coachingpresentation_versionii

Sage NACoaching for Optimal PerformanceMargie Kensil, Firm Solutions, LLC

Life cycle of a business

Session purposes

To reinforce, remind, learn:

• A coaching model/framework for driving dialogue, colleague development, and

organizational change

To ignite Sage’s vision in every colleague:

• Heighten colleague engagement

• Foster greater motivation, commitment, and 100% discretionary effort

Agenda

1. The case for change

2. Driving excellence in everything we do

3. What is coaching?

4. What do I coach to?

The performance pyramid

5. How do I coach?

The coaching model

6. The triumvirate of coaching skills

Creating dialogue

Balancing feedback

Planning for action

7. Handling resistance

8. Practicing for improved execution

9. Wrap-up and commitments

Introductions

Why am I here?

What’s important to me/what do I want to accomplish here at Sage?

What do I want to accomplish during our time together?

The case for change

Sage is on a rapid and transformative journey

Most pivotal asset for success are our colleagues

To achieve our ambition:

We need to develop a strong,

strategically aligned, confidentworkforce whose focus is executing

with excellence, drive and speed

• Sage Leaders

set the tone for

excellence in all

that we do

• Clear goals and

performance

expectations

Clarity

• Ownership

established through

regular coaching and

goals review,

continuous

improvement

conversations

Commitment

• Colleague goals and

aspirations

connected to Sage

NA strategic focus

and our Brand

Promise

Connection

Brand Promise

Conversations for Excellence

Customer

Experience

Colleague

Experience

Results

Through

People

Your role as a Sage people leaderResults through people

See It!

Want It!

Own It!

Tell our story and

translate Sage’s

vision and strategic

priorities into team

and individual goals

Set the bar for

excellence

Clarity

Hold people accountable

through strong execution

plans, coaching, and

feedback

Drive success across

Sage

CommitmentConnect each and

every colleague with

their passion, career

aspirations, and

strengths

Build strong

relationships and

networks across Sage

Connection

Your Role as a Manager

Start with clarity

• I understand Sage’s

strategic focus and

direction.

• I know what is

expected of me at

work.

• I feel that my work is

important.

• At Sage, excellence

matters.

Your role as a manager

is to tell our story and

translate Sage’s vision

and strategic priorities

into team and

individual goals

Build connection

• I get to build off of my

strengths every day.

• I have goals that I am

passionate about.

• I’m learning and growing.

• I’m adding value to my

customers.

• I am having a positive

impact on our business.

• Sage cares about me.

Your role as a people

manager is to connect

each and every colleague

with their passions, career

aspirations, and

strengths—and to build

networks across Sage

Attain and keep commitment

• I am focused on the

right priorities.

• I know what the desired

end result looks like.

• I have regular check-

ins.

• I receive ongoing

feedback and coaching.

• I am held accountable.

Your role as a manager

is to hold people

accountable through

strong execution plans,

coaching, and

feedback

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Development through

coaching

Coaching defined

One/one conversations with each colleague

• Based on results and/or observation of job performance

• Regularly scheduled

• Both prepare and participate

• Analyzes results, activities, skills, behaviors, and knowledge

• Focuses on business goals

• Results in action steps to sustain and improve

The Result: A relationship in which collaboration produces accountability, development, and results

Coaching is more like a marathon and less like a sprint – why?

What coaching is not

• Only for problem colleagues

• A performance plan session

• A meeting where I tell you what you’re doing wrong

• A meeting where I tell you how to do things

What does effective coachinglook like?

• During quarterly performance meetings?

• During 1:1’s?

• For a high performing person?

• In stressful situations?

• When you don’t have positional power?

Goal – 90%

Excellence,

Consistency

The Performance Pyramid

Not completely

controllable

Controllable

Controllable

© Omega Performance

Making result more predictable

What to coachThe performance pyramid

Work with your team. Compare your Performance Pyramid pre-work exercises.

Choose one to present as a group, highlighting and being ready to explain the:

• Result or outcome

• High-impact activities

• Critical skills, behaviors, knowledge

Measure and observe

Coach again

Agree on agenda

Ask, then tell, did wells (Coachable Moments)

Ask, then tell, next times (Coachable Moments)

Agree on action plan (Next steps, noted down)

Schedule

PrepareB efore

D uring

A fter


How to coachThe coaching model

Who do you coach?

