GALES™ Reflective Lens
A practitioner tool for listening beneath the words.
🔍 The GALES Reflective Lens™
It's not a checklist. It is a way of listening beneath the words, noticing what is easy to miss.
| GALES | What to Notice | Key Skill | Example Coach Move |
|---|---|---|---|
| G | Vague, broad statements, "always/never", deletions, missing information | Meta Model, Recover deletions | "Can you give me a specific example?" "Who specifically?" "What exactly happened?" |
| A | Topic switching, minimising, "yes but", humour, "should" vs "want", avoidance | Pacing & Leading | "I noticed we moved away from that, what was happening for you?" "What feels most important to you here?" |
| L | Rules, identity statements, "I must…", "I'm the kind of person who…", "I can't", "impossible" | Belief Elicitation | "What must you believe is true for this to feel this way?" "What would have to be true for that to feel true?" |
| E | Posture, breathing, facial micro-expressions, gestures, tone incongruence, energy shifts | Sensory Acuity (VAKOG) | "I noticed your shoulders tightened, what's happening in your body right now?" "What are you noticing in yourself as you say that?" |
| S | Evidence of capability, past success, support systems, resilience, what already works | Anchoring strengths and resources | "What strengths are already showing up here?" "What helped you show up that way?" |
🏢 Redundancy & Career Transition
"I don't understand, my numbers were excellent"
What You're Hearing
Shock, disbelief, nervous system activation. The cognitive layer is trying to make sense before the body has processed.
Meta Model Pattern
Simple deletion, "excellent" by whose measure? Missing referential index.
GALES Phase
Ground, Nothing else is available until the system settles. Do not problem-solve.
Coach Move
"Of course you don't. Let's not try to make sense of it today. How are you sleeping? Eating? Who knows, and who's holding you?"
"I'm fine, I just need to update my CV"
What You're Hearing
Coping strategy activated. "Fine" is a nominalisation masking suppression. The CV is displacement activity.
Meta Model Pattern
Nominalisation ("fine"), comparative deletion ("just" minimising), unspecified verb ("update").
GALES Phase
Ground → Liberate, Respect the coping, gently test it.
Coach Move
"We can absolutely do that. And – I've walked beside many leaders through this. The ones who gave the ending a little room tended to start the next chapter cleaner. Would you be willing to spend twenty minutes there first?"
"I don't know who I am without the role"
What You're Hearing
Identity-level crisis. The role has become the self. Lost performative likely underneath.
Meta Model Pattern
Nominalisation ("who I am"), lost performative ("without the role" implies a rule about identity).
GALES Phase
Align → Liberate, De-nominalise identity into processes she can do anywhere.
Coach Move
"Then let's find out who you were before it – and who came along for the ride. What did the role let you be that you're afraid you've lost?"
💼 Executive Coaching, Common Scenarios
"I do the work and someone else presents it"
What You're Hearing
The invisible tax. Cause-effect pattern, her agency handed over. Modal operator underneath.
Meta Model Pattern
Cause-effect ("someone else presents it" as if she didn't hand it over), unspecified verb ("do the work"), deletion ("someone else").
GALES Phase
Ground → Liberate, Map the exact moment of transfer, then liberate the belief.
Coach Move
"How did the work end up in his deck? Walk me through the exact moment it transferred. What did you tell yourself in that moment that made handing it over feel necessary?"
"Everyone's waiting for me to prove the appointment was right"
What You're Hearing
Mind read + comparative deletion with predecessor. She's carrying a phantom jury.
Meta Model Pattern
Mind reading ("everyone's waiting"), comparative deletion ("prove it was right", compared to what?), lost referential index ("everyone").
GALES Phase
Liberate → Align, Challenge the mind read, then realign with her own standard.
Coach Move
"Who specifically is waiting? What's your evidence? What would 'proven' even look like, and who signs it off?"
"I know the answer but the moment passes before I speak"
What You're Hearing
Somatic freeze pattern. Nervous system hijack between cognition and action. The body shuts down before the voice activates.
Meta Model Pattern
Nominalisation ("the moment"), unspecified verb ("passes"), cause-effect ("moment passes before I speak" as if external).
GALES Phase
Ground → Embody, Map the freeze in the body, install the interrupt.
