The document outlines ten coaching tips designed to develop employees and enhance their skills and growth. Key strategies include setting goals, engaging coachees with homework, asking insightful questions, and encouraging self-reflection through journaling and role-play. These practices aim to foster awareness, improve behaviors, and guide coachees towards achieving their professional aspirations.

1. 10 Coaching Tips to Develop People
Rex Gatto Ph.D., BCC
The coaching process may pay great dividends in developing employee present needs, creating a
group of future leaders, supporting employee satisfaction, and creating a talent pool for a
succession plan. Coaching is a partnership in which the trained and experienced coach guides
and develops the coachees to achieve goals. The coach helps the coachees think of what they had
not thought of, said, dreamed or created. The coach helps to expand coachee thinking and
experience life in new ways. The coaching process supports an increased awareness by the
coachees to understand what they are doing right and to develop alternative thinking and acting.
Here are ten tips to follow to develop people.
1. Identify goals (no goals no coaching). Goals support a direction that the coach and coachee
can work toward. Fulfillment of goals is a clear sign of growth and development, which is a
principle of coaching.
2. Give homework assignments between meetings so that the coachee is continually engaged
in the developmental process, expanding the coachee’s present thinking. Some examples of
homework are: reading specific articles that ultimately support goal achievement, completing
skill based or personality assessments, meeting with executives to better get to know them and
organizational goals and direction.
3. Ask the right questions to pull out the coachee’s thoughts and ideas by asking questions
(Socratic questioning or guided discovery). Sample questions: If there were no obstacles
standing in your way, what action would you take? What did you learn from your problem
solving the issue with your boss? What is the best way for you to work with others? What will

2. you do differently the next time you have an assignment like this? These questions continue to
expand the coachee’s present thinking.
4. Ask the coachee to keep a journal of development, which will chronicle individual
development and outline trends and changes that the coachee has made. Use a weekly update that
outlines the coachee’s work for that week’s achievements, challenges, pending work, and
coaching issues to be discussed.
5. Case Studies and role-play to re-live business situations. This can be a help in
understanding what actually occurred during or after a specific interaction or meeting. The coach
can role-play the boss/peer and the coachee can be him/herself. Recapture key aspects of the
discussion or interaction, things that went right, a areas that could be improved, then summarize
key learning's.
6. Identify the coachee’s recurring issues. Discuss what s/he can do differently to be more
effective. For example, if the coachee continually misses details and does not do accurate work,
the coachee is habitually late for meetings, or the coachee interrupts and talks over people,
discuss these habits and skills to improve the coachee’s actions. The coach needs to give direct
feedback to help the coachee learn alternative behaviors, identify key areas of learning, and
guide the coachee to continually enhance his/her skills and behaviors.
7. Identify the coachee’s negative dysfunctional thoughts, attitudes and statements. Continue
to emphasize what the coachee is doing right. Identify actions/behaviors that need to stop or be
developed. Guide and support the coachee to move toward positive goal achievement and
enhanced performance given the work culture. (Examples of a negative dysfunctional attitude is
blaming the boss for not being prepared or blaming a peer or direct report for not doing work
correctly or on time, rather than working with them in a calm manner). Be specific if the coachee
indicates that she/he always seem to make mistakes. Follow up with questions such as “where
and when do you feel you make mistakes”? Goal achievement can help the coachee break a
negative cycle that may be mentally perpetuated. Some examples of a negative cycle are: “I
can’t”. “I made a major mistake”. “How could I have been so stupid”? Work in a collaborative
way with your coachee to recognize any dysfunctional thinking that focuses away from personal
responsibility.
Support the coachee’s development by identifying any actions or thoughts that will ultimately
prevent the coachee from achieving goals.
8. Identify the coachee’s level of vulnerability, confidence or feelings of inadequacy, and
work to support a growth mindset toward a new self-awareness. Help the coachee gain
confidence “I can do ……….. ”. Support the coachee in having flexibility in understanding
personal thoughts and feelings.
9. Keep the goals in mind. Identify why to take or not take action; both are decisions. Ask the
coachee what the outcome would be if action was or was not taken (best/worst outcomes). Guide
the coachee to know when to make a decision to take of not take action. Discuss when the

3. situation calls for action. Discuss levels of authority and when the coachee can and cannot make
autonomous decisions.
10. Ask follow-up questions to better understand the coachee’s thoughts and interpretations of
action. (Questions can lead to an understanding of beliefs, assumptions and values through the
disclosure of thought.) Some examples of learning questions could be: what went right and
wrong? what will you do differently next time? developmental question would be: what is one
skill you want to acquire? accountability question would be: how will you know when you are
successful?
The coach’s job is to engage the coachee in a positive way while helping the coachee grow in
his/her abilities and confidence. Find positive ways to involve the coachee in the organization or
professional organizations (joining committees or special projects). Help the coachee become an
integral part of the organization. The above ten tips will help you as a coach interact in a right
way with your coachee.
Rex Gatto Ph.D., BCC
President
Gatto Associates LLC.
412 344-2277 (Office)
www.rexgatto.com
rex@rexgatto.com