Star Above Average

Average ROJ

How do people feel when they’ve been coached effectively?

• Motivated

• Respected

• Valued

• Validated

• Energized

• Enlightened

• Confident

• Empowered

• Appreciated

• Encouraged

• Excited

• Understood

• Satisfied

• Important

• Part of a team

• Making a difference

Coaching big rocks

Create dialogue

• Ask first, then tell

• Use 3 levels of questions to foster self discovery

Drive change with action planning

Creating dialogue andbalancing feedback

Discuss successes before improvements

Ask first, then tell

Focus on future behavior

• Say next time

Be specific

• Give examples

Describe impact

Creating dialogue Ask first

Start with strengths – did wells

Ask questions that get people thinking and talking

• What do you see as your greatest success this week/month/quarter?

• What are you proudest of?

• Tell me about your biggest accomplishment.

• Which goals are you on target with? Ahead of target?

Follow up with questions that dig deeper – activities, skills, behavior,

knowledge

• How did you do that?

• What made you so successful?

• What did you do to accomplish these successes?

• Why was that effective?

• Why did that work?

Creating dialogue Respond, acknowledge, and then tell

Respond to create conversation; paraphrase/summarize as necessary

• That’s great! So it sounds like….

Tell coachee something else that he/she has done well

• Here’s something else that I want to discuss…

• I’ve also observed…

• I’ve gotten feedback on …

Include positive impact on customers, peers, goals

Create action steps to sustain and expand skills

• What will you continue to do?

• How can you use ___ in other projects?

• What do you want to note down and capture, because it’s one of your

strengths?

Balancing feedback Ask first

Transition to improvement opportunities – next times

Ask questions that get people thinking and talking

• What do you need to work on?

• What is off track?

• Tell me about the gap in _____you identified.

• Which goals are behind?

Follow up with questions that dig deeper – activities, skills, behavior,

knowledge in future-oriented terms

• How will you do that?

• What will make you successful in improving ____?

• What benefits do you see in changing ________?

• How/Why will that change the outcome?

• What will you actually say and do?

• How comfortable are you . . . ?

• What obstacles do you anticipate?

Balancing feedback Respond, acknowledge, and then tell

Respond to create conversation; paraphrase/summarize as necessary

• Those are good ideas. So it sounds like….

• I think that will work well.

Tell coachee something else that you want him/her to work on using future

oriented terms

• Here’s something else that I want you to work on …

• Going forward….Next time…

Include anticipated positive impact on customers, peers, results

Create action steps to improve results and skills

• What will you do differently going forward?

Self discovery

Impact/Result

What was the impact? What will be the impact?

Action

How did you do it? How will you do it?

“Did Well” Behavior “Next Time”

What did you do? What will you do?

High impact telling

Impact/Result

How can you use in other situations?

What will be the impact?

Action

How did you do it? How might you do that?


Here’s what you did: Next time…

High impact telling

Impact/Result

You can use this in these situations…

This will help you in this way…

Action

Specifically…It could sound/look like

this…


Here’s what you did: Next time…

High impact questionsDid wells

• What did you do that led to the project’s success?

• How did those things impact the project?

• What specific actions/knowledge did you use to make that happen?

• How did you know to do/use that?

• What will you do to remind yourself to keep doing that?

High impact questionsNext times

• What area do you want to work on for next time?

• How comfortable are you with…(that area)?

• What would you do differently?

• What actions will you take to make that happen?

• What will get in your way and keep you from doing this?

• What would you like to discuss today?

• What is the most important thing on your plate right now?

• What is the next step you need to take?

• What progress has been made?

• How are you feeling about your work?

• What are you most proud of this week?

• In what way can I be more helpful to you?

• What’s working? What’s not working?

• In what areas do you feel you could develop professionally?

Conversations for excellence

Ask firstStep 1

Form groups of three. There will be three roles

• Coachee

• Coach

• Observer

Coachee: Frame your coaching case study scenario from pre-work (1 minute).

Coachee answers questions.

Coach: Gather more information on Coachee’s case study, using only

questions. Go down three levels.

Observer: Monitors time and takes notes of questions asked.

