The OSKAR Coaching Model
OSKAR is a solution-focused coaching model that builds confidence and momentum in five steps: Outcome, Scaling, Know-how, Affirm and Action, and Review. Instead of digging into problems, it clarifies what the client wants, measures where they are, and draws on the resources they already have. It is a powerful structure when a client feels stuck, discouraged, or is overlooking their own strengths.
What Is the OSKAR Model?
OSKAR is a solution-focused coaching framework developed by Mark McKergow and Paul Z. Jackson. Like other solution-focused approaches, it assumes that a client already has resources and moments of success to build on. The five letters give a session a clear shape, from a desired outcome through a scale of progress to a concrete action and a review. It keeps the conversation practical and forward-looking rather than stuck in analysis.
The Five Steps of OSKAR
- Outcome - what would you like instead?
- Scaling - where are you now on a scale from zero to ten?
- Know-how - what already helps or has worked before?
- Affirm and Action - what strength can you use for the next step?
- Review - how will you notice progress?
How to Use OSKAR in Coaching
- Start with the outcome the client wants, not the problem they came with
- Place the current situation on a scale from zero to ten
- Explore the know-how already behind that score, however small
- Affirm a strength and turn it into a concrete next action
- Agree how the client will notice and review progress
Coaching Questions for OSKAR
- What would you like instead of the current situation?
- Where are you now on a scale from zero to ten?
- What already helps, or has worked before?
- What strength can you use for the next step?
- How will you notice that you are making progress?
When to Use OSKAR
- When a client is problem-focused and needs movement
- When someone is discouraged and needs to rebuild confidence
- When resources and strengths that are already present are being overlooked
OSKAR in FocusCoachee
FocusCoachee includes OSKAR as a coaching method. You can add it directly to a session, and the client stays an active participant: they set the outcome, score the scale, name their resources, and track the action and review that follow. Because the scale is saved, you can return to it in later sessions and see the score move, so progress becomes something the client can actually measure.
Want to work with solution-focused methods like OSKAR? Explore the plans.
FocusCoachee also lets you add your own methods. If you work with a different version of this tool, or have a framework you always use with clients, you can build it as a custom method and add it to any session - just like the built-in ones.
Read also:
