This session will utilize coaching skills to create a culture of learning and career development. Do your leaders see employee engagement as a survey, program, or completing a course? Do you want your leaders and employees to convert feedback and conversations into meaningful action and growth? Unconscious bias, resistance to feedback and organizational politics can make it challenging to measure the needs of your teams and organizations. With the coaching skill everyone can be equipped to help drive learning and growth.

1. Creating a Coaching Culture
Coaching Conversations

2. Laura Pasquini, PhD
Learning/Research Design + Executive Coach techknowtools.com/about

3. Learning Objectives
● List key characteristics of
coaching practice
● Practice using 3 coaching skills
● Identify situations where you
can apply coaching skills
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

4. Setting the Agenda
• What is Coaching?
• Why Coaching @ Work?
• Creating a Coaching Culture
◦ Coaching Skills & Mindset
• Powerful Questions
• W.A.I.T. Time
• Coaching Scenarios
• When to (Not) Coach
• Coaching Resources
Coaching
Playbook

5. This is not coaching 101.
Coaching certification takes time & practice.
This session will offer you some useful
coaching skills & tools to try out.
Not all things are coachable.
Always “learn and be curious” as you develop
your coaching skills.
Warning: You Are Not A Coach

6. What is Coaching?
What are your goals for coaching?
How can coaching skills support your leader?

7. International Coach Federation (ICF)
https://coachfederation.org/
“partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and
creative process that inspires them to maximize
their personal and professional potential.”
Coaching Defined

8. Talking with others.
-Self-directed: choice and
goals
-Agreement between
people for relationship
-Shares advice,
perspectives, & resources
Listening to others.
-Structured: set agenda
or specific focus
-Defined time & length
of relationship
-Ask more questions &
reflects back
COACHING MENTORING
https://www.td.org/insights/mentoring-versus-coaching-whats-the-difference
MANAGING
Directing & leading others.
-Combination: goals &
agenda
-Defined roles for
relationship & power
dynamics
-Supervising, supporting,
advising, etc.
Coaching vs. Mentoring vs. Managing

9. • Get unstuck
• Empower learning
• Seek clarity
• Move forward on decisions
• Prioritize projects
• Identify goals
• Make progress
Pause + Reflect = RESET

10. Why Coaching Works
How can coaching skills help you?
How would you use coaching at work?

11. Group Meetings
Product Team Reviews
Brainstorming Sessions
Team Summits
Performance Conversations
Post-Mortems/Retrospectives
Employee Onboarding
Coaching occurs in 1:1 conversations, but coaching skills also helps with:
Where Coaching Happens @ Work

12. ● Coaching is dynamic and can adapt
with the coachee
● Coaching can be on demand and still
have deep impact
● Coaching doesn’t require prior
knowledge for the coachee
● Virtual friendly
● Coaching happens at all leader levels
Coaching at Scale

13. Creating a Coaching Culture
Infusing Coaching Skills to Learn & Develop

14. Coach the Person, Not
the Problem
Stop solving problems
Start with a Coaching Mindset

15. Why Ask Questions?
- Go beyond advising or telling
- Questions hold the power to cause us to think,
create answers, we believe in.
- Questions motivate us to act on our ideas
The Power of Coaching Skills

16. Trust the Process
Dive deep to get to the
root issue with
someone -- this might
take time.
Using Coaching Skills … Takes TIME!

17. 4 simple, but critical steps:
1. Identify a topic.
2. Ask the significance of this topic.
3. Define a measurable outcome.
4. Repeat back the stated topic & goal above.
Coaching-in-Action: Setting the Agenda
p. 2

18. • Short: get to the point
• “What” & “How” stems
• Open-ended & open
• Come from curiosity
• Focus on the client, not the
problem [solving]
• Goal-oriented – the agenda
• Questions use the other
person’s words
• Followed by silence (7-10 sec)
Ask Powerful Questions

19. Closed
Questions
Do you have any
other ideas?
Can you really take
that on that other
project too?
What other ideas do
you have?
What do you need to
prioritize now?
It Might Not Be a Coaching Question If…

20. Solution-
Oriented
Questions
Should you check
with your team
before we agree?
Will you have that
response by Friday?
What do we need to
know to move
forward?
What time do you
need?
It Might Not Be a Coaching Question If…

