Catalytic Coaching

Coach’s Guide to Coaching Sessions

Coach’s prep: ❏

Make sure you’ve met with your boss for 15 minutes about this employee and that he or she is on board with your coaching ❏ Review the employee’s Coaching Input Sheet to make sure you’ve covered all the goals they put down ❏ Print one (1) copy of the Coaching Worksheet with examples for you and one (1) copy without examples to give the employee at the end Start the session: The purpose of this meeting is for me to give you some feedback. I’ve prepared some remarks that I’m going to walk you through. I will give you a copy of your Coaching Worksheet when we’ve finished. If I gave it to you early, it would be just too tempting to read ahead. So, I’d prefer to walk you through it point by point. Feel free to take notes and to ask questions as we go along. Wrap it up: Watch the clock. When it’s time to close the meeting (45 min/1 hour), move on to sharing with the employee what the next steps will be. You will submit their Coaching Worksheet online and the employee will need to fill out their Development Plan. Once that is complete, the employee will schedule a 30-minute Development Plan session within one week.

Check for comprehension Employees may be nervous and might just nod their head. Ask questions like “Can you tell me what you heard in your own words?” or “What are your thoughts on that?” to make sure they understand. Be honest This process is designed to say to someone’s face what you might be more comfortable saying about them behind their back. If they want to be the CEO but have many skills to learn, say so, and assign them a project that will help them learn those skills. Effectively share Strengths & Focus Areas Use a short, pithy headline, clear 1-2 sentence clarification statement, and 3 examples of that when sharing Strengths and Focus Areas. Repeat the headlines for each example.