Coach Move
"Where does the moment live in your body? What happens between knowing and not-speaking?" Then: Embody, install breath + anchor + first three words pre-loaded. Future pace: "The next time you walk into that boardroom..."
"If I don't do it, it won't get done properly"
What You're Hearing
Indispensability as identity. Universal quantifier + comparative deletion. Old safety strategy in work ethic clothing.
Meta Model Pattern
Universal quantifier ("won't get done", never?), comparative deletion ("properly", by whose standard?), modal operator of necessity ("have to").
GALES Phase
Liberate, Indispensability is almost always an old safety strategy.
Coach Move
"Never properly? By whose standard? What's the actual cost of 'their 80%' versus the current cost of 'your 100%'? What does being indispensable protect you from?"
🧠 Limiting Beliefs & Identity Patterns
"I always fail" / "I never get it right"
What You're Hearing
Universal quantifier + identity statement. The exception is the doorway. One crack is all Liberate needs.
Meta Model Pattern
Universal quantifier ("always", "never"), simple deletion ("fail", at what?), identity statement ("I am" implied).
GALES Phase
Ground → Liberate, Recover specificity, then hunt the exception.
Coach Move
"Always? Has there ever been a single exception? What happened the one time you didn't? If 'never' has even one crack in it, what does that crack tell us?"
"I can't say no to the CEO" / "I have to be across every detail"
What You're Hearing
Modal operator of necessity presented as law of physics. Rule with an author, find them.
Meta Model Pattern
Modal operator of necessity ("have to", "can't"), lost performative ("must", according to whom?), nominalisation ("detail").
GALES Phase
Liberate, "What would happen if you didn't?" is arguably the single most powerful question.
Coach Move
"What would happen if you didn't? Who taught you that rule? Does she still need it? Is that a requirement of the role, or a requirement of your identity in the role?"
"I know I should be grateful, but I just feel empty"
What You're Hearing
Values conflict, external expectation vs internal truth. "Should" is the alarm bell. The body knows before the mind admits.
Meta Model Pattern
Modal operator of necessity ("should"), lost performative ("grateful", to whom?), comparative deletion ("empty", compared to what?).
GALES Phase
Align → Embody, Return to values, not obligations. The body is the truth-teller.
Coach Move
"What feels most important to you here?" Then: "Where do you feel that emptiness in your body? What has your body been trying to tell you that your 'shoulds' have been drowning out?"
| Lens | What I'm Listening For | VAKOG Channel | Coaching Invitation |
|---|
🎯 Practice Scenarios, Train Your VAKOG Awareness
Click each clue to reveal what the Lens notices, the VAKOG channel, and the coaching invitation that follows.
Client says: "I always fail."
Click to reveal →
G: Ground
Listening for: Generalisation, universal language ("always", "never", "everyone")
"Can you tell me more about that?", Invite specificity without challenging the belief directly.
Client says: "My father always told me I wasn't good enough."
Click to reveal →
L: Liberate
Listening for: Limiting belief, inherited identity statement, internalised rule
"What would have to be true for that to feel true?", Separate the story from the self.
You notice: Their shoulders collapse as they speak.
Click to reveal →
E: Embody
Listening for: Body language, posture shift, energy drop, physiological response
"What are you noticing in yourself as you say that?", Bring awareness to the body as information.
You notice: They laugh while describing something painful.
Click to reveal →
E: Embody
Listening for: Suppressed emotion, incongruence between content and expression
"I notice there's a smile as you share that. What's happening inside right now?", Gentle noticing without interpretation.
You notice: They suddenly change the subject when a topic deepens.
Click to reveal →
A: Align
Listening for: Avoidance, misalignment between stated values and behaviour, protective pattern
"I noticed we shifted just then. What was happening for you?", Invite curiosity about the shift, not the content.
Client says: "I know I should be grateful, but I just feel empty."
Click to reveal →
A: Align
Listening for: Values conflict, "should" vs authentic feeling, external expectation vs internal truth
"What feels most important to you here?", Return to values, not obligations.
Client says: "I handled a difficult conversation at work really well last week."
Click to reveal →
S: Sustain
Listening for: Strength, resource, evidence of capability, emerging competence
"What helped you show up that way?", Anchor the strength and make it visible.