Having a coach is an incredible opportunity to explore your strengths and areas of growth. A coach can help you define and move towards critical goals and shift behaviors that are holding you back. The benefits you receive from coaching depend on what you’re willing to put in.
Are you ready to commit to the coaching process?
At Torch, our coaches have both operational backgrounds, that is, experience leading teams and building companies, and good coaching practice on top of that. We vet our coaches so that they have a humanistic approach to coaching. This means that they’re going to veer away from giving you direct advice, they may have opinions or suggestions but their goal is to help you be a strong leader who is confident in making those decisions for yourself.
The outcomes of each session may differ depending on the stage you’re in in the coaching process. Your earliest sessions might be focused on your overall goals for coaching and for yourself. The second or third session may be used to unpack the results of your 360 Leadership Assessment and use it to add detail to the goals you’ve set.
Here’s a general outline for each session:
- 10-15 mins: Check in
- 30-45 mins: Strategize around a longer term goal. Practice a new skill. Unpack a tough situation.
- 5-15 mins: Synthesize insights. Commit to open actions.
To help you approach every session with confidence, here’s a quick guide to getting the most from every conversation with your Torch coach.
Checking in with your coach
Spend the first few mins checking in on anything that’s top of mind for you that you might want to unpack with your coach.
If you’re looking for inspiration, ask yourself:
- What’s taking up my headspace today?
- What did I do this week that I felt good about?
- What have I learned recently?
- Have I made a mistake this week?
Focusing on skills
The middle of your session will be focused on practicing skills and perspectives that might be tied to your longer term goals. Perhaps you’ll rehearse a hard conversation you need to have with your team using different frameworks to find the right approach.
Even when our coaches have been in similar situations or have had dozens of clients in similar situations, their goal is to help you feel strong making those decisions even when you’re not working directly with them.
Assigning open actions tied to goals
Towards the end of your session your coach is going to assign open actions. These are generally tied directly to your long term goals and they might push you outside of your comfort zone.
You decide with your coach if these goals are private, using Torch’s platform as a point of accountability with your coach for the next session to check in on progress. You can also set a goal that involves other people, soliciting their feedback on your progress along the way.
In your next session you’ll check on your commitments and follow a similar framework. It’s important to us that you’re both working on what is important and immediate and tying that to actions that impact your team and your own longer term goals.
Looking for more leadership tips?
Check out our ebook on 18 Leadership Books For Every Stage Of Your Career
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