Coaching and

Developing
Employees
with Lisa Gates

Exercise Guide

Exercise Guide Contents

Opening Questions for You, the Manager (Intro)..................................................................... page 2
The GROW Model (Chapter 1, Video 2)........................................................................................ page 3
Power Talk Coaching Model (Chapter 1, Video 3)........................................................................ page 4
101 Powerful Questions (Chapter 2, Video 2).............................................................................. page 5
The Discovery Questionnaire (Chapter 3, Video 1)...................................................................... page 8
Looking Back to Move Forward (Chapter 3, Video 1)................................................................... page 9
Influence Interview Questions (Chapter 3, Video 2)................................................................... page 10
SMART Goals (Chapter 3, Video 3)............................................................................................. page 11
Coaching Research and Resources (Chapter 5, Video 1)........................................................... page 13

Coaching and Developing Employees with Lisa Gates

Exercise Guide Contents

Opening Questions for You, the Manager (Intro)

How valuable would it be to you to have a boss whos completely invested in your professional aspirations?

Are some of your employees stagnating?

Do you think some might be itchy to move and find better opportunities?

Has their enthusiasm flatlined to such a degree that theyve become toxic to your workplace?

Who on your team could benefit from coaching (choose three)?

Where do you have two or three 10-minute chunks of time you can block out every week to coach people?

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The GROW Model (Chapter 1, Video 2)

GROW is an acronym that stands for Goals, Realities, Options, and Will, and it has several purposes. It helps you and your
employees clarify their initial goals, assess whats currently happening, and identify potential roadblocks. It also helps your
people brainstorm both opportunities and resources for growth.

Goals:
What is it you would like to focus on?
What would you like to achieve?
What would you like to happen that is not happening now?
How would you know you were being successful if you achieved your goal?
How could you break this goal down into manageable chunks?
What are all the things that would need to be done to achieve the goal?

Realities - Assess whats currently going on:

What is happening at the moment to derail your progress toward the goal?
When and how often does this happen? Be precise if possible.
What effect does this have?
What other factors are relevant?
Who else is relevant?
What is that persons perception of the situation?
What have you tried so far?
What else is conflicting with achieving the goal?

Options - Kick-start some brainstorming:

What possibilities for action do you see? Dont worry about how realistic they are at this stage.
Who might be able to help?
Which options do you like the most?
What are the benefits and pitfalls of these options?
Which options are of interest to you?
Rate from 1 to 10 your assessment of the practicality of each of these options.
Would you like to choose an option to act on?

Will - Unlock actions, accountabilities, and roadblocks:

What are your next steps?
Precisely when will you take them?
What might get in the way?

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The GROW Model

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Power Talk Coaching Model (Chapter 1, Video 3)

Be curious

rs o

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c ti o

ee

Re

on

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pe

fle

Visi

Coach the who

Powerful questions
Listening
Challenge
Action
Accountability
Feedback

lo y e e le a d

Awareness

t
t
Le

The Three Cornerstones of Coaching

1. Be curious
2. Let the employee lead
3. Coach the whole person

The Core Conversations

1. Awareness
2. Vision
3. Reflection

Power Talk Practices

1. Powerful questions
2. Listening
3. Challenge
4. Action
5. Accountability
6. Feedback

Coaching and Developing Employees with Lisa Gates

Power Talk Coaching Model

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101 Powerful Questions (Chapter 2, Video 2)

How to use...to support your process as you coach people.

1.

Im curious; may I ask you a few questions?

2.

Whats great about your life this week?

3.

How have you grown this week?

4.

What did you accomplish this week?

5.

Who did you serve?

6.

What did you learn?

7.

Who else will benefit?

8.

What are you grateful for?

9.

Whos grateful for you?

