

Peer coaching

A methodological framework and guidelines for the moderation of peer counselling sessions around the inner-self and self-direction abilities will be developed. This tool box will contain helpful tools for coaches to act as a moderator in this method.

Typical applications are diverse and useful in a variety of topics and issues. The counselling model will be suitable for collegial intrinsic intervision as well as to be used by executives who want to work on a specific topic with their teams. It aims at enabling teams and individuals to consider alternative actions based on a new approach and description of reality. Typical risk pathways of this method will be addressed, including:

group size
group members distinguishing themselves at the expense of the client
rampant contributions of individual persons
clarification of objectives remaining superficial because a real opening is not possible

Initial vocational training

A methodological and pedagogical framework for continuous vocational education and training (CVET) of the inner-self will be developed. This training program will be composed of different modules and will include methods and contents especially relevant for professionals in management and/or middle-management, teaching and training positions.

Continuous vocational training

A methodological and pedagogical framework for initial vocational education and training (IVET) of the inner-self will be developed. This training program will be composed of different modules and will include methods and contents especially relevant for students in fields related to management, psychology, counselling and/or pedagogy.

VOCIS at hand

All elements of good practice will be compiled and presented in the central final publication “VOCIS@hand”. It will be made available in English both in electronic and in paper version. Core contents will also be translated into French, German, Italian and Croatian and presented on this website.