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How to Start Coaching Anyone on Anything
One of the most difficult things about beginning a managing / coaching relationship with someone is figuring out where to start. More than any other, two questions have helped me determine where to start when I begin coaching someone:
- How capable is he/she of delivering what’s being asked?
- How motivated is he/she to deliver what’s being asked?
The first question gets to the skills and abilities to do the work. The second gets to the willingness to do the work. The willingness to put forth best effort. The answers to these questions help define the approach I’m going to start with — shown by the 4 quadrants in the illustration. The overall goal is to always be working towards Quadrant IV, where our coachee is both willing and able to do the work, and where we can use as much Socratic coaching as possible.
Quadrant I — Willing, Not Able
In Q1, the coachee is perfectly willing to do the work, but doesn’t have the skills or ability. This is the perfect situation to take a directive approach. Directive coaching and teaching are nearly synonymous. The coachee needs to be taught the skill before she can be expected to perform it. Perhaps it’s new subject matter, a new type of project, or a new tool or piece of software. Whatever the case, when the skill is absent, the skill needs to be taught. Directly.
Quadrant II — Not Willing, Not Able
In Q2, nothing seems to be working. The coachee not only doesn’t seem to have the ability to do the work, he doesn’t even seem interested in it. In these situations, it’s often the case that the coachee doesn’t seem interested in the work because he doesn’t have the skills. That’s why the advice in this quadrant is for the coach to take a directive approach — start with teaching the skills. Many times, an increase in skills will lead to an increase in motivation (simply being good at something can be motivating), moving you closer to Q4.
Quadrant III — Not Willing, Able
This is perhaps the most difficult quadrant to deal with as a coach. The coachee seems to…