10. Is this what you want to be coached on or are you just sharing?
11. What could you be happy about if you chose to be?
12. Are you using this to grow or are you beating yourself up?
13. Does this story empower you or disempower you?
14. How can you turn this around and have better results next time?
15. On a scale of 1 10 how honest have you been about this, with others?
16. Do you mind if I offer an observation?
17. Is this the problem or the solution?
18. How would you like it to be?
19. Whats in the way?
20. Whats stopping you?
21. What does this mean to you?
22. Are you focused on whats wrong or whats right?
23. Is that a story or the truth?
24. How can you find out?
25. Do you want this for its own sake or are you trying to avoid something else?
26. Is this giving you energy or draining your energy?
27. What will really make the biggest difference here?
28. Is this a limitation or is it a strength?
29. Whats the benefit of this problem?
30. Who else is this hurting?
31. What does your intuition tell you about this?
32. Do you have a gut feeling about this?
33. Have you solved problems like this before?
34. What rules do you have that are getting in the way?
35. How long have you been thinking about this?
36. Have you ever experienced something like this before?
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101 Powerful Questions

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37. If you changed your belief about this, what would be possible?
38. Is this a decision or a pipe dream?
39. Which of your core values does this goal express?
40. Is this goal pulling you forward or are you struggling to reach it?
41. Will this choice move you forward or keep you stuck?
42. Whats the first step you need to take to reach your goal?
43. Whats the worst that can happen, and can you handle that?
44. Whats the downside of your dream?
45. Whats stopping you from taking action?
46. Who wouldnt like it if you succeeded?
47. What will you have to give up in order to make room for your goals?
48. How would your life be transformed if you changed this right now?
49. If you dont change this, what will it cost you in the long run?
50. Whats the most resourceful choice here?
51. How can you improve this, so it adds value forever?
52. How can you solve this problem so it never comes back?
53. Are you acting on faith or fear?
54. If you werent scared, what would you do?
55. Are you standing in your power or pleasing someone else?
56. What are you pretending not to know?
57. How could you have this conversation so it empowers everyone concerned?
58. What might make the difference that could change everything?
59. If you approached this with courage, how could your life change?
60. Are you procrastinating or is there a reason to delay?
61. Whats the emotional cost vs. the financial cost?
62. Which step could you take that would make the biggest difference, right now?
63. How can you get your needs fully met?
64. If your life were exclusively oriented around your values, what would that be like?
65. How would you describe the difference between a need and a value?
66. If you achieve this goal, will it bring lasting fulfillment or temporary pleasure?
67. Have you thought about the impact youll have by creating this?
68. How can you learn from this problem so it never happens again?
69. How can you create more value with less effort?
70. What are you willing to do to improve this situation?
71. What are you willing to stop doing to improve this situation?
72. How can you enjoy the process of solving this problem?
73. Do you mind if I ask a very personal question?
74. What are you willing to commit to here?
75. Do you need to work harder or delegate this?
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101 Powerful Questions

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76. If this weakness were also a strength, what would that be?
77. How can you use this so it becomes a benefit?
78. Have you decided to take action or are you just hoping you will?
79. Are you angry or are you hurt?
80. Who can help you with this?
81. Does your current habitat fully support who youre becoming?
82. What do you need in order to succeed here?
83. What plan do you need in order to achieve your new goals?
84. Are your personal standards high enough to reach your goals?
85. What will your impact be 100 years from now?
86. Who do you need to become in order to succeed here?
87. What are you responsible for here?
88. Instead of either/or, how could you use both?
89. Are you approaching this from your head or from your heart?
90. Is this an assumption or have you checked to be sure?
91. How can you learn what you need to know about this?
92. Is this the best outcome you can imagine or is there something greater?
93. Do you have a detailed strategy to get there?
94. How will you transform your life with this new knowledge?
95. What does this accomplishment mean to you?
96. Why does it matter?
97. Who did you have to become to achieve it?
98. What did you learn in the process?
99. Who else will benefit?
100. Whats next for you?
101. How have you changed the world for generations to come?

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101 Powerful Questions

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The Discovery Questionnaire (Chapter 3, Video 1)

Please tell me about your life and work. Your answers are completely confidential. Take your time. Go deep. Nothing is out
of bounds.

Assess Your Role

1. What do you love about your work?
2. What do you wish you could change?
3. If you were to review your current job description, what components do you no longer do? What new responsibilities
have you taken on?

Describe Your Achievements and Goals

1. What are your most satisfying achievements not just in your current position, but in your entire career?
2. What do you want to accomplish this year?
3. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
4. What support and/or resources do you need to achieve your immediate goals?
5. What support and/or resources do you need to achieve your career aspirations?
6. What is your ideal work?
7. What skills do people acknowledge you for?
8. What skills or talents would you like to be acknowledged for?

Identify Your Work Style

1. How much of a priority are you in your own life?
2. How well do you keep promises to yourself and others?
3. How satisfied are you with your level of productivity?
4. How well do you communicate with others?
5. What areas of your work life would you MOST like to improve?
6. What routinely gets in your way?

