Now that you’ve selected your coworkers and your growth areas, it's time to share your action plan with them. Take 2-3 minutes over the next week to speak with each of your selected coworkers and let them know about the coaching process, why they’ve been selected, and what their role will be. You may also want to share a few of the ways they’ll benefit and encourage them to hold you accountable to your commitments.
Here is an example of a conversation a leader might have with one of their coworkers.
Charles:
Hi Melissa
Melissa:
Hello Charles
Charles:
Thank you for taking time to meet with me. I wanted to take a few minutes and share something important with you. Over the next 6 months, I will be going through a coaching program to develop my leadership skills. Based on the feedback I’ve received, I’m committing to developing myself in 2 leadership areas: better delegation and more engaging communication. These are two areas where my development can have a positive impact on our team performance and hopefully make the workplace even more enjoyable for others.
But, I realize that if I’m going to get better at this, I’ll need help. Specifically yours and others that I communicate and work with regularly. Would you be willing to support me in this journey? It will require just 2 minutes a month from you.
Melissa:
Yes, of course. I’d love to help. How can I support you?
Charles:
Once a month I will be asking you for Feedforward. Feedforward is a suggestion that is future focussed: so in this case, what can I do to improve over the next 30 days?
As part of the coaching, I’ll be using an online platform that will automatically send you an email once a month asking you for a couple of suggestions on how I can be more effective in my 2 growth areas. I’ll use the Feedforward suggestions from you, and a few other coworkers, to make an action plan. I’ll share that with you so you can see what I’m working on.
The second way you can help is by providing feedback on my progress. So, once a quarter, the platform will send you a survey about how I’ve been doing for the past three months in these two specific areas. The survey is completely anonymous and takes only a couple of minutes.
Melissa:
So just to clarify, once a month I’ll get an email that asks for a couple of Feedforward suggestions...and...Feedforward is...suggestions for the future, right?
Charles:
Yes exactly. And that gives me clear targets on how I can improve in ways that are important to you and others.
Melissa:
And every 3 months, I’ll get a survey on whether you are becoming more effective. Is that right?
Charles:
You got it, Melissa.
Melissa:
Great, sounds fantastic.
Charles:
Thank you. This means a lot to me and should help me become a better coworker. I want to be very transparent with everyone about what I am working on. I hope that it will make us a tighter team and will help me make this an even better place to work. I really appreciate your support.