Four coaching hacks and techniques every manager should know

Research says the defining quality of great managers is whether they are perceived as a good coach. Read four ways to develop your coaching muscle to support your team.

1. Frequency hack 

When you find yourself wanting to step in with a suggestion or answer (whether in-person, over chat, or video call) pause and ask a question instead. Try: "What do you think?" or "I'm curious what you'd say?"

Increasing the number of questions you ask in a conversation with your report will make you a better coach. Research from training provider LifeLabs shows that the best coaches ask about 10 questions every 15 minutes.

2. Open question hack 

Open questions open up possibilities. If you start your questions with - who, what, where, why or how, you will likely receive a more useful response as your report will need to elaborate beyond a simple yes/no. 

Open questions start with: 

• Who… needs to weigh in?
• What… is the best use of your time?
• Where… should we go from here?
• Why… do this?
• How… can we solve this problem?

Closed questions that elicit a “yes” or “no” response tend to trigger short responses and close off deeper thinking. An example of a closed question is, “Are you feeling bad about the project?”

3. Try the GROW technique in a 1-1

Structure a coaching conversation using the GROW Model. GROW stands for Goal - Reality - Options - Will.

Goal

Together, set a goal for your report to achieve. Whether it’s a behavior to change or a challenge to solve, make sure you can both describe what success would look like and what the timeline for the change is.

• What does success look like? By when should it happen? 

Reality

Don’t dive into possible solutions without fully understanding the starting point of the issue or goal. Get your report to describe the current reality. Useful questions include:

• What’s happening now (who, what, where, when, and how often)? 
• What’s the impact of this situation?
• Have you already taken steps toward your goal?
• Does this goal conflict with any other goals or objectives?

Options

The first idea is often not the best one. Guide your report to come up with as many good options as possible without making decisions for them. Aim for at least 3 options. Useful questions include:

• What else could you do?
• What if that constraint were removed? Would that change things?
• What do you need to stop doing in order to do this?

Will 

The final step is to get your report to commit to specific actions that will move them toward their goal or solution. Essentially: what will they do? Through this process, you will help motivate them to achieve their goal or solve the problem they’re dealing with. Useful questions include:

• What will you do first? 
• What could slow you down? How will you overcome this?
• How will you keep yourself motivated? 

4. Use the solution-focused technique to coach through a challenge 

A solution-focused coaching model walks your direct report through a present-past-future framework to find creative solutions by exploring what has worked in the past and why. 

You may begin by asking, “Tell me one thing that is working well for you right now” to start out the conversation on a positive note and help your report be open to new solutions. 

Present

Start with the present. If a team member approaches you with a problem, they are dealing with it now. Address their concerns by exploring the issue.

• Ask them to describe the issue: “Tell me about the challenge / issue.”
• Ask how they feel: “How did that make you feel?”
• Ask what they observed: “Describe what you observed only. Not what you think it means.” 
• Assess the issue: “On a scale from 1 to 10. How much of an issue/challenge is this (to you)?” Then follow up with a question to get more insights. For example, if they scale the issue as a “7” you could ask,  “What makes it a 7, not a 6? What would make it an 8?”

Past

Your direct report likely has dealt with problems in the past and found a way to move forward by using some action, insight or connection. Use these questions to find insight from the past: 

• Have you been in similar situations before? 
• When you had a problem like this in the past, what did you do that worked?
• What worked well for you in similar past situations?
• What have you seen others do successfully in similar past situations?

When you recognize something that worked discuss it together. 

Future

After looking at the past, revisit the current situation and see what past actions your direct report could apply going forward. Assume that your direct report already knows all or at least part of the solution; you’re merely helping them recognize it. This is the essence of coaching!

Ask your direct report:

• What do you already know about what you need to do? 
• What do you already know that will work in this situation?
• Do you have any other suggestions on what you could be doing? 

After they are clear on a partial solution, you can work with them to fill in any gaps in regard to next steps.