Some recommendations to feed your curiosity

Read

If you haven’t watched Ted Lasso, you’re sorely missing out. This article shares the leadership lessons taken from the show, including the power of mentorship, the importance of earning trust from  your followers, and the necessity of building community within your team.

Watch

Management consultant Gitte Frederiksen has worked with multiple global companies and shares how leadership can be more effective as a network, distributed across multiple people, instead of a hierarchy where power moves from top down. She shares how to create this in her TedX talk here.

Listen

Research analysts, Stacia Garr and Dani Johnson of RedThread Research, spoke with Paula Matthews, VP and Chief People Officer of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) about the difference between good and “not so effective managers,” including being OK with not having all the answers and explaining the “why” of work to their direct reports.

Check out this episode on Workplace Stories here to learn more about the key leadership skills of good managers.

This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Coaching supports LGBTQIA+ clients with safe spaces to disclose their identities

As Pride commences (a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQIA+ folks), we were curious about how coaching could uniquely support LGBTQIA+ employees in their workplaces. Researchers Issome Ghama and Gordon Spence, a director of a coaching organization and a professor at Sydney Business School, respectively, sought to answer these two questions in their study:

a) Are clients more likely to disclose their identities in supportive coaching contexts? 

b) Does disclosing these identities lead to a more positive perception of the “working alliance,” (aka the relationship between coach and participant)?

These supportive relationships are crucial, as the researchers discuss common challenges for LGBTQIA+ folks in the workplace, including lack of social support and fear of discrimination. Disclosure is an act of personal autonomy, and coaching provides employees spaces to practice being fully authentic and experience belonging within the safety of their coaching relationships. These strengthened relationships are also more likely to drive greater growth and behavior change for these participants.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

We spoke with Tiffany Price, Director of Human Resources at Blueprint Test Prep, about why she invested in coaching and how she evaluates coaching’s impact on the organization.

Q: Why did you decide to make an investment in coaching?

is a professional program, so it’s more of a big deal. When people get invited to be a part of it, know that BluePrint is paying for the service for you. I think it’s more of an honor, as corny as that may sound. It’s a neat offering that I haven’t seen at any other companies I’ve worked for, and as long as we continue to see the success and value of it, which so far has been almost a 100% across the board for users, then it’ll continue to be part of our development strategy. 

Q: What is the difference between offering coaching compared to other learning and development opportunities?

I don’t think the one-size-fits-all works. We just launched a training library through our learning platform, and there are professional development courses in there. But I just don’t think people get as much from it to having a real customized plan. I like that Torch is customized to the person, it’s customized to their needs, their growth plan… It’s just that elevation of quality and consistency that’s more than what we’d be able to provide in a one-size-fits-all program. 

Q: How do you know if coaching is having an impact in your organization?

The qualitative feedback I’ve received is just incredible. I mean everyone that’s in the platform raved about it and said how helpful it was. One leader said it was the highlight of her week because of the value that she’s received from it and how it’s helped her grow as a leader. 

We weren’t looking at engagement as a metric initially, but we realized the quarterly engagement survey that were so evident after coaching… In Q4, we had 2 leaders that improved in the double digits. It’s not the only thing that we did, but you can tell that that support . And one of those leaders is a super user that’s had the most coaching meetings than anyone. So now is part of our engagement strategy. We are asking: do we see anybody that may need additional support? 

We added another person to the program based on engagement survey feedback this past quarter, and that’s something we’re going to be monitoring to see if is going to be a continued metric for us. 

This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

This month we spoke to Sarah Pottieger, Head of People at Forum Brands. Sarah shared with us the goals of their coaching programs, how coaching fits into their larger people development  strategy, and how it aligns with their business objectives.

Q: How does coaching fit into your people development and learning strategy?

It’s a big part. It comes back to trying to create an inclusive environment because everyone learns differently, takes feedback differently, and feels guidance differently. 

I know that for some people, if there’s a more senior person giving a training on how to manage, it’s not always easy to trust that this training is going to give them good guidance and tools if this is just the way that this person wants me to show up.

Having a third party option has been a good safe space for conversations that don’t need to be between peers, or between oneself and one’s manager, and I think it’s bettered the relationships people have with their managers.  

For someone who might want to talk about a promotion or something that’s been bothering them with another team member, they feel like they get a first pass with their coach and then can bring it up . It’s been good for making things feel more inclusive and for strengthening manager and report relationships.

Q: What are your goals for coaching?

Coaching is a part of our larger learning and development goals. As far as strategy goes, we have a lot of young people leading for the first time, so that they feel enabled and empowered by someone that’s not internal. Our goal is simply enablement and making sure that feel empowered to uplevel their own teams.

Q: What role do your business objectives play into creating the coaching programs?

We have two company objectives for the entire year, and one of them is continuing to develop people, on developing and enabling excellent team members.

Some of the key results are a manager effectiveness score, a team inclusion score, and a collaboration and enablement score. Torch plays a huge role in making sure those things are met. I know I’ve become a more effective manager with so that directly ties it to a business goal.