Express Your Vision

1. If you were the CEO, where would you take this company?
2. If you could change the world (and you can), what needs would you meet or what problems would you solve?
3. What two steps could you take right now that would make the biggest difference in your life and work?
4. Anything else?

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The Discovery Questionnaire

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Looking Back to Move Forward (Chapter 3, Video 1)

Some time into our careers and livelihoods we often take a reflective pause. We reach a point at which we may have forgotten
who we are and were kind of grey about our strengths, skills, and accomplishments, and we lament about wiping the slate
clean and starting over.
But what if we havent been looking at our own slate objectively? Or with appreciation? What if we look back at our lives and
see a string of half-baked ideas, stops, and starts, or a bunch of almosts? How do we learn to see clearly?
Because we are so intimately familiar with the background chatter telling us where were not living up to our own or others
expectations, this exercise is designed to help you meet that chatter with the truth. Were going to turn things around a bit and
take a look at all youve accomplished. Every little thing. Every big thing.
In this exercise you are part journalist, part scientist, and part alchemist. Try to be as objective as possible. The goal is to capture
all of youall that youve been and all that you areso that you can strategize your future. In other words, what you discover (or
rediscover) can be used to help you change direction, seek a promotion or lateral shift, or change the market you currently serve.
Perhaps most important, you will have the opportunity to find your story, or multiple stories or narratives, that can be used to
sing your own praises and frame your value as a benefit to your employer, team, or market.
Take your time. Go deep. Take one pass, set it down and come back to it in a few hours or days.

Part One: Tracking Your Results & Accomplishments

1. What did you accomplish this month?
2. What did you accomplish this year?
3. What were the major experiences, events, and accomplishments of your childhood...high school...college?
4. What were the major accomplishments in your...20s...30s...40s...50s..60s?

Part Two: Themes, Values, & Strengths

1. What are the repeating themes?
2. What values do your accomplishments reveal?
3. What kinds of results do you produce repeatedly?
4. What do your accomplishments and results reveal as your most consistent strengths?
5. What strengths do you wish you could employ more frequently?
6. What strengths would you like to retire and say no tothings you are good at that you no longer enjoy?

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Looking Back to Move Forward

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Part Three: Whats Your Story?

In the first few parts of this exercise youve been gathering data and evaluating it for themes, values, results, and strengths.
Youll now take it a step further: write your story.
What event or circumstance in your life opened the door for you, made you recognize your power, or colored all your future choices?
When did you realize you had the power to [fill in the blank]?
What story best illustrates who you are and what you bring to the party?
What story demonstrates your top strengths and core values most?

You, Incorporated
Undoubtedly, you have more than one story to tell. Whether youre networking, talking with a prospective client, or in a job
interview or annual review, find a story that frames your strengths and capacities, your promise, in a way that meets the goals/
needs of your conversation partner.

Influence Interview Questions (Chapter 3, Video 2)

To keep things simple and straightforward, ask your employee to conduct interviews with coworkers, colleagues, friends,
and family in a concentrated timeframe, and give each interviewee a list of questions focused on two things: strengths
and reality checks.

Strengths Questions
What are my greatest strengths?
What skills can I be counted on for?
What strengths and skills have been most helpful to you?

Reality Check Questions

Where do you see me struggle?
How do I get in my own way?
What can I do right now to improve?
What would you do if you were me?

Coaching and Developing Employees with Lisa Gates

Looking Back to Move Forward/Influence Interview Questions

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SMART Goals (Chapter 3, Video 3)

Todays Date:

Is it SPECIFIC?
Does your goal clearly and specifically state what you
are trying to achieve?

Target Completion Date:

What is your goal in one sentence?

What are the benefits of achieving this goal?

If your goal is particularly large or multifaceted, try

breaking it down into smaller, specific SMART goals.

Is it MEASURABLE?
How will you and others know if progress is being made
on achieving your goal?
Can you quantify or put numbers to your outcome?

Is it ATTAINABLE?
Is achieving your goal dependent on anyone else?

Is it possible to reframe your goal so it only depends on

you and not others?
What are the roadblocks youll likely encounter?

What is your motivation for achieving this goal?

Is it RELEVANT?
Why is achieving this goal important to you?
What values in your life does this goal reflect?
What effect will achieving your goal have on your life or
on others?

