How do you show up to your coaching sessions? Are you proactive in being prepared or reactive to your coach? Do you contribute to the agenda, communicating your successes, opportunities and action steps, or do you rely on your coach to script the entirety of these conversations?
I have been able to experience coaching as a team member, leader and now as a professional coach. What I have learned is that these meetings can either be looked at as a task where we "catch up" with our coach/leader or as a time to enhance our abilities so that we can grow in our current roles as well as build our skill sets with focus, intention and clarity for the future.
Whether you are having coaching sessions with your leader in the workplace or have hired an outside coach, the manner in which you approach these meetings can determine the value you get from them. You can either use this time proactively to develop in areas that are important to you and your role or it pops up on your calendar as a task you dread.
Included below are ways that you can shift your thinking when it comes to your coaching sessions so that you take ownership and begin to use this time consistently to grow both professionally as well as personally.
1. Be proactive.
When thinking about your coaching sessions, are they mostly agenda items that either your leader or coach comes up with for you to work on, or do you actively contribute to the agenda? It is your development, so how do you think about this time with your coach?
Take a moment to block out time on your calendar with purpose, specifically think about topics that are important to you that you want to focus on in your upcoming coaching sessions.
Engage your coach to communicate the topics of discussion before you meet so that there is clarity on what you want to discuss during your session. This way it gives you a road map of success from your perspective and allows this to be your time rather than time you spend being reactive to what is suggested from your coach, thus becoming their agenda.
2. Create a road map of success.
How are you connecting your coaching sessions throughout the year? Do you have a focus on success measures and action items in terms of your development? Are they aligned to outcomes the organization is striving to achieve?
All too often I have witnessed both individuals as well as teams that I have coached that lack clarity in what they want to achieve during their sessions together, which can eventually create a lack of value. There needs to be a foundational game plan, which I refer to as the "Road Map of Success." If I give you a clean whiteboard on which to write what you want to accomplish this year, what would that look like? What steps would you want to take so that we are celebrating your success both professionally as well as personally? How will you or the team be held accountable when things are not on track so that you can flex in a different direction?
Having this clear vision is essential to tying your coaching sessions to items that are worth putting your time and attention toward so that you can measure your progress and increase the intentionality of the time you commit to sessions with your coach.
3. Communicate progress consistently.
How many times have you been asked to create goals in January, held a discussion around them for a month or so and then did not revisit them until November or December in order to prepare for a year-end review? Sound familiar? If you can implement time to follow up on your goals and action steps throughout the year, how would that support your overall success?
Take time to update your coach before your next session on your progress toward agreed-upon commitments from your last meeting. I have an ask for the leaders who I coach that at least 24 hours in advance they send me what they have accomplished, items that they didn't accomplish along with any obstacles as well as what is important to them to discuss when we get together for our coaching session. This allows those who I coach to have structure to our sessions and keep the focus on what is important to them as well as accountability to their commitments. Now their development remains at the forefront throughout the year rather than in the gap between the clarity that comes with creating new goals in January and the anxiety that comes in December of what did I even accomplish in preparation for the year-end meeting.
Whether you have a coach who is a leader in your organization or have an outside coach, the ultimate measure of value that you will receive from this time dedicated to your development is how well you take ownership of these sessions. Take some time to recontract with your coach and review the steps above on how you will be proactive, what a road map of success looks like for you in your role and how you will communicate your progress consistently in the future.
A coach should be there to challenge you around topics that are important to your development as well as be aligned to overall success measures. Your responsibility is to take ownership of what is important and what is missing and to have clarity regarding what you want to accomplish.
Implement the steps outlined above with your leader or coach and focus on taking ownership of this time. You will feel the value of this dedicated time as well as begin to see results from your coaching sessions in the future. Do not allow this to be reactive or inconsistent, as you owe it to your team as well as stakeholders to show up as the best version of yourself.
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Bryan Powell
Bryan Powell | Executive Leadership and Team Coach with Executive Coaching Space. Read Bryan Powell's full executive profile here.
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