Building effective managers is one way that coaching will play a role in supporting our business objectives over the next year. We’ve just had such a shift to learning and development–the shift has gone from hiring and building your best team to retention given the macro environment. I think this a lot of companies in 2023. to develop, retain, and keep the good talent you have. To make sure that you’re getting the most out of those people and to make sure that they feel like they’re able to give you the most as well.

Q: Where have you noticed coaching’s impact in your organization?

Some of it is from data from people that have gotten promoted since we’ve had the program in place, and some of it is anecdotal… shared that they feel like this really has helped them move on and get confidence. 

I know that for me personally, the way that I have shown up in rooms has changed so much since I’ve started working with my coach. I largely credit her to the confidence piece that’s allowed me to keep moving up, and doing well here, and also being a little more vocal. 

I think that’s the general consensus. has really taught people that you can stay your authentic self while staying professional and showing up in a way that feels elevated for everyone else in the room. I know that that’s been a big impact from the people that I’ve talked to, and that was my personal experience too. 

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Does coaching increase our appetite for feedback?

James Smither, a researcher at La Salle University, along with another university researcher and a few colleagues at a global organization, conducted a quasi-experimental study to learn more about how coached individuals receive feedback and how others perceived changes in their leadership. (A quasi-experimental study is as close as you can get to an experiment –the gold standard for research–in a non-lab setting).   

They studied 1,000 senior managers at a global company who all received multi-source feedback from their direct reports, supervisors, and peers. 30% of these senior managers went on to receive coaching, and one year later both groups (coached and not coached) received additional feedback from their colleagues. 

Between these two rounds of feedback from their coworkers, the researchers found coached managers (compared to their non-coached counterparts) were significantly more likely to

…drum roll please …

Ask for ideas for improvement from their supervisors! Coached leaders are more likely to seek out more input and feedback on how they’re working and how they can improve. 

They were also more likely to receive better ratings from their direct reports and supervisors. Not only were they more receptive to improvement, but they also offered clearer direction to their direct reports. This in turn led to greater satisfaction from the people they manage.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Some recommendations to feed your curiosity

Read

Curious to know why feedback is often hard to hear? Rachel Pacheco, author of Bringing Up the Boss, explains the psychological reasons why it can be difficult and offers key ways to open oneself up to receive feedback more productively. Read her article here, and see a lively conversation about her book here.

Watch

“Getting feedback meant coming to terms with myself on someone else’s terms, and that wasn’t something I could easily accept.”Joe Hirsh, an education leader, talks about his early reluctance to receive feedback and journey to see it as an opportunity to enhance future performance  (instead of dwelling on the past). Watch his TedX talk here.

Listen

Sometimes differing opinions and perspectives can result in conflict. Skilled leaders know how to invite and navigate these differences and address this conflict productively. 

Author and behavioral scientist Adam Grant, in this episode of his podcast WorkLife, talks about how to handle these situations gracefully and effectively. Spoiler alert: asking for and trying to understand the other person’s perspective, instead of making assumptions, is key.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

How will coaching change you? And will those changes stick?

The research is pretty clear–coaching is a powerful tool for both personal and interpersonal change. Among the myriad outcomes that can change from coaching, you may wonder–what are the most important and salient changes I can expect from coaching, or expect to see in those who are coached? And how do these translate into behavior change?

Researcher Angela Passarelli at the College of Charleston, along with two other colleagues, sought out answers to those questions, conducting interviews of 88 leaders across 5 organizations. In this study, she asked open-ended questions to uncover areas of change (in lieu of spoon feeding leaders the traditional outcomes of coaching). 

Right after coaching, leaders reported changing in the following three ways:

→ increasing in self-awareness (36%)

→ internalizing a personal vision and moving towards an “ideal self” (30%)

→ creating an action plan with next steps to pursue future change (27%)

These three changes lay the groundwork for behavior change down the road. When leaders were asked the same set of questions a second time, one year after coaching, 36% reported behavioral change in the top three areas of change. They shared that they were becoming more strategic in their thinking and more effective in the actions they took. 

It’s clear that learning more about oneself, creating a vision of an ideal self, and creating an action plan to move towards that are key ingredients to bringing behavior change into fruition.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Some recommendations to feed your curiosity

Read

“You can’t transform a company without also transforming yourself. To be a better leader, you must become a bigger human being.”

In this article, Tony Schwartz, a seasoned coach of c-suite execs, talks about his experience with working with leaders and witnessing their personal transformations. Through leaning into the hard work of self-discovery, he’s seen leaders confront deeper parts of themselves and become clearer, balanced, and empowering leaders of others as a result.

Watch

Coaching researcher Dr. Sean O’Connor sought to understand the “coaching ripple effect.” His research demonstrated that individual leaders who receive coaching have better quality relationships and interactions with others. Watch this video to learn more about his research and network-based approach to understanding the effect of coaching on the climate of an organization.

