What Two

After the employee has explained the situation, the coach moves to the second what question. The purpose of the second what is to clarify in the employee’s mind what impact his or her behavior had. Impact can be individual, on another employee, on a customer, group of employees, or the entire organization. Both the coach and the employee must be clear on how wide the impact is. Until the employee clearly understands impact, behavior change will be difficult.

Example of the second what question include, “So after that happened, what reaction did you see from other employees?” Or, “What did the customer’s face tell you about what you did?’ Or, “If several of our employees did the same thing, what impact would it have on our customers?” Or, “How long could we stay in business if many employees acted that way?” Or, So what do you think happens to you standing in the company when you do things like this? Or, “When I hear thinks like this, what do you think goes through my mind?”

Answers to the second what questions can be slow to emerge from an employee. That is because if the employee had a clear understanding of impact or consequences before he or she did the behavior, the outcome would likely have been different. People can act without consideration of the outcomes, consequences, or impact. As a result it’s important for the coach to proceed slowly through both the first and second what questions. Ineffective coaches practice “speed coaching,” while effective coaches practice “slow coaching.”

What Three

The third what question is a natural progression for the first two questions. After the situation and its impact have been clearly defined, as volunteered by the employee, the logical next step for the coach is to ask, “So what do you need to do next?” Or, “Now that you have described what happened and the impact of your behavior, what would you like to do next?” Or, “I appreciate your honesty in describing the situation; with equal honesty tell me what would make this situation better?”

If the plan to resolve the situation is created and explained by the coach, then the coach owns the plan. The best employees (the top 20 percent) can hear their coach’s plan and adopt it as their own, thus creating psychological ownership, but the other 80 percent will not. A plan owned only by the coach is unlikely to have much of a change of working. If, however, the employee volunteers the plan them the employee will create psychological ownership and be far more likely to implement it and resolve the problem.

Of particular importance to managers is the fact that when an employee has psychological ownership of both the problem and its solution, he or she is very likely to not only work hard to fix the problem, but far more important, the employee is not likely to cause a similar problem in the future. In other words, resolving problems correctly with the Three Whats of Coaching not only solves today’s problems, but it also helps prevent tomorrow’s problems from happening.

Thus far mostly corrective coaching has been discussed. But coaching is not merely a corrective technique; it is also a supportive or reinforcing technique as well. Indeed, world-class coaches use coaching for positive purposes to reinforce behaviors they want repeated far more frequently than they use coaching to correct problems. The ratio for world-class coaches is at lease 5:1: meaning they are supporting positive behaviors five times more frequently than they correct them.

The good news is that the Three Whats of Coaching works equally well when reinforcing a behavior as it does when correcting a behavior. It’s the same sequence, with many of the same questions. Rather than saying to an employee, “Way to go.” “Good job.” An effective coach takes a cople of extra minutes and asks the three what questions. And by doing so the coach gains far greater advantage because of the power of the discussion.

From the outside it may sound reasonable that a manager should demonstrate control by telling people what so do. And if the people don’t comply well enough, or fast enough, it’s equally reasonable that the manager should show who is in charge by exercising some form of sanction or discipline. In days long past this philosophy was quite common and it actually worked, to a limited extent.

Today, however, workers simply won’t tolerate what they believe are unfair management practices. They especially won’t tolerate a manager, who is overly bossy, unreasonably unfair, or inappropriately controlling. Workers today have grown up in a different world that expects managers to be efficient and leaders to be effective.

When a manager would like a worker to repeat a behavior, or when a manager would like a worker to change a behavior, the best method is to accomplish both is coaching. Effective coaching will reinforce a behavior, or correct a behavior, without the manager being perceived as bossy, unfair, or controlling.

There is so much research on coaching that it is amazing more managers haven’t learned how to coach, and don’t practice the time-tested techniques. Although there are many coaching models that have been developed, most of them focus on a couple of basic principles.

Coaching models range from simple to complex. The simple models work in most situations with most people, and complex models work in almost all situations with almost everyone. The most basic model involves a simple process called “The Three Whats.” This simple process is so easy to learn that virtually any manager can memorize what each what means and how to apply it in a coaching situation.