Where will you place your goal to make it visible?

How often will you review your progress?

Coaching and Developing Employees with Lisa Gates

SMART Goals

Is it TIMELY?
When will you reach your goal?
Again, if your goal is particularly large, try breaking it
down into smaller goals with incremental target dates.

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ACTION PLAN
Brainstorm all the steps you need to take to accomplish your goal.

TASK

COMPLETION DATE

DATE ACTUALLY COMPLETED

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SMART Goals

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Coaching Research and Resources (Chapter 5, Video 1)

Research

McKenzie Consulting Research Library

World best-practice research and original articles pertaining to people management issues in the following topic areas:
motivation, talent management, retention, assessment, learning, development, management, and HR strategy.
http://www.mckpeople.com.au/content_common/pg-mckenzie-library.seo
For over 20 years, McKenzie Consulting has supported predominantly small- and medium-sized businesses that seek improved
and sustainable profitability through the effective use of their people. Our work focuses on four areas: how best to attract, retain,
develop, and stretch your people so that the focus, relevance, and excellence of their performance will significantly add to the
achievement of your bottom-line objectives.

Bersin by Deloitte

Study:
Using a Coaching and Development Performance Management Model while Still Rewarding Differentiated Performance
http://www.bersin.com/blog/post/Using-a-Coaching--Development-Performance-Management-Model-While-Still-RewardingDifferentiated-Performance.aspx
Bersin & Associates LLC, a leading provider of research-based membership programs and advisory services in the human
resources, talent and learning market, is now part of Deloitte Consulting LLP.

2012 International Coaching Federation Global Coaching Study Final Report

The 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study Final Report offers over 140 pages of findings from one the most ambitious pieces of
industry research ever conducted on the field of professional coaching. Learn what over 12,000 coaches from around the world
had to say about the state of professional coaching.
http://coachfederation.org/coachingstudy2012/
(Requires $15 to download report)

Creating Coaching Cultures: What Business Leaders Expect and Strategies to Get There

The results of this study indicate that leaders are confident that coaching cultures benefit the business in ways that include:
increasing employee engagement, job satisfaction, morale, collaboration, and teamwork. Yet, these same leaders recognize that
their organizations may be out of step in their current use of coaching compared with the potential of coaching. The outcomes
and benefits of coaching cultures identified by the leaders in this study provide encouragement that the rewards for achieving
these cultures will be well worth the investment. Assisting senior leaders and their teams to develop coaching skills, weaving
these into an overall talent-management strategy, measuring the business impact, and driving coaching deeper into the
organization all represent rich opportunities for realizing the full potential that coaching offers.
http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/CoachingCultures.pdf

Books

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

by Daniel Pink
In this provocative and persuasive new book, Pink asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfactionat work, at
school, and at homeis the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by
ourselves and our world.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594484805
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The Five-Minute Coach: Improve Performance Rapidly

by Mariette Castellino
Designed for leaders, managers, and supervisors in any setting, The Five-Minute Coach is a groundbreaking approach to
coaching on the job, with a step-by-step guide to how to coach quickly and effortlessly and get amazingly better results at work.
Short, punchy, and easy to read, the user can swiftly learn this innovative and effective tool for improving performance.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845908007

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: The Career Conversations Employees Want
By Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni
Study after study confirms that career development is the single most powerful tool managers have for driving retention,
engagement, productivity, and results. Nevertheless, its frequently back-burnered. When asked why, managers say the number
one reason is that they just dont have timefor the meetings, the forms, the administrative hoops. But theres a better way.
And its surprisingly simple: frequent short conversations with employees about their career goals and options integrated
seamlessly into the normal course of business.
http://www.amazon.com/Help-Them-Grow-Watch-Conversations/dp/1609946324

Leadership Team Coaching: Developing Collective Transformational Leadership

by Peter Hawkins
Leadership Team Coaching is aimed at anyone whose role it is to encourage and develop a team. Providing a thorough
understanding of the role and importance the team has in contributing to an organizations objectives, it provides the practical
tools and techniques to facilitate effective team performance.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0749458836

Challenging Coaching: Going Beyond Traditional Coaching to Face the FACTS

by John Blakey
This book breaks the mold of traditional coaching approaches to challenge coaches and their clients to achieve courageous
goals that sustainably transform bottom-line performance.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1904838391

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