I think I'm missing out. I'm guessing a lot of managers, who could benefit from developing good coaching skills, self-select and decide not to attend my training. I'm further guessing that this may be because their perception of coaching involves two cosy chairs facing each other, soft lighting and a couple of hours spare to really get stuck into some deep rooted psychological cause behind certain difficulties that occur at work.



I can understand this viewpoint and I think the coaching profession encourages it; it makes it seem as if coaching must ALWAYS occur at this level to be helpful, but it doesn't. A trained Life or Executive coach may well work at this depth to bring about the significant and permanent change for which they have presumably been hired but the coaching manager is less concerned with causing tearful epiphanies and more concerned with restoring focus and improving performance on the job. This can be done far quicker.

Most coaching is supported by a questioning framework. I devised the coaching ARROW and although this comes with a wide range of sample questions, it can be boiled down to five:

A - Aims - What do you want?

R - Reality - What's happening now?

R - Reflection - How big is the gap?

O - Options - What could you do?

W - Way Forward - What will you do?

These five simple questions give us an opportunity to coach at great speed. On their own they will not create fundamental change or improvement but they will create focus and mobility. These being, in my opinion, the desired outcomes of any coaching conversation that takes place at work. Let's say you had a colleague about to make an important business pitch and you wanted to add a little coaching to the conversation. Asking 'What do you want?' could really get them focused on a positive outcome and ready to bring it about. It's not dissimilar to an athlete mentally rehearsing the race in their mind as they settle into the blocks. Imagine, talking to another colleague who had just returned from a meeting that had gone spectacularly well, but they were unsure why. Exploring 'What's happening now?' immediately afterwards could prove hugely insightful and lead to some excellent learning.

You'll find that when your people become used to being coached in this way they'll come with Aims, Reality, Reflection and Options already thought through. They just want to check things out with us and get some 'permission' from us for the way forward.

I think of this technique as Martini coaching: 'Anytime. Anyplace. Anywhere'. This technique makes coaching accessible to managers who don't get much formal time with their team members but who may be able to do some good coaching around the coffee machine, in the lift or on a car journey. Another tip is to self-coach before you settle down to tackle an important task by having the questions on a small card and working through them. It's okay to go for the formal setting for the major converations, but never underestimate the usefulness of a quick, but focused conversation in the moment when it's needed.