What One

The first of what of coaching is to ask the question, “What happened?” or, “What is going on?” Or, “Describe for me what happened.” Or “Tell me what you see.” The purpose of the first “what is to define the situation, to clarify the details, or to bring out the facts of what happened: only from the employee’s point of view, not the manager’s! A controlling manager might begin coaching with, “this is what you did and I’m upset! By contrast, effective coaches would begin with a neutral demeanor and an open-end what question. The difference between the two approached is striking because beginning a coaching session with an accusatory statement including a challenging demeanor will typically case the employee to become defensive. Once the employee is defensive it is difficult at best to move the coaching session forward. This explains why so many new (and sometimes experienced, too) managers have problems changing employee behavior.

Learn about the other two Whats in The Three Whats of Coaching, Part 2

I believe the best example of establishing impact with peers comes from the time-old nursery tale, The Little Red Hen. In this story, a hen discovers some grain of corn. She has a vision for turning this grain into loaf of bread, but recognizes all the work that must first take place. She asks her neighbors, the duck, the cat, and the pig for help all along the way. They declined helping her first with the planting of the corn, and then again when she cut the stalks, took the corn to the mill, and then finally when she baked the bread. When she asked, “who will help me eat this bread?” the duck, cat, and pig all jumped at the chance and said “I will.” Now the hen could have handled this situation in a variety of ways, but the power of her response is what has made this nursery tale so well-known for so long. The hen responded frankly: “Oh no, you won’t. I planted the seed, I cut the corn, I took it to the mill to be made into flour, and I made the bread, all by myself. I shall now eat the loaf all by myself.” This hen was effective at helping her lazy peers see the “big picture” by coaching them. She skillfully created an impact by sharing her perspective and observations with candor and honesty and making it easy for her peers to see the consequences of their behaviors.

Quick Tip

Remember, the overarching goal of peer coaching involves identifying and communicating to others how the combined efforts of team members can provide the most beneficial results. Keep the example of The Little Red Hen in mind and help take your team to the next level of performance.

The reason I have chosen to discuss these two people is that I come across similar situations fairly regularly where people have everything it ought to take in order to be successful. But for some reason they make a decision to commit “career suicide.” I have every reason to believe that within a year both of these managers could be reading the want ads looking for a new position wondering what went wrong with their last job. They will wonder this in spite of the fact that for over six months I met with, coached, counseled, prodded and even warned them that behavior change was needed immediately. But for the reasons I would like to discuss, these people have decided, “good enough is good enough.” As Larry Hodges, the former President of Mrs. Field’s Cookies, has said, “Good enough is not good enough.”

The reason I selected these people and this topic is that in both of these cases termination does not need to happen. With a little effort and behavior change both of these people could have long and productive careers in their companies. But unfortunately, that may not happen: I think we can learn from their mistakes not only for ourselves, but also for those people who report to us.

Jack Welch, the former Chairman of General Electric Company, once said, “Face reality as it is, not as you think it is, or as you wish it was. Face it head-on as it really is.” That advice is clearly what both of these people need to do, because in both cases they have constructed their perception of reality as they “wish it was,” not, “as it really is.”

First, let me update you on the situation with the store manager. Although his district manager has several complaints, his primary complaint is that the manager is indecisive and procrastinates. This is even true on time-sensitive problems where immediate action is critical. Nonetheless, when given a directive, this store manager nods his head as if he hears what is being said, seems to understand what needs to be done, and even has the ability to do what is needed. However, in too many cases he either can’t make a decision, or waits too long before beginning. Have you ever seen someone like this? These behaviors can drive people crazy!

Procrastination is a complex psychological behavior that affects everyone to some degree or another. With some people it can be a minor problem; with others it can be a source of considerable stress and anxiety. Procrastination is only remotely related to time management, (procrastinators often know exactly what they should do, even if they don’t it), which is why very detailed action plans usually don’t help.

As in the case with the store manager, the procrastinator is often amazingly optimistic about his or her ability to complete a task on a tight deadline. It’s common to hear expressions of reassurance that everything is on schedule. For example, he or she may estimate that a project will take two days to complete. That sounds like a lot of time, so the person delays getting started because there appears to be an abundance of time available.

At some point, the person crosses a point in time where he or she suddenly realizes, “Oh no! I’m not in control. This isn’t working.” And as a result, waits even longer because being out of control is so uncomfortable. Even though it may appear that procrastinators are lazy, actually, one of the most common root causes is a fear of being out of control.

There is no simple solution to procrastination. Improvement takes not only a personal commitment followed by discipline, but it also requires the person realize that the best way to maintain control of situations is through preparation and on-time performance. This isn’t easy, but it can be done.

