I wanted to share something that we've been using here at our company for the last couple years, which is essentially a one-on-one coaching tool. A lot of companies wait an entire year before giving any kind of employee feedback or review. That's what I used to do. I just hated doing reviews. It felt so awkward and weird and I found out it was because I was waiting too long to give people important feedback that it built up into this big ordeal when it didn't have to be.
Download the 1:1 Coaching Sheet that gives you deep visibility into your web design company. Download it here.
Watch this video where I go through this sheet. You can also see the edited transcription below.
I was introduced to a coaching tool that really changed a the way I look at giving feedback and has a big impact on our organization. Here's the process…
About once a week I hold a one-on-one coaching session with each of the people I supervise. Now weekly might sound drastic compared to the 1 time per year schedule I was on, but in moment I'll show you why it's not. If the sound of doing one-on-one coaching of that frequency scares you at all (I know it did me!) let me show you the tool that we used to make it really easy. It's easy because it is a great framework. I'll walk you through the pieces of this and then how it works for us. (This is a lot easier to follow if you just download the sheet)
Download the 1:1 Coaching Sheet that gives you deep visibility into your web design company. Download it here.
The coaching sheet is broken into two parts.
Part 1: Tactical To-Do's that are easy to measure and check off as complete or not complete
Really the first half of this is all very tactical stuff. During the course of our coaching meeting we'll identify things that need to happen by the next coaching meeting. This is the section we catalog those items.I aim to not give them anything that can't be done by the next meeting AND I limit it to four items that can adequately be described in the small space provided. Some clever people will add more rows to this sheet, but you must keep it short.
This list isn't supposed to be an exhaustive to do list of everything they need to do. It's just the items that I want to see done as their coach and mentor. This point is important. This is my opportunity as a coach to clearly communicate what I want from them and for them to acknowledge it. Also important is that I have THEM complete this form. Not me. This is another opportunity to make sure that we are in alignment what needs to be done.
When they report back during the next coaching session, they can circle Yes to indicate the task is done, or No to indicate it was not. It's important that they complete this as it is an opportunity to either celebrate the fact that the item was completed, or uncover the reasons why it was not. I've had people turn in this sheet with an item not completed and they have reasons or excuses as to why the item was not completed. Over time I work to build a culture where it's OK not to get things done, but if that happens we both have to be ok with taking an open and honest look as to why it was not completed. This allows us to figure out what we need to do differently. This can include changing priorities, giving them permission to remove something else from their list or finding other creative solutions.
Download the 1:1 Coaching Sheet that gives you deep visibility into your web design company. Download it here.
Part 2: How Ya Feeling? Subjective look at what's going on and a chance to celebrate wins & solve what's in your way.
This is where all of the meat of the meeting happens and allows me to get a deep dive into what's actually happening with someone in a very structured way, in a very natural way. This section is structured as follows:
Brightest achievements: This is where we talk about their wins, and gives us a chance for us to celebrate them. It's wonderful to see the things that get added to this section and it gets easier to recognize the wins over time. As a coach, it helps me spot them even outside of a coaching session.
Main challenges during the last month or the last week: This is a really great piece because then we can talk about why the items on their list is a challenge. Sometimes solving these challenges is just a matter of giving them permission to do something differently. For example, giving them permission to spend a little money to fix their problem or giving them permission to put something off their plate that was stopping them. Sometimes its helping them see the lesson in a challenging situation. There's just a lot of good discussion here. Many times what comes out of this challenge ends up being turning into an action item for part 1. We're directly addressing the issues. How many times have you guys asked or been afraid to ask somebody that works for you what's going wrong or what's challenging you? When you ask it on a routine basis, it really gives us abilities to handle the issues right when they happen as opposed to them turning into bigger obstacles.
Something I learned through reading or listening to a book or watching videos: This is just a reminder for us to be like, “Hey, we've got to keep learning. We've got to keep doing something.” It might be a time for us to recommend a book or a training to help them with a challenge or action item.
My greatest focus when working on the business is: This is a really good opportunity for me as a coach to realign and make sure that what my objective is is really in alignment with theirs, because if it's not the same they're going to go off, they're going to work the whole week and they're going to come back and they're going to present me something that wasn't what I wanted. It's also a chance for me as a coach to ask myself the same question: What is the number one thing I want this person who's sitting before me to be working on because it's also easy for me to ignore that. What you might realize is that this focus sheet is as much for me as the coach as it is for the person that's doing this here.
As my coach you can help me in this next session by: This is their action items for me. What do they want help on? What do they want insight?
My motivation level is at ______%: Here the number isn't important, it's the change from week to week. If this number goes from 105 to 90 next week, that's a big change. What happened? What's going on? Even though we maybe talked about the challenges, the wins, the action items but still there may be something more they want to express. This allows me to ask one more time… “What's going on? You were at 105 last week. You're at 90. We just talked about all this stuff that could be attributing to that, but what else is there? Is there anything else you want to talk about?” You'll be surprised how many times there's just another dimension. Sometimes it's personal. Sometimes I think, “Oh man, people are totally pissed off. What's going on? It must be something at work.” But maybe it's something at home. Maybe the kids are sick. Maybe they haven't been sleeping well. It may be anything. That's honestly, of all the stuff I just showed you, my favorite piece because it gives me permission to have that level of conversation.
Hopefully this was helpful for you. If you want a copy of this sheet or you want to talk about it some more just hit me up. Leave a message. I'd love to know what you guys think about this. This is not my sheet. I got this from action coaching years and years ago. We've just adjusted and changed it over time. All right guys. Well, have a great day. Have a great Wednesday. I will see you soon and bye bye.
Download the 1:1 Coaching Sheet that gives you deep visibility into your web design company. Download it here.
Mike Schmidt
Founder
AgencyCoach
