Waste of time.

How often are simple conversations wrapped up in a bow and passed off as “Coaching Sessions”?

How many times do expertly constructed conversations pass off as a "coaching session" yet lead to no change in behaviour at all? 

For those observing, there can be a really good structure and great questions.  The person being coached did a lot of talking, goals were reviewed and actions agreed.  

The Coach walks away patting themselves on the back meanwhile, their person having been ‘coached’ is scratching their head confused - not having the first clue what to do differently, knowing they’ll be held accountable in about 7 days from now.

You can have the slickest conversation in the world however when someone tells you they don’t know how to do something and you finish the conversation without doing anything about what you were told; what was the point?

And no, don't automatically ask another bloody coaching question...

People will tell you what they lack. Not always directly - so listen to what’s not being said; you might here:

• I don’t know what to do.
• I don’t know how to do it.
• I’ve tried something and it isn’t working.
• I don’t feel confident doing it.

That’s the bit I’m interested in.

This tells me there’s a high likelihood your sticking to a “coaching” script and are terrified to go off topic.  Is that because you don’t know your subject matter or don’t know how to explain something?

When the thing preventing them from achieving their goal is the very gap they’ve just told you about, acknowledging it without helping them address it is ridiculous.

Do this instead: 

Stop following the script and deal with what you’ve just uncovered.

If they don’t know how to do something, help them close the knowledge gap.  Pull up the procedure.  Open the system. Show them where to find the information and work through it together.

If you’re not sure what it is they don’t understand, that’s when you ask questions.

Work out where the gap is, then help them learn.

The point is -> do something with what you’ve just uncovered.

Reviewing performance tells you where someone is. Coaching changes what happens next.

Otherwise, what a fucking waste of time.

On that happy note, it’s my birthday month 🎉

And I’m the one giving out the presents. "You get a car.... you get a car....." Joking 🤣 I'm not quite Oprah yet. 

Some of you might have missed the free training I shared a couple of weeks ago, so I’m giving it another share.

- Has work started to feel a bit flat, either for you or someone you know? You can watch my Disengagement Training here. Watch out for the signs of starting to slide down Mount Doom looks like 🎁

UNSTOPPABLE Disengagement For leaders figuring it out alone. learning.everyoneiscoachable.com

I got this message from someone who already watched it:

Your training truly gave me hope that there’s still a way forward.  It doesn’t have to be all at once, but rather bit by bit.”

❤️

It’s free until 31st October. After that, it’s going behind a paywall.*

*Subject to the birthday girl changing her mind. 😂

Until next time, Aileen