The second manager has a much different problem. After considerable discussion, she finally admitted to me, “I am a sarcastic person.” Then she quickly added, “But I’m only sarcastic in order to get people to do what I need them to do.” She believes that sarcasm is a valuable motivator and is appropriate in the workplace.

The problem with sarcasm is that it is so potentially dangerous that practically nothing else can destroy a relationship faster. People have long memories and most people don’t soon forget when they are the victim of sarcasm. So this manager has systematically damaged almost every peer relationship she has in her company. In an assessment I conducted asking her peers to rate her effectiveness in interpersonal communications; almost every person gave her the lowest possible rating. Most of them apparently, had been the victim of her sarcasm.

Research indicates that the quickest way to improve organizational effectiveness is to improve interpersonal relationships. And conversely, the quickest way to fail is to erode interpersonal relationships.

This manager’s second problem is arrogance. In the business world arrogance tends to be associated with a person in a position of power. Without organizational power, arrogance can appear misguided or even humorous. When a manager is in a position of power, he or she can be the victim of an over inflated perception of self that results in demonstrated arrogance. That seems to be the problem with this manager. She actually believes that she is indispensable in the organization and couldn’t be reassigned or terminated under any circumstance. She has created in her mind such a false sense of reality that she is unable or unwilling to accept the advice of others, even her boss.

So what’s going to happen to these two managers? Time will tell, but unless they begin to face reality as it is, very fast, they may be on the outside looking in, rather than on the inside watching their careers blossom. These are sad stories that, unfortunately, are repeated all too often.

While there are plenty of skeptics out, Coaching does get results.  Documented research and the hands-on application of coaching, has proven this.  If the coaching process is done properly and effectively coaching can yield a return on investment far greater than most people realize.  What does successful coaching that gets results look like?  Consider this rare inside look at how a Coach took an outside-in approach to helping an employee increase and maximize performance, not to mention saving his job.

Dear ________

I wanted to take an opportunity to thank you [again] for the workshops a few years back that have proven to be extremely valuable to me as a manager, mentor and coach and would like to share a recent success story with you if that’s OK?

We had an employee who has been with the company for many years – in fact he celebrated his 12th anniversary w/the Company on July 6th.  He had slipped into a ‘rut’ over time and in coaching sessions had revealed to me that while he was “happy and content” with his current position and responsibilities, he felt he had been overlooked in compensation and promotion opportunities over time.  (My perception based on his behavior and demeanor was quite the opposite – that of unhappiness and discontent.)  I committed to him 2 years ago that I would personally do what I could to move him up, but that he had to “buy in” and take greater initiative before I could advocate any advancement.

As he continued to make some improvement, I recommended him for an officer promotion (with no additional compensation) a year ago, but was denied by leadership since they hadn’t observed the initiative necessary for advancement.  I felt this would compel him to accelerate his efforts, but realized then and especially now that “rewarding” with an expected improvement isn’t likely to have the same impact as “rewarding” for observed improvement.

In the meantime, he continued to do just enough to get by and with a change in leadership, it was suggested that we let him go (outright w/no relocation or reassignment to another department).  While this might have been justified at the time, I felt 11 years tenure w/the Company had some value and that he had untapped talent and skill that would undoubtedly add value to our department and to the company as a whole.  I appealed for one last chance to coach him up, we put him under a stringent “performance plan” with required dates to reach expected competency in various areas.

The short story is that we are meeting at 3pm today to review his progress.  As a result of his efforts, I have recommended and gained support from 3 levels of management (up to the Chief Credit Officer) to not only promote him from_______ to ______ but to promote his functional title resulting in a pay grade advancement in addition to a slightly more aggressive incentive plan – conditional upon a 9-12month timeline with increased responsibilities and expected competency in specific areas every 90 days.  (This is an “open-end” comp change plan that may be extended if thresholds are not met as timely as expected.)

The end result will be that his salary will increase over time by ____ potentially within a 12 month period… Beats the heck out of 2.5% per year in my book!  We now have a committed associate who is punctual, smiling when he reports to work and smiling when he leaves.  Where he was once very stand-offish and unapproachable, he now exhibits a sense of humor and positive banter among his fellow associates.

In my opinion, today’s environment is much different than that of ______.  No longer (at least for now) do our associates “choose” to work for us due to plentiful opportunities elsewhere.  Unemployment is at unexpected levels so if we lose them today, they could potentially be unemployed for quite some time.

