You've Uncovered the Performance Gap - Now What? How to Transform the Coaching Conversation Into Breakthrough Results With One Question

Ever struggle with how to PATIENTLY move the coaching conversation to a valued conclusion after uncovering the Performance Gap or coaching moment in a way that would empower someone to arrive at their own conclusions and answers, rather than telling them what to do? Here's the only coaching strategy you'll need to ensure every conversation results in making your people more valuable and accountable. This will save you time and improve your coaching impact, sanity and life as a manager – forever.

Coaching Simplified: The Only Three Performance Gaps You’ll Ever Uncover – And How to Coach Them

You learn a thing or two after clocking thousands of hours coaching people from all over the world. If there’s one thing managers have mastered, it’s the ability to over-engineer even the simplest processes that would more efficiently attain results, in less time and without redundancies or complications. Coaching included.

In the spirit of continually simplifying the coaching process, I’m excited to reveal that there are only three general responses you’ll hear during the last step in my award-winning, L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Framework, or at the end of an effective coaching conversation.

Quickly pinpointing the root cause or gap as to where each coachee is at the end of the coaching conversation will help you coach more efficiently, effectively, make it a collaboration, rather than an interrogation, and move the coaching conversation to a natural, empowering conclusion.

Keep in mind, there are countless topics to coach on, which is why every conversation is a coaching conversation as long as you’re speaking leadership and leveraging the language of coaching.

However, the coaching strategy or methodology that I’m focusing on here are will enable you to quickly assess the only three types of GAPS you’ll encounter when coaching so that you can guide the conversation to a successful conclusion and next step.

You don't need to see the trees through the forest, as long as you have a path to follow that will get you to the other side.

Here’s the scenario.

One of your direct reports approaches you for help. After understanding their objectives, challenge and gathering the facts, you ask the objectively self-reflective, solution-oriented coaching question to start moving the conversation towards the breakthrough they will have from your coaching.

1.“I’m happy to share my opinion with you, Tim. However, you’re much closer to this situation than I am, and I trust you, and your judgment on this. So, what’s your opinion on how to work through this in a way that would enable you to achieve the results you want?”

The Moment of Truth

At this point, you are going to hear three general responses. The good news is, they can never respond with, “I don’t know” because you’re asking for their opinion, not a solution. While many people would be reluctant to share an answer, strategy or solution, because they could be right or wrong, opinions are never right or wrong. They’re just an opinion, and everyone has one around any subject matter (food, career, travel, entertainment, customer service, sports, selling, leadership and so on). That’s why logically, it will never make sense for someone to say, “Sorry, I don’t have an opinion.”

Keep in mind, at this point towards the end of the conversation, simply focus on the 50-foot view of the quality and detail of their solution or opinion to assess how comprehensive and well-defined it is, and if it contains the right strategy or approach. After doing so, then you can determine where a deeper dive around what to do and how to do it is needed, to ensure a successful outcome.

Once the coachee shares their opinion on how to achieve their objective, most managers have no idea where to take the conversation next. “Do I keep asking questions until our heads explode from question overload which only succeeds in sidetracking the conversation to the coaching abyss, or do I just tell them what they need to do?”

With this unique and innovative approach to coaching, you’ll quickly be able to uncover the next and final step to move the conversation to its successful conclusion, so the coachee can leave the conversation with a well-defined solution or approach they feel confident in, and are accountable for because they helped create it.

What people create, they own. And what they own, they act on and are accountable for the outcome.

Becoming Sales Chef – Baking the Perfect Solution

Let’s use the analogy of baking a delicious cake. You need the right ingredients to create a delicious outcome! When they share their opinion and point of view, here are the three levels of critical and strategic thinking, from the most effective to the least, that you will unmask. Now, you can recognize the gaps in the coachee's approach or solution and what level of coaching and support is needed to bring the conversation and a comprehensive solution to its completion.

Coachee's Solution #1 - Fully Baked – They Got it!

