Have can coaching be quick yet effective?
Coaching is a powerful tool. Try this Quick Coaching technique to give your coachee something to consider, but only giving up 3 minutes of your time!
Quick Coaching
Tell your coachee that you will occasionally send them an email with the subject ‘Quick Coaching’. The email is intended to make them think around a particular issue individually.
Explain that the email shouldn’t need a response and that they only need to talk about the question with you if they really feel that this is going to be of value.
The Method: The coach
- Minute One: Consider what is going on for your coachee at this time.
- Minute Two: Think about 3 questions which might guide them into thinking around the issue or event for themselves.
- Minute Three: Choose one question which you feel will generate interesting thought for your coachee. Email this question to your coachee.
The Method: The Coachee
- Minute One: See the subject ‘Quick coaching’ and decide whether you can spare three minutes now or not.
- Minute Two: Open the email and read the question. Jot down 3 possible responses.
- Minute Three: Choose one response and decide an action or strategy you will use to help you solve the problem.
Why is it a good strategy?
Coaching has multiple benefits. Sometimes, all it takes is a quick question to get the thinking processes going that could really improve practice.
Tip
Only send up to three of these a term. These Quick Coaching emails are great, but the last thing you want to do is overload staff, filling up their inbox or mind with additional pressures.
Great quick read, thanks. But I’ve always understood effective coaching as needing extended time where the coach did not careful listening then taking, and then asks carefully targeted questions that are shaped by the coachee’s contributions, and that a trusting supportive relationship is needed. I love the time-efficiency of this technique though: after all, lots of people just really struggle to find dedicated chunks of time for coaching sessions. Can you give a few real life examples of the site of questions that have been used effectively in real life situations with this technique?
Sorry, I meant “…did more careful listening than talking…”. Predictive text!
You’re absolutely right- coaching should given the right amount of time and very careful questioning to help guide and develop the coachees thinking processes. I would advise investing fully in your team and coachees, but this method is a ‘quick coaching’ opportunity. I personally think this strategy works best when there has previously been a coaching relationship built and trust is fully established so don’t rush into this method until you’ve had some full coaching sessions previously.
As for examples of questions, you might want to guide your coachee towards thinking about something in particular. An example would be me emailing a question to a newly appointed year leader I was coaching and mentoring asking “with parents evening approaching, what support might your team need from you?”. Other examples might include “How did your most recent maths lesson go and what would you change next time?”, “Think about your wellbeing this term, how has this impacted your relationships?”, “How is your subject leader project developing and how does this compare to where you expected it be at this stage?”, “What have been the recent successes you’ve experienced in leading your team and what led to the success?”, “What behaviour for learning strategies have you utilised this week?”…. anything relevant to that person really!
I hope this helps. Coaching really is a wonderful experience and a great way of helping colleagues.