The outcome could have been quite different had this associate not accepted accountability and made sure that he reached deep within himself to make some personal changes.  I am proud of the progress he has made and will be delegating and depending on him much more heavily in the months and years to come.  His peers within the department and across the company have noticed, commented and documented the positive changes they have observed, up to and including the same leaders that advocated his termination only 5 months ago.

My intent w/this email is NOT to boast (for in fact I am humbled), but to testify to the effectiveness of the “Coach Approach” rather than dictatorial management style.  What a great tool to bring out the best in others, and what personal satisfaction comes from it as a result.

I sincerely hope that all is well with you and yours.  THANKS again!  I APPRECIATE YOU!!

Respectfully,

_____________________

The testimonial above clearly shows that coaching does get results.  Factor in the value of not having to hire, train, and develop a new employee, that you didn’t lose an employee with 11 years of experience, and that the person is an “officer level” candidate, you can see a cost savings of six figures — potentially getting close to seven figures by the time everything is said and done.  Coaching can directly and indirectly affect the bottom line.  Take the time to coach and get the results you need.

One of the services I frequently provide organizations is a process called “Executive Coaching.” The process consists of me working with, or coaching/counseling, usually a senior person in a company. Most commonly the person coached is perceived by his or her boss as needing to improve in some area of performance. Or, the person has demonstrated difficulty in being effective within the organization.  I typically work with a person for six months, sometimes longer. During this time we meet at least monthly and discuss personal leadership/managerial effectiveness along with other issues that usually surface during the discussions.

I find executive coaching to be a challenge and an incredible training experience, not only for the person I’m coaching, but for me as well. Many techniques and principles I teach in workshops have been learned in coaching sessions.  It’s interesting how the differences in people create such a wide variety of behaviors, feelings and attitudes.  But I guess that’s what makes us human beings and not animals.

I would like to describe two people whom I have coached in recent months. Obviously, I must conceal their identities, but the people and their situations are real. There are leadership principles represented in these cases that are so compelling to me that I welcome this opportunity to share them in this article.

The first person is a store manager of a regional grocery chain. He has been a store manager for over 15 years and from a first impression a person could assume that he is effective.  He has a public persona of charisma and up-tempo happiness.  I’m sure that many customers know who he is and might even believe he is a good manager.  The truth is, however, that his boss is very close to terminating him.  Let me describe why termination is a near possibility, because after we understand why, we can learn from his mistakes.

The district manager and the store employees have a very different opinion of this manager. instead of a charismatic leader, they see a person who procrastinates, doesn’t follow-through on assignments, gets lost in the trees and can’t see the forest, is a poor delegator, and either avoids confrontation at all cost, or is overly dictatorial and sometimes even abusive.

Now remember; this store manager is clearly aware that his continued employment is in serious jeopardy; he has been told by his district manager that if specific issues don’t immediately improve that he could lose his job.  So if you were in this manager’s position, what would you do? How would you behave? What would you do to save your job? Those are questions I think I would ask myself, if I were in that position. Wouldn’t you?

Nonetheless, in a recent coaching session I conducted with the district manager, I watched this store manager say anything he could to please his boss. Rather than taking notes on what he needs to do differently, he spent his time trying to say whatever he could to merely get through the meeting and leave the room. It seemed to me that the prudent thing for him to do would have been to make a list of specific action items that needed to be accomplished in order to improve his job situation; instead, he nodded agreement to everything he heard and did whatever he could to shorten the meeting. Although he had a note pad and pen in front of him, he didn’t use them. When asked for a deadline to complete an assignment, his response was, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” His nervousness was apparent and lie was obviously uncomfortable with the two of us trying to pin him down on specifics. At one point I observed him rocking back and forth in his chair—a clear indication of profound agitation. After the manager left the room the district manager turned to me and said, “He doesn’t get it. And I didn’t get any impression that anything will be different tomorrow than it was yesterday. I’m locked into a course of action that I don’t want to do.”

Why? Why did the manager behave this way? What could be motivating him to be so self-destructive?  Before I give my interpretation of the answer, let me describe the second person. She has 35 employees and is the manager of an important department in a manufacturing company. With a master’s degree in engineering and almost 27 years of experience, she commands an impressive salary and position in her company.

Her problem is that she behaves like she is seven feet tall and bulletproof! She is openly defiant of her boss’s instructions and on occasion says things that approach insubordination. For example, her boss told her a few months ago that she needed to attend an important planning meeting in Mexico. When she concocted an excuse why she couldn’t attend on a specific date, her boss changed the date of the meeting to be more convenient for her schedule. So out of a dozen people to attend the meeting eleven adjusted their calendars to agree with this woman’s wishes.