The most desirable outcome! The coachee provides a fully developed solution and/or demonstrates a high level of self-awareness. They recognized their own gap and filled it! The coachee provides an observation, insight, shift in thinking or a strategy that can work. Maybe it’s aligned with what you had in your mind, or shockingly, a different insight or solution that you didn’t think of but could work! As such, there’s no need to ?ll in the gap or dissect the coachee’s solution. Have them run with it! Next, the coachee implements the plan and reports back to you at a designated time to follow up and keep the momentum going.

Coachee's Solution #2 - Partially Baked – Missing a Few Ingredients – But They Have Some Good Ones!

The coachee provides a partial solution and/or an average degree of self-awareness. They recognized part of the Gap in their thinking, solution, skill or strategy, but there were still some holes in either their solution or thinking. In other words, they were missing a few ingredients to create the most effective solution or a positive shift in their attitude or thinking.

This is your opportunity go deeper and seek to understand their point of view through questions to best understand their thought process, what they are aware of and what they are missing. As you walk through their process or solution, you recognize there’s still a gap in what they’ve shared. This would be the appropriate time for you to share your observations and advice that will ?ll in the gaps they may have missed in a supportive, caring and collaborative way.

Coachee's Solution #3 - That’s Not Baking – They have no ingredients, or the wrong ingredients, and are probably missing the oven.

The coachee provides no effective solution. You know for a fact that the solution or approach the coachee provided is inaccurate, would be ineffective, extremely risky, out of compliance, illegal, resource prohibitive, achieve a low success rate, and/or the coachee has a very low degree of self-awareness. They did not recognize the gap in their thinking, skill, knowledge, attitude, or strategy.

I’ve Uncovered the Gap Size – Now What?

Once you’ve identified that the coachee’s strategy falls into the number two or three category above, this would be the appropriate time to walk through their solution or line of thinking, and share your observations or advice that would fill in any remaining gaps, as you move from one step to the next.

Danger! Avoid this coaching conundrum! Be mindful of never making anyone wrong, which can show up in the comments you make or in your tonality and delivery. Here’s an example.

“Are you serious? After doing this for five years, you really think this would work? I’d expect more from you at this point. You should know this would never work.“

Congratulations! You’ve just shattered, trust, confidence and their openness to coaching, all in just one comment.

Managers never have the right to get mad, upset, frustrated or lose their patience with their employees, because it's always the manager's fault. Avalanches roll downhill. The good news is, it's always in your power to make others more valuable by first making yourself a more valuable coach.

Instead, if you find yourself in situations two and three above, manage your emotional state to create a better outcome using the following strategy.

Shift from an Interrogation to a Collaboration

First, keep your coaching hat on. It’s time to walk through their solution together, so they can self-assess every step in their approach.

You can position this in a positive way that would move the conversation forward to completion, while still having them own the outcome:

2.“Thanks for sharing your opinion.I really appreciate it.Let’s walk through your ideas to see how they could work out in this situation. Then together, we can create the most effective solution that will enable you to achieve the results you want.”

Then, get permission before sharing your observations, advice, experiences, or subject matter expertise, in a way they would be open to hearing because they understand that your intentions are pure and good. Ensure they understand that your intention is to coach them be their best, rather than simply forcing your ideas or agenda upon them. Here’s what that can sound like.

3. “Can I share some observations that would enable you to achieve the results you want and make you even more successful?”

Make it a Collaborative Conversation, Not a Directive One

Notice what this approach accomplishes. If you want people to be open, trusting, coachable, and collaborative, drilling people with closed-ended, leading and loaded questions that drive the person to where you want them to be around their thinking or solution just makes them feel like they’re being interrogated and manipulated, instead of engaging in a supportive, collaborative conversation.

As you walk through the conversation together, you’ll notice the gaps to ?ll in that were missed. This can include the chronological steps in their strategy, best practices or skills to re?ne, develop, or reinforce, or assumptions and limited thinking that needs to be challenged.

Finally, don’t just focus on the problem. Remember to coach the win and what they are doing well! Acknowledge and reinforce the things they did or said that will work, or if they demonstrated positive signs of critical questioning and thinking.

Now, the coach and the coachee can leave that conversation feeling con?dent they have a solid course of action and strategy to win big. Notice how the coachee’s response dramatically changes when the manager shifts from being the directive, Chief Problem solver to a true leader who engages and communicates like an exemplary, collaborative coach.