Total time to ask questions: 5 minutes

Then tellStep 2

Coach now tells

• What you think the coachee did well in the case study/approach

• What you want him/her to do differently, using future-oriented language

• Include specifics and impact

Observer monitors time and takes notes on the coach’s tells

Observer leads a short debrief on coach’s use of 3 levels of questions and

use of balanced feedback

Switch roles and repeat

Total time for each round: 15 minutes

Agree on action plan

Ask for summary of what colleague will do next time

Respond to action plan

Express confidence in colleague and support for plan

SMART action steps

S M A R T

Specific Measureable Achievable Relevant Time bound

• Answers

these W

questions

(what, why,

where,

which)

• How much?

• How many?

• How will I

know when I

have

succeeded?

• Within my

control?

• What do I

need to

learn?

• Is it

aligned

with my

overall

goal/objec

tive?

• When?

• What can

I do

before

next

coaching

session?

• What can

I do

today?

Guidelines for effective action plans

1. Start with an action verb

• Increase

• Decrease

• Continue to

• Stop doing

2. List what you want to continue or to change

• Sales

• Average handle time

• Customer satisfaction score

3. How do you want to continue it or change

it?

• Number, percentage

• Use in other areas/ways

4. How will you do it

• By doing what activity?

• Using what skill or behavior?

5. Date you’ll finish or date(s)

for significant milestone

accomplishments

Example of an individual

contributor’s FY14 Q4 Objectives

Objective: Manage and execute

Sage 50-Accounting Canadian

Edition launch for SAN Members

Objective Detail:

•Create direct marketing brand

resource kit to be mailed to partners

mid-September. Kit to include

datasheets, templates and

resources (similar to Sage 50 US kit

but create one set of collateral with

a Canadian theme)

•Create two partner focused launch

events, East coast and West coast,

that celebrate Sage 50 and tie back

to the Canadian theme of the

launch

North American Sage Accountants Network – FY14 business priorities

Strategic Performance

Support our strategic initiatives

currently underway as we move

towards a unified Sage in North

America.

These initiatives include:

• Differentiating Sage through our

Extraordinary Customer

Experience

• One Sage through our Sage

branded house

• Developing a new pricing model

• Our move to the cloud

• Leveraging best practices and

best features across the Sage

product line

North American GoalExamples of Related

Department Goals

• Increase program value by

increasing CPE accredited

training for accountants

• Effectively launch the new Sage

brand, increasing awareness in

the accountant channel

• Create new and grow existing

strategic partnerships, including

CPA State Societies and

AICPA, to bring greater

awareness and exposure to

Sage

Example of Related

Individual Goal

Effective or not?

• Ask a good mix of open and closed questions when on sales calls.

• Increase customer satisfaction score 3% in the next 30 days by employing all

required behaviors.

• During my next team meeting, be sure to include all group members in the

discussion by asking more questions, e.g. ‘How do the rest of you feel? Mary?

John?’ Keep a list of questions used and their impact; to be debriefed at next

week’s 1:1.

• Meet with my team members at least once/month to keep them apprised of

project progress and get their feedback.

ExerciseAction planning

Work with your neighbor(s)

What will you be ready to offer to your case study coachee as potential

action items?

• At least 1 continue action item

• No more than 2 stop or start action items

Share with your neighbor(s) and get their help to ensure they’re SMART

When colleagues push back and resist

What do they say?

What do they do?

Become defensive

Get angry!

Tell

Argue

Avoid

What do leaders do in response?Human reactions to resistance

Before it ever happensPreparing for resistance

Imagine it happening – worst case scenario

Then picture yourself being successful in handling it

• What will you say?

• How will you act?

Ask questions to get colleague involved throughout the conversation

Specifically ask about obstacles—get them on the table early

Directly address a likely concern before the colleague even brings it up

Handling resistance

Provide Information Position with Benefits

or Provide Alternative

C

R

E

A cknowledge

xplore

esolve

heck for Satisfaction


How will you respond?