21. Rambling
Questions
Insert a long
preamble, your
thoughts, ideas, and
opinions + a question
and then another
two questions for
the other person to
answer.
You mentioned___,
tell more about that.
What’s going on
there?
Say more…
Expand on that…
It Might Not Be a Coaching Question If…

22. Rhetorical
Questions
What were you
thinking?
Isn’t that just an
excuse to miss the
deadline?
What is____?
Tell me more about…
What blockers do you
have for this
deadline?
It Might Not Be a Coaching Question If…

23. Interpretive
Questions
How long have you
not liked working on
this project?
What ways does your
team not support
you?
How has this project
been frustrating to
you?
What kind of support
do you need?
It Might Not Be a Coaching Question If…

24. “Why”
Questions
(No 5 Whys)
Why can’t you talk
to your manager?
Why did you say no
to that
opportunity?
What have you told
your manager?
What made you say
no?
It Might Not Be a Coaching Question If…

25. Applying Coaching Skills
Coaching in Practice: Applying What We’ve Learned

26. GOAL
What do you want to talk about?
What do you want to focus on?
REALITY CHECK
What have you tried already?
What led you here?
OPTIONS
What solutions are you thinking of?
What could help you?
WILL
What will you do next? (action step)
What steps could you take?
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_89.htm
The GROW Model
p. 8

27. Coach to Coach Podcast, S4. Ep. 4 Powerful Questions
A Few of My Favorite Coaching Questions

28. How are you
holding space?
What pauses do
you leave in
conversation?
Remember the W.A.I.T. Time

29. Ask the “LAZY” Question:
• How can I help you?
• What do you need from me?
*For 1:1 conversations & not
group discussions
Help Me, Help You*

30. ASK about the next steps:
• What did you learn from our
conversation?
• What changes will you make?
• What will you work on next?
*For 1:1 conversations & not group discussions
Accountability for Action*

31. Coaching Scenarios
Examples of Where & How To Apply Coaching Skills
pp.
3-8

32. Coach: Be customer-obsessed! Think about your coachee as your customer and step into their
shoes as you roleplay this situation. Read the scenario and use your empathy for how you
would behave and approach situation.
Coachee: Trust your coach. Share more about the issue, challenge, and blockers for your
situation. With this knowledge and role play, gauge how you will approach this situation and
identify a solution/path forward with your coach. Good luck!
Observer: You will observe and take notes about what you notice about this coaching
conversation. Observe key coaching skills and questions asked during this role play. At the end
of the 8-minute role play, you will lead your small group through a brief retrospective
COACHING SCENARIO TIMELINE:
15 minutes – 10 minutes per role play & 5 minutes to debrief
Instructions: Role Play & Fishbowl
p. 3

33. Coach: What did you learn from this
experience?
Coachee: What was useful for you?
What did you take away from the
conversation?
All: What feedback or insights do
you have? How would you improve
for next time?
Bring your reflections back to the larger group debrief!
Small Group Debrief
p. 3
What did the coach do well?
What sort of questions were asked?
What support did the coach offer?
If you were the coach, what questions might
you have asked?
What did you learn from this scenario?
What advice/resources might you offer the
coachee?

34. When Not to Coach
Not everything is coachable...

35. Before you use any coaching skills, questions to ask yourself:
Have I earned TRUST with this person?
• The role of psychological safety and vulnerability
• What is the power dynamic at play?
• How am I showing up?
What support does this colleague need?
• What is the desired outcome?
• What is the span of control?
• What is the timeline?
Am I the best person for the job?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Survey the Coaching Scene

36. Human
Resources
Employee
Assistance
Program
Consultant or
SME
Manager or
Skip Level
Know When to Refer Out

37. Coaching Resources
Resources, Reads, and Tools to Learn More!

38. The Coaching Habit
How to Begin
- Michael Bungay Stainer
Coaching Questions
- Tony Stoltzfus
How to Design Powerful Questions
Coaching Through It
(Podcast)
Beyond Coaching:
Dare to Lead Hub – Values, Leadership, Team
culture
Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/
McKinsey https://www.mckinsey.com/
Gartner https://www.gartner.com/
Radical Candor - Kim Scott
The Thin Book of Trust - Charles Feltman
Coaching References & Reads
p. 9

39. What was
most useful
to you?
What are you
taking away
from this
session?
What powerful
question(s) will
you ask next?
Wrap Up: Closing Questions