Then, believe it or not, a week before the meeting in Mexico this massager announced to her boss, “The Mexico meeting is unnecessary and stupid. I’m not going!” Let me repeat the same questions I asked about my first example: Why? Why did she behave this way? What could be motivating her to be so self-destructive?

After her announcement I had an unfortunate conversation with this second manager’s boss. He said that he is fed up with her lack of cooperation and unprofessional behavior. He concluded by adding, “If you can’t get her back on track, I only have one final option, and she’s not going to like it.”

So why? Why do some people choose to behave in such indescribable ways? What could cause a person with a great job, including future career possibilities, to either fail to act (as in my first example) or openly rebel against all reason (as in my second example)? What do you think? Have you experienced someone similar to either of these managers?

Put yourself in my position for a minute, what would you do if you were coaching either of these managers? How would you approach the situation to effect change? What techniques or tactics might work better than another? Or, what about this question: is either of these managers salvageable? Are they worth saving? Is it best for all parties to merely terminate the person and start over again with a replacement? Think about these answers and in Part No I’ll describe what actually happened.

Read Part 2 >>

The most important discovery we have made over the course of many years is that the data alone won’t drive your business to the next level of bottom line performance. We have learned that the way the data is used by leaders has a direct impact on whether the results they see are ordinary or extraordinary. The way leaders interact with the individuals with whom they work either has a negative or positive impact on the results that leaders so desperately seek. The key to leveraging the metrics and boosting employee performance is making the data meaningful to people. It doesn’t matter if you are a scientist or an assembly worker: if you know how your efforts contribute to key results, what those results mean, and how to make the scoreboard move in your favor, you tend to become more engaged and motivated by your work. The magic of metrics is all about how leaders coach, communicate, and solve problems with other members of the organization. They have to help people interpret the data and create metrics that feed business results, and they need to make it personal. If leaders can connect individuals to the metrics driving the business’ success at the very core, if they can help employees see how they fit and why they matter, then every person will suddenly become personally invested in helping the organization improve its bottom line.

The trick is having the ability to position, explain, and use the data in a way that motivates and inspires people. This power resides in the leader’s ability to support, coach, and assist employees, as well as work through the barriers and interference that they will inevitably encounter. There is no inherent value in data. Motivation doesn’t come from analyzing the numbers. Business performance takes a sudden leap when trusted coaches help the people around them figure out ways to be challenged and stretched beyond their perceived abilities. If people gather relevant data about themselves, about the factors that are critical to their own success, analyze those factors with a coach, and then set realistic, meaningful goals grounded in the information they have gathered, they are more likely to want to perform in a superior way.

If you already have a system to measure performance, help your leaders learn how to use that information to its maximum effect, motivating members of your organization at all levels to perform to the very best of their abilities. We can help you enhance you bottom line leadership using the resources you already have at your disposal—your people.

This past week I took my family on an extended weekend trip to the lake to get our last summer fun in before school gets underway for the kids and the weather begins to turn cold.  As I was leaving my neighborhood in my truck (Bed full of cargo, and boat and trailer in tow), the individual driving a vehicle in front of me decided to make a turn into a supermarket parking lot.  This immediately created a problem for me.  Not only was the driver not in the turning lane/shoulder of the road, he didn’t put on his turn signal until the very last moment.  This chain of events could have caused an accident if I hadn’t  proactively hit my breaks and creep into the other lane in an attempt slow my truck and boat in order to avoid crashing into his car.

I was irritated by the situation and offered up some feedback to the driver.  In my attempt to slow tons of my steel truck and fiber glass boat, I gave a couple of honks on the horn followed by a quick flick of my heads lights (meaning get out of the way and quick or I will crash into you).  What really bothered me was the reaction this guy demonstrated to my warning.  He pulled to an immediate stop, and offered some crude hand gestures through his window and proceeded to drive slowly.  It was clear he wanted to turn this issue into heated verbal or physical argument by his behavior.  I told to my wife “that guy is a jackass.”  Not from his driving abilities, but from the way he responded to my feedback.  My feedback was not intended to show rage.   I did not lay on my horn and start yelling.  I gave a couple of honks and a flicker of my headlights telling this guy that his current behavior was going to cause an accident.  That’s why cars have horns.