Work in groups of three – Coach, Coachee, Observer

• Pick one of the resistance examples surfaced earlier that you think you’ll hear

when you coach

• Ask your Coachee partner to give you that particular resistance example

• Take turns applying the steps for handling resistance:

Round 1: Coach Coachee Observer

Round 2: Rotate positions

Round 3: Rotate positions again

Each person plays each role once

Now you try it…

Measure and observe

Coach again

Agree on agenda

Ask, then tell, did wells

Ask, then tell, next times

Agree on action plan

Schedule

PrepareB efore

D uring

A fter


The coaching model

Skill practice process

You will play yourself

Your partner will play your case study coachee

You’ll be assigned to a small team and to a break-out room

You’ll take turns recording each other as you practice facilitating your case

study coaching session

After all are recorded, play back each recording and practice peer coaching

• What worked well? What did the coach say/do?

• Why was it effective (what was the impact)?

• What would you suggest be done differently? How might it sound?

• What will be the impact of doing/saying it differently?

Repeat for each person

Roles

For each recording

• Coach – Uses his/her pre-work case study

• Coachee – Plays the part of the case study subject

• Timekeeper – Monitors time and keeps people on track

• Observers (includes Timekeeper) – Take notes

For each playback

• Facilitator – Leads the debrief, ensuring steps of the coaching process are followed

• Technician – Runs the camera and sets up for playback

• Peer Coaches – Offers did-well and next-time feedback - includes everyone!

Skill practice preparation

Plan

• Complete your Coaching Plan worksheet – your strategy for conducting a coaching

session with your case study

• Get with your practice partner

• Discuss case studies so that each is prepared to play that role

Do

• Convene in your groups and in your breakout room

• Record each person practicing their coaching conversation (10-12 minutes each)

Review

• Play back each taping

• Self-coach and receive peer coaching (10 minutes each)

Effective peer coaching

• Ask more than you tell

• Coach identifies 1-2 strengths/successes and why effective (did wells)

• Peer Coaches share 1-2 strengths and positive impact (did wells)

• Coach identifies 1-2 improvement areas/skills and anticipated positive impact

next time (did wells)

• Peer Coaches share 1-2 improvement areas/skills, what it would sound/look

like, and anticipated positive impact (next times)

Coaching plan worksheet

colleague: Date:

One or two successes to discuss (include specific examples):

One or two gaps to discuss (include activities, skills, knowledge to suggest for improvement):

Purpose or agenda for coaching conversation:

Questions you’ll ask to facilitate self discovery of successes:

Questions you’ll ask to facilitate self discovery of gaps:

Possible resistance that might occur:

One or two potential action items you might suggest:

54

Planning for success

Next steps

Meet with your team

• Tell them what you’ve been doing

• Be authentic about the benefits and where you’re still not sure

• Get them involved – Reactions? Questions? Where/how to start?

• Set up first one: one to get started

Meet with each individual

• Repeat first three steps above

Start coaching, using coaching process and 3 key skills

Ask Coachees for feedback and input

Make it part of your routines with your team members

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Appendix

Make a habit of spending time with colleagues on a regular basis. This increases their

comfort level with your presence and helps them to act more naturally when you’re around

Let your colleagues know you’re observing to learn from them and about them – to better

understand how they do their jobs so that you can be more helpful

Lessen the appearance of spying – smile; talk to internal and external customers; be informal

Look for behavioral evidence of job competence or opportunities – for example, evidence that

they understand their jobs (product and procedural knowledge) as well as behaviors that

show effective communication (listening, restating key points, asking thoughtful and relevant

questions, collaboration, etc.)

Be careful not to hijack the meeting or interaction. Your role is to observe and perhaps

participate in a limited fashion, as the two of you agreed during your set-up conversation.

Don’t interrupt or correct your colleagues in front of the person or group. If the mistake or

misinformation is minimal, discuss it during the follow-up coaching session. If they provide

critically incorrect information, provide the correct information only in a way that preserves

their self-esteem and credibility

Be forthright about what you’re doing. Plan with your colleague how you’ll observe and what

you’ll observe, building on previous action plans. Beware of just dropping in, sitting at a

nearby desk and eavesdropping. This is ineffective for growth, breeds distrust, and could

prove embarrassing to you. No drive-bys allowed!

As soon as possible after an observation, capture your feedback, note specific examples, and

have the coaching conversation. That way, your feedback will be accurate as well as useful.

Observation coaching tips

coachingpresentation_versionii

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