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3 Questions to Ask Before Your On-Demand Coaching Session

Author [ ManpowerGroup ]

Your inbox is full of emails (all urgent). You’re “running” from video meeting to video meeting, or for some, to in-person meetings. Each day is a full one and it’s increasingly difficult to prioritize and effectively manage your time to focus on fixing hard-to-solve problems and growing your leadership style and skills. 

The good news is if you’re reading this, you’ve thought about and/or already have access to leadership coaching sessions. Maybe you’re working with an executive coach, or perhaps your organization just started using RightCoach™ on-demand coaching. No matter your situation, it’s important to have that sounding board to discuss your concerns candidly and confidentially. Having this ready access to a leadership coach will help you hit the pause button to focus on the challenge at hand, and relieve some of the fatigue and stress you’re facing.   

After decades of talent management experience, we also know how important it is to ensure each coaching session is high impact. The more productive the session, the faster you will build the skills needed to excel in your job. Start by asking yourself these three questions to make the most of your next on-demand coaching session: 

1. What is the one specific topic you’d like to discuss?
The key to a productive on-demand coaching session is to focus on one specific issue or concern that’s top-of-mind, such as an upcoming presentation or a difficult co-worker relationship. But don’t get hung up on whether it’s “coach-worthy” or not. Any situation that’s perplexing or worrisome is perfect for a coaching session—no topic is too basic, or too complex.  

Framing out the topic beforehand allows you to be in the driver’s seat of the session, and in-turn you’re taking the lead in your own professional development. For example, RightCoach™ helps facilitate this by organizing coaching session topics into three main categories—Leading Oneself, Leading Others, and Leading the Organization. After you identify a topic, such as Leading Others: Helping a Struggling Team Member, RightCoach™ asks these three questions, allowing you to provide more detail before the session even starts: 

  • What specifically do you want this coaching session to help with? 
  • What background or context is relevant for this conversation? 
  • Is there anything else that would be helpful to share with your coach? 

2. What are you hoping to get out of the coaching session? 

“One of the best things a coachee can do during a session is to quickly identify the area/issue that they want to receive coaching on, in addition to the information that they've provided prior to the call. For example, one of my most successful coaching experiences started with a coachee saying, ‘I need my manager to provide visibility for me in the organization.’ The individual articulated what their challenge was, which made it easier for me to help the individual realize they needed to focus on their own behaviors and be more diligent about networking and following up with internal contacts. High impact sessions will stretch you, and identify underlying patterns of behavior that take time and effort to address. But it’s absolutely necessary for growth.” – Amanda,  RightCoach™ executive coach 

Think about the long-term end result beyond the specific situation you’ll be discussing during the coaching session. Do you want to be a more compassionate leader? How will this assist you in moving up the career ladder more quickly? Are you looking to help your team or organization perform better? Telling your coach this from the get-go will allow the coach to use all of their expertise and skills to help you get there, on top of working with you to solve your most pressing issues and building your leadership skills for the future. Now, that’s how you maximize a 30-minute session!  

3. What kind of coach can help you get there?  
Now that you’ve solidified the topic you’d like to discuss and your desired outcome, you’re in a better position to choose your coach, or coaches, wisely. Ask yourself, what kind of work professional background and coaching style will help me the most?  

This is where the RightCoach™ filtering system is a huge benefit. While you can tap into your personal network or comb through LinkedIn for a suitable coach, the RightCoach™ on-demand network of coaches who have worked with executive leaders from around the world makes it a lot easier. The platform allows you to filter through detailed executive coach profiles and select favorites based on: 

  • Industry – healthcare, consumer goods, manufacturing, technology, academic and more  
  • Area of expertise – navigating change, building team performance, etc.  
  • Preferred language – English, French, Spanish, Mandarin and more 
  • Available dates & times – coaches are available within 2 hours of scheduling 
“Tapping into someone on the other side of the world was no issue, in fact it made it even better because they were so neutral to my world of work; however, still added immense value because leaders face such similar issues no matter where you are.”  – RightCoach Coachee 

Visit Right.com to learn how you can demo a RightCoach™ on-demand session today.