His reaction caused me to evaluate my perceptions of both giving and receiving feedback.  I thought about how I would have reacted if I had been honked at.  My conclusion is that we all need to be more open to feedback and coaching and not take personal offense to it.  In order to grow, and develop we learn from others.  If we are to enhance our abilities and expertise, we need to receive feedback, either supportive or corrective.

Supportive Feedback
This is all about reinforcing the positive.  When you see someone doing something great and want the behavior to continue, or simply recognizing someone for their work.  It is geared to continually improving performance.

Corrective Feedback
This is about changing behavior, performance, and results.  It occurs when an improvement or change in needed.  It is important to understand that corrective feedback is not negative or abusive in its style, it is only intended to correct the behavior at hand.
While it is important for us who both give and receive feedback to understand these two types, we can hit higher levels of performance if we are a little more open, a little less sensitive (on the receiving end), and ensure our point of view is clearly communicated.  Let’s recommit ourselves to the concept of feedback.

Yesterday, while watching the daily news, I saw a commercial that caught my attention.  In order to win over new customers, this organization is using a strategy that I like very much.  Their approach is creative, it’s innovative, and was sure their competitors would need to respond to this advertising campaign in some form or fashion to maintain market share.

However, after seeing this advertisement a second time, I came to the realization that this “new” approach is classic conflict avoidance.  Take a look at this video clip.  Can you see where I’m coming from? 

Now, please correct me if I’m totally off base, (I’ll be confident and say I’m not), but don’t the fundamentals of business acumen tell us that competition is good?  In a situation like this we should want to create a little constructive conflict, forcing these two companies to battle over our business.  If we ask Allstate to “break up” with our existing insurance provider for us because we’re too uncomfortable to handle the situation ourselves, we’ll never know whether the current insurance provider would be able to match the offer, or offer a better deal, ultimately saving use the hassle of switching insurance providers.  Come on people. Buck up!  Step out of your comfort zone and grow a little!  Given this type of situation, the customer has all the power.  If you add a little conflict to the mix, these two companies will need to compete for your business, “sweetening the deal,” and offering you greater gains.   One company claims that it can “save you serious cash,” but the other company wants to retain business and compete for your business.  Keeping a customer is much easier than winning a new one.   Two companies knowingly vying for our business puts us in a great position, but if your existing insurance company gets a call from Allstate, “saving you that uncomfortable break-up moment,” your opportunity for beneficial conflict has been lost, and so has your power as a consumer. 

Confront conflict head on; avoidance never hurt anybody but you.

So what is the connection between trees, leadership, and organizations? Just like trees are play a key role in the survival of humans over the centuries, great leadership is fundamental to the prosperity of a modern organization.  An organization without leaders isn’t an organization at all.  These people perform a variety of vital functions like developing talent, transferring knowledge, giving direction, and coaching and sharing feedback.  Similarly to trees, leaders are diverse in their strengths, weaknesses, style, and characteristics, but the fact remains that leaders are necessary.

One of the most important skills performed by leaders in any organization is coaching.

Coaching has four key components, just like the tree and its sustainable root system, sturdy trunk, a healthy branch system, and canopy of leaves, flowers, and fruit.  Coaching operates in much the same way the tree does and we affectionately call this system the “Coaching Tree.”  First, there is the root system that consists of the most fundamental and essential types of coaching.  This is your day to day feedback, observations, and “on the spot” natural coaching.  Like the roots feed water and nutrients to the tree every day, a leader has to be willing to supply coaching on a continuous basis to the organization or team members regarding day to day events.  Next is the trunk.  Coaching at the trunk level symbolizes coaching that should occur on a less frequent basis, perhaps every month or two.  This gives leaders the opportunity to coach on topics like behaviors, expectations, and the code of conduct.  As you move up the tree, you reach the branches.  Branches equate to coaching around topics like skills, knowledge, and competency.  This type of coaching should typically occur on a quarterly or trimester basis.  Finally we reach the canopy level of coaching where the leaves, flowers, and fruit grow. This symbolizes the kind of coaching that focuses on results, contribution, and value to the organization.  This is also strategy coaching that has a longer term perspective.  It could focus on strategic initiatives, career plans, innovation or anything that has a longer time horizon.  The frequency for coaching employees and mentoring may occur on an annual or semi-annual basis.

When a leader brings the coaching roots, trunk, branches, and canopy together they create a powerful feedback system that covers employees’ needs and the organization’s requirements for a healthy enterprise.  Coaching that is skillfully administered and is robust becomes embedded and helps produce a “high output team.”