Listen

Our very own Amy Lavoie, VP of People Success at Torch, spoke on the Modern People Leader podcast about how to make DEI efforts work. In this episode, she discusses how one-size-fits-all programs are no longer enough to move the needle in organizations. Humanized and personalized development opportunities like coaching and mentoring, on the other hand, can make a substantial impact for underrepresented groups. Listen here to learn more.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

This month we spoke to Zee Gunjevic, learning & development program manager at TextNow. Zee oversees his organization’s coaching efforts, aligning them within a broader leadership development strategy. He shared with us how he thinks about the role of coaching in his organization and how he’s seen its impact—both organizationally and personally. 

Q: What is the value of coaching?

Something for me that has really come to light since I’ve started coaching is that you start to learn things about yourself and your leadership development that you wouldn’t otherwise know. Your coach is able to tap into things that you discuss during both past and current conversations, and by doing so, is able to help you see the bigger picture. 

Last week, my coach told me that in the 10 months or so that we’ve been working together, she can pinpoint every point where she noticed where I was able to grow and where I stopped talking about something that had hindered me before because I had learned how to get to that next level. I think that’s one of the most important things about coaching. You don’t always see until somebody points it out to you, and says hey, “we’ve been talking about this for a couple of months now, but the way you’re talking about it is completely different, and you’re much more confident about it.

Q: After providing coaching to your organization, have you noticed any changes in how people interact with each other?

Yes. I’ve talked to a few people recently that told me that, because of the group coaching that we offered, they’re able to look at different situations with their peers and direct reports in a different way. They are also using some of the models and methods that were taught during those group coaching sessions to better align both within their own teams and with other teams in the organization as well.

how to deliver feedback, how to communicate top-down, and how to accept bottom up communication. I’ve witnessed a shift in the organization that supports the theory that coaching is definitely good for the organization as a whole, not just for the individual.

Q: Can you tell me a little more about why it’s important for more than just senior leaders to have access to coaching?

They’re the next generation of leaders. If we don’t provide individual contributors with the tools to level up and grow, then we’ll just stagnate at the end of the day. And whether or not that individual contributor decides then to move to another organization is not really the point. Then we’ll have someone else that will participate in the program and maybe they’ll move up the ladder internally. But we still want to give all those people the chance to learn and grow, and learn and grow with the organization as a whole. 

It’s never made sense to me why senior leadership gets all the development perks because everyone else is doing the work. are managing strategy, so I’m not saying they’re not doing work, but everyone else needs that same time to prepare in order to get to that level, and it only makes sense to offer it to everyone. 

Q: How have you thought about coaching’s influence on the culture of TextNow and vice versa?

100% influences the values and vice versa. The first of our values is “people first.” So giving people this development opportunity is first and foremost in line with that. Another one of our values is “give a damn.” We give a damn about your development. That includes we want you to succeed. It’s okay to fail, but we don’t want you to fail, and we want to make sure that we can give you the tools in order to be successful.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Some recommendations to feed your curiosity

Read

“Managers who invest the time to learn about the science of leadership coaching and then practice it consistently will reap the benefits—and not just in terms of productive employees and bottom-line impact. Leaders who excel in coaching also report that it’s the most rewarding and meaningful part of their role.”

In this article, Sara Canaday, a leadership expert, articulates why coaching is so effective at helping people become better managers.

Watch

The answer to “what makes a good coach?” is also the answer to “what makes a great leader and manager?”.  In this video, University of East London Professor Christian van Nieuwerbergh, answers both questions, sharing the importance of practicing authenticity, not rushing to judgment, intentionally listening, and acknowledging self doubt. Watch for other skills that translate to great leadership.

Listen

What part of your S-curve are you on? And what are your shadow values? If you have no idea what we’re talking about, give this episode of the Psychology Podcast a listen, where host Scott Barry Kaufman interviews talent development expert and executive coach Whitney Johnson.  They talk about how personal growth and business growth are inextricably linked, a new way to think about where you and your people are at on their growth trajectories, and how you may be holding yourself, and others, back.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Time to Toss the “Feedback Sandwich”

Our coaches told us giving feedback is a key skill to leading effective teams–and one that leaders can develop through coaching. What else should you know about cultivating this skill? We turned to the scientific literature to find out. 

Perhaps you’ve heard of the “feedback sandwich.” It’s the often-cited idea that squishing your constructive feedback in between softer cushions of positive remarks can make criticism more palatable. 

According to recent research, this approach is not always the best move. In one study, researchers Amy Henley and Florence Reed at the University of Kansas evaluated different feedback sequences in an experimental setting, examining participants completing office tasks such as filling out timesheets and folding brochures. These participants then received positive and constructive feedback in different ordered sequences, and the researchers evaluated their subsequent performance.

They found that when offering feedback after performance, participants who were offered a constructive comment first, followed by two positive comments, were more effective than those who received a “feedback sandwich.”

While this is one study, the research seems clear that ending on a constructive comment, by and large, will decrease performance. So if you have feedback for your teams or direct reports, remember to end on a high note.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.