Creative Ways to Prioritize Coaching and Mentoring
By Tracy Faleide

You know coaching is among the most important things you can do to improve the health of your organization, right? Just like you know eating healthy, exercising, and getting plenty of rest are all things you should do to maintain a healthy body. We all seem to know what we should be doing… we have trouble finding the time and motivation. I’m not going to pretend to tell you how to get more exercise because that’s a mystery I’ve yet to unlock. I have, though, developed 10 tricks for building coaching into my routine. No sit-ups involved…I promise!

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1. You have to want to. If you attended The Partner Event-BBC, you heard that ongoing coaching is among the top five things that most motivate employees within the Microsoft Dynamics™ channel. (If you didn’t attend the conference, read Bonnie Robertson’s article in this issue that summarizes the Channel Workforce Study findings.) You know coaching is important, but perhaps you view it as something you should do versus something you want to do. Coaching doesn’t come easy for everyone. So how do you learn to like it if it’s not natural for you? Fake it. That’s right. I’m telling you that until you’re comfortable providing ongoing coaching, pretend you are. While you’re at it, pretend you like it and you’re really good at it. The more you’re positive about coaching, the more you actually will like it.
2. Create a coaching environment in your organization. Make a habit of having open dialogues in one-on-one and team meetings about key learning from projects, events, and interactions. Doing so helps everyone get comfortable with openly sharing and accepting constructive feedback. Watch the tone of these conversations so they stay positive and optimistic. You don’t want to get self-critical to the point where nobody wants to participate in meetings for fear of being picked apart.
3. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with your team members. Spend time thinking about best times for these meetings. Avoid piling them all on top of one another. By the last meeting, you’re likely to be tired and impatient. Instead, spread your one-on-one meetings across a two-week period. Choose times of the day when you won’t be distracted or interrupted. Look for times when you’re more likely to be reflective. For example, if you’re a morning person, reserve your mornings for work time. Hold your meetings in the afternoon when you’re moving at a slower, more thoughtful pace. Be sure the times you select also work for each individual you’re coaching. The most important thing is keeping these appointments. Of course, there may be times when you need to change your meetings. Keep schedule juggling to a minimum. It’ll send a strong signal about what’s important to you.
4. Save time in your one-on-one meetings to “just talk.” The most common mistake made in one-on-one meetings is using them for project planning or working sessions. Spend half your time discussing tasks at hand. Reserve the other half for learning about how your team member feels about her work, what opportunities she’s interested in, and how you can help her.
5. Ask open-ended questions. In your team and one-on-one meetings, ask questions like “how do you think this project went?” or “what do you think we should do differently next time?” Then, wait for the answers. Pinch your hand under the table if it helps you keep your mouth shut. Enlisting feedback and listening carefully to it helps you create an environment of trust and helps you find out what your team members think. You’ll be delightfully surprised at the depth of thought and boldness of ideas waiting to be tapped.
6. Create a file for each of your team members. Use it to store each person’s goals, interests, and projects. Track observations, advice, and thoughts on opportunities in the file. Use it to develop specific agendas for one-on-one meetings.
7. Invest in a $20 digital recording device. Use your drive time to record coaching thoughts.
8. Book assessment time in your calendar at least monthly. Use this time to reflect on team and individual results, potential obstacles, and ideas for improvement. It’s probably best to do this away from the office. Go to a place that inspires you to think, like a beautiful park or a cozy coffee shop.
9. Find creative ways to hold yourself accountable. I’ve used every trick in the book for this one. The most effective for me was committing to delivering a coaching file to each person on my team. They were expecting it, so I had to get it done. It worked. I’ve also tried staying at the office on Friday afternoons until I recorded coaching thoughts in each person’s file. That sometimes backfired because I got impatient and tended to paste the same thing in each file, which helped no one. You might also consider sharing your goals with your team members, listing coaching and mentoring among them. Publicly stating that coaching is a priority for you will help you stick to it.
10. Don’t consider a project complete until you’ve reviewed it. Whether you call it a debrief or a post mortem, be sure your projects don’t get checked off the list until they’re reviewed. Add “key learning gained” to your list of project accomplishments, like “we obtained 14 new leads, closed four deals, got high satisfaction ratings from 92% of our event participants, and gathered 22 ideas on how we can improve next time.”

At least one of these tips is sure to help you build coaching and mentoring into your routine. Now, while you’re thinking of it, why don’t you schedule a one-on-one meeting?

About the Author

Tracy Faleide has twenty years of experience in communications, project and team management, strategy development and planning process, team-building, performance and career coaching and results-based execution. She is a novelist, freelance writer, professional coach and business consultant. Common threads across these focus areas include finding and telling stories of courage through transition, helping establish confidence of purpose and seeing things differently. Prior to going out on her own, she held several team and strategy leadership roles at Great Plains Software and Microsoft. In her most recent positions at Microsoft, she was responsible for Business Solutions' strategy development and planning processes and for setting and delivering on worldwide customer and partner experience and satisfaction strategies. Tracy has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and Public Relations from Minnesota State University Moorhead. She and her husband, Dan, live in and lovingly renovate two old homes-one a 1907 four-square in Fargo, North Dakota; and the other a cottage on Lake Lizzie near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.