In our previous post, we introduced what we find to be an extremely effective coaching model—W.I. N. B.I.G. It involves six steps, three to build awareness, and three to move the coachee to action. To read in detail about building awareness, including applicable examples, check out part-one of our series on the W.I.N. B.I.G. formula.
Today we are going to discuss moving a coachee into action. As a quick review, here are the six steps in this formula, starting with how to build awareness:
Build Awareness
- W-onder About Root Cause
- I-nvestigate Wants
- N-ame Possible Solutions
Move to Action
- B-uild a Plan
- I-nsure Action
- G-ive Affirmation
These steps help you create a dialogue that will increase your employee’s effectiveness and improve your management skills. Everyone involved wins big!
Let’s take a look at how to move an employee to action using three steps:
Move to Action – B.I.G.
After you helped someone Build Awareness, they are ready to implement a winning course of action and make a commitment to follow through with the plan. Action is the key here. You can Build Awareness all day long, but if you never Move to Action, you’ve done nothing but had nice conversations with your employee. The goal here is concrete action—doing things differently to reach higher levels of success.
B-uild a Plan – Action
People love this stage. Now you can start moving and grooving. You can finally Build a Plan that gets you to some action. An important thing to note here is that most of this decision will come from the coachee, not you. What is it going to take for them to implement the solution that they have chosen? What are the tangible steps that they will take so that things look differently in the future? Your goal in this stage is to help the employee devise a realistic plan that gets them where they want to go in a do-able manner and timeframe.
This is the stage where you get down and dirty. Vague and abstract ideas don’t work here. Remember your high-school-writing teacher who taught you the 5 W’s? Polish them off, because they get lots of use in this stage. To Build a Plan, you’ll want to ask questions like:
- What are you going to do?
- What steps do you have to take to get there?
- When will you do that?
- Who do you need to bring into the process?
- What will you have to say, “no” to in order to make this happen?
As a coach, it’s OK to challenge your employees during this stage. The reason you’re coaching them is because they’re in their own way of success. Getting out of one’s own way can be a tremendous challenge that is usually approached with some degree of trepidation. For that reason, watch and listen to your coachee. Do you get the sense they are not believing in themselves enough or holding back somewhat? If so, challenge them by upping the ante of their actions.
As your employee is creating their plan, help them to make it SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-specific. Find a way to make things measurable—even if they are measured by ‘yes, I did it’ or ‘no, I didn’t do it.’ The action steps also need to be achievable so the people can see the progress they are making and feel good about it. Goals and tasks often need to be chunked down to manageable pieces; otherwise the person gets overwhelmed and gives up. So if necessary, break the actions into achievable pieces so they can do a little every week and be able to report on progress. The action steps also need to be realistic given the employee’s circumstances. Having someone say they are going to increase annual sales by 80% in a week is probably a bit of a stretch. Finally, be sure to have a timeline in place.
I-nsure Action – Accountability
One of the most important things a manager can do as a coach is hold the person accountable for the actions to which they’ve committed. As the person leaves the effective coaching conversation and gets sucked back into the black-hole that is their busy life, it is natural for the insights they gained to become blurred and for their planned actions to become a bit more daunting. Left to their own devices, most people will let things slip back to the status quo and then fall back into their old routines. That’s what makes this stage of the coaching process so important. Your goal here is to Insure Action by establishing an accountability system. Having the coachee say they are going to do something is not enough. Here, you want to ask specific questions like:
- How will I know?
- When will you let me know how it goes?
- How much time do you need before checking back in with me?
- How will I know if you need a nudge?
- What’s the best way for you to circle back to me?
It can be great to follow-up these questions with a conversation about what you should do if the person doesn’t follow through on their commitments. Questions like these are good ways to start off the conversation:
- What should I do if you don’t get back to me?
- How would you like me to follow up if I don’t hear back?
- If you don’t follow through, how should I bring it up?
Some people prefer an email reminder, some want you to come and give them a hard time. The key here is to do it compassionately and matter-of-factly.
Many managers say at this point, “Why should I have to worry about them following through? If they really want to make the changes or right the problem, then they will do it. . . if they don’t, it’s their loss.” That’s understandable. And, be realistic for a second—everybody’s human. How many times have you said you were going to stop procrastinating your expense reports until the last minute, or you were going to do a better job at standing up to your boss and not backing down as quickly?
The whole point of accountability is that eventually the employee becomes accountable to herself, not you.
Follow Up to Insure Action
The ‘action’ of an effective coaching conversation does not happen during the conversation; it begins the moment the conversation ends and the coachee leaves your office to go out and do something differently than before. Depending on the situation, after a few days or weeks, be sure to check in to see how the person is doing on their commitments. Here are a few examples of questions you can use to get the ball rolling as you follow up.
- How is it working?
- How would you summarize the work/effort so far?
- What’s working well? What are you thinking of altering?
G-ive Affirmation – Validation
The final stage of the coaching process is one that can be used anywhere during the coaching conversation, but especially at the end. This is very important step and one that most people forget to do. Take the time to Give Affirmation and acknowledge their hard work and desire to grow and change. Your purpose here is to validate the goals, efforts, and plans that the person is putting forth and to validate the strengths or qualities that you see, think, or know will make them successful as they move forward. These statements are a time for you to encourage, inspire, and motivate by saying things like:
- I’ve seen progress in your goals. I want you to now take a second and point out how much progress you’ve seen in the past 3 weeks.
- You know, you’re really stepping up to the plate. It takes a lot of courage to look at yourself and see how you can be more effective. It’s a sign of a real leader.
When you Give Affirmation, be prepared to follow it with a brief pause. People are not used to hearing good things about themselves, and for many people, receiving validation is actually an uncomfortable experience.
Putting it all Together to W.I.N. B.I.G.
You are now set to WIN BIG! Using this formula will not only help you succeed but more importantly, it will help you help others succeed. Once you have determined the coachability of a situation, focus on asking questions that create a dialogue that builds awareness and then move the person to action. To do that, use the W.I.N. B.I.G. model to help you wonder about root cause, investigate wants and name the possibilities. When you have narrowed down your possible solutions, build a plan, insure action and give affirmation to the employee as they go out to be more successful.