Great! You’ve identified the right people to coach.
Now, it may come as a surprise that not everyone is “coachable” or willing to be coached by you. That’s where the coachability index comes into play.
For coaching to be effective, a coachee must be open to coaching. Coaching is “permission-based” and involves an upfront agreement to be effective. As a manager, it is your job to coach your direct reports, but that doesn’t mean you can begin a coaching conversation whenever or however you want.
The Coachability Index
For coaching to be valuable and helpful, it’s important to coach at the right time and in the right environment. Sometimes, simply asking the question, “Is this something you’d like to be coached on?” or “Are you open to some coaching on that?” will tell you if the time is right. Another option: Set up formal coaching sessions to ensure the coachee knows the expectations and is ready to engage. We recommend doing so frequently (at least quarterly) as part of any employee’s development plan.
In either scenario, it’s helpful to first determine how coachable someone is. A powerful way to do so is to apply the “coachability index.” It’s a simple strategy comprised of two questions.
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- How open is the person to new information?
- How willing is the person to change something based on the new information?
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Ask the coachee to score themselves between 1-10 (10 is absolutely open/willing, and 1 is not open/willing at all). After they have assigned a number to each question, ask them to multiply the numbers to get a composite.
For example, if the first number is 8 and the second number 7, the combined number is 56. Any number below 60 is a sign that either the person isn’t completely open to learning something new or is not currently willing to make changes. There are no good or bad numbers. The score helps you determine how effective coaching may be and how willing the person is to change something based on your conversation. It is great to coach someone whose score is 70 or higher.
Motivation and Commitment
A high coachability index, however, doesn’t guarantee successful execution of coaching agreements or goals. We must also consider motivation and commitment. A person can be open to coaching and desire to move forward, but if there is a commitment or motivation gap, action is unlikely to follow.
If you don’t see action after an agreed-upon coaching conversation, you most likely have a commitment or motivation issue. In other words: “no action without commitment.”
Let’s take a deeper look.
Our driving motivators move us into action. When activities are connected to our strongest motivators, we effortlessly activate. We stay the course (through ups and downs) only if we are deeply committed to the task or change. To learn more about the six motivators and how to use them to encourage action, you’ll find this post especially helpful: You Can’t Motivate Others. You Can Only Help Them Tap into Their Motivators.
For example, if you want to eat healthier, a great place to start is to figure out what drives the changes necessary to sustain a healthy diet. It’s not enough to want to lose a few pounds or kilos. That kind of motivation fades once the weight loss has been realized. If, instead, the motivation is to live a long and healthy life, there is a deeper commitment to change with a higher likelihood of success.
Major life or professional changes (pivots), require an unwavering commitment and disciplined actions. It’s hard to change, even when we want to. If you’re considering a big change (or are asked to coach someone through one), you’ll find the post I Want to Change, But Why Is It So Hard? helpful. We also recommend reading the book Atomic Habits. The author, James Clear, dives deeply into strategies for making profound and lasting commitments to change including “identity change” and “1% better each day” concepts.
