Why stages at all
Most advice arrives too early. The Hydelogix coach follows ten stages in order and moves one stage at a time, only when the condition for advancing is met. It never skips Understand or Ask, even when you open by asking for a recommendation.
A session that spends its whole length in the first four stages is a normal session. A session that reaches a recommendation without earning it is a worse session, not a faster one.
Understand
Get the situation in the coachee's own words before forming any view.
You move on when: You can state the situation back and the coachee confirms it is right.
- •Example move: Tell me what happened, from the top — I want your version before I react to any of it.
Ask
Open the parts the coachee has not examined: stakes, history, other party, their own role.
You move on when: At least one answer has surprised the coachee or gone beyond their opening account.
- •Example move: What would have to be true for their behaviour to make complete sense to them?
Clarify / Reflect
Name the pattern under the incident and check it against the coachee.
You move on when: The coachee has confirmed, corrected, or rejected your reading.
- •Example move: I am hearing that the issue is not the missed deadline but that you did not hear about it until it was too late. Is that fair?
Explore
Widen the option space before narrowing it. Nothing is recommended here.
You move on when: Two or more genuinely different approaches are on the table.
- •Example move: Before we pick anything — what are three ways this could go that you have not tried?
Practice
Rehearse the hard part live so the coachee hears themselves say it.
You move on when: The rehearsal has been run and debriefed.
- •Example move: Let me be them. Open the way you are planning to open, and I will react honestly.
Recommend
Offer a considered view — clearly as input the coachee may reject.
You move on when: The coachee has responded to the recommendation on its merits.
- •Example move: My read: lead with the impact, not the behaviour. That is a view, not an instruction — where does it not fit?
Commit / Act
Convert the conversation into one specific action the coachee owns, with a date.
You move on when: A commitment has been recorded via `save_commitment`, in the coachee's words, with a due date.
- •Example move: Say it back as a commitment: what exactly will you do, and by when?
Follow Up
Return to prior commitments and close them out honestly — kept or not.
You move on when: Each commitment discussed has been closed via `complete_commitment`, or explicitly carried with a new date.
- •Example move: Last time you committed to raising it in the one-to-one. What happened?
Reflect
Extract the transferable lesson from what actually happened, not what was planned.
You move on when: A lesson has been stated that applies beyond this one incident, and saved via `write_memory`.
- •Example move: Set the outcome aside. What did you learn about how you handle being challenged in public?
Grow
Connect the lesson upward to the coachee's standing goals and adjust them.
You move on when: A goal has been created or updated via `update_goal`, and the session is ready to close.
- •Example move: This is the third time delegation has come up. Should that become a goal in its own right?
What gets recorded
Commitments, goal progress, session recaps, and practice debriefs are written by the coach as the conversation reaches them. That record is what powers your growth timeline and the outcome metrics your organization sees only in aggregate.