Seven Questions that Help You Coach Up (and ensure you get the feedback you need too!)

Regular, direct communication between a direct report and their leader is what grows and develops employees, yet so often I find the time people have together is not used effectively. The most common issue: the conversations are largely transactional.

What gets covered in these meetings are the needs of the day: the tasks that need to be accomplished. Left unaddressed are the conversations about employee performance. What do they both need in terms of communication from each other to be successful? What behaviors are helping and what behaviors are hurting both the relationship and their individual performance?  These issues all too often remain unaddressed.

If you are a leader, when was the last time you had a conversation with your direct reports about their professional growth? One thing to remember: you might think you have had these conversations, but if it was not explicit or intentional your direct report may have missed the coaching. Be intentional and take the time to have regular professional development conversations with your people.

Often someone is able to change and do something differently, but they don’t know that a different behavior would be helpful. Perhaps they don’t know how to do the behavior at all, and they need coaching from their leader in order to learn a new way of operating.

This kind of regular coaching and feedback helps people grow and perform better and better in their role. It impacts the bottom line, grows your culture, and creates more successful team members.

If your leader does not offer this kind of feedback, you do not have to wait. Here are seven Coaching Up questions you can use to get the conversation started. Add this habit into your 1:1s or ask for a few minutes at the end of your weekly or monthly meeting, and let me know what happens!  

Seven Coaching Up Questions

Find out how you are doing:

·        What did I do well?

·        What could I do differently in the future?

·        What did I miss?

·        What do you want me to accomplish next week/month?

Share what will help you get better:

·        What do you appreciate that your leader is doing?

·        What could they do differently that would help you perform better in your role?

·        Is there something new you need from them so you can be successful?

Imagine how well you and your team can perform if you were asking and answering these questions regularly. Now ask yourself: what can I do differently next week so that I am getting and giving performance feedback to my team? What is the next opportunity I have to ask one (or all) of these questions?  Decide who you want to talk with, what you want to ask, and when you will ask those questions. Enjoy the conversation! Performance conversations are a gift that you both give and receive.