I Was Thrilled To Receive This Message

​Coaching is my passion. But teaching leaders and managers to use the tools of Navigating Challenging Dialogue and the NCD Approach to Coaching really brings me so much joy! 

A past participant in my Coaching in the Workplace workshop emailed me to let me know how a conversation they were dreading turned out. They gave me permission to share with all of you.

The challenge presented in class was that there was an employee who was admired and valued but due to some structural changes in the organization, their position no longer required a full-time employee. Also, lately the employee had started making many mistakes.The class participant was absolutely stalled on moving forward with the difficult conversation they had to have. As we uncovered in class, the hesitancy was caused by assumptions, fears, and past experiences which they were now projecting onto the employee.

Following is this message that I was thrilled to receive (used with permission and details changed for anonymity): 

“Beth, I just wanted to let you know that yesterday I had the dreaded meeting that you coached me on a couple of weeks ago as a demonstration in class. I was floored at what happened.

I wasn’t actually planning to talk about reducing this person’s hours in this meeting – rather, I was having a catch-up meeting with them and planning to use coaching to work through the issue of frequent mistakes. 

First I asked how they were doing. They caught me up on some very stressful things going on personally. This helped gain insight into what’s been distracting and contributing to the mistakes. 

We had a productive coaching conversation about the mistakes, possible solutions, and what steps they are going to take to remedy the situation.  

This resulted in them brainstorming ideas for helping avoid mistakes in the future and then making a plan for how I’d better communicate mistakes when I found them.  

Then I asked how they were doing with the job in general. They started by telling me that they love the job, but feel like “a caged animal.” Wait, what?!?

I asked them to “say more about that.” Turns out they dislike being an hourly employee, and wish they could work as a contractor, just working the hours needed, and on their own schedule.Then they told me that they don’t have enough work to do in this position and would rather work part-time.

I was stunned!

As I learned in my coaching session with you, my personal feelings about having a job ripped out from underneath me in the past were coloring my perception of what my employee’s reaction might be. And this made me afraid to have this conversation. Using the coaching tools created the space for me to then share what I was already planning in terms of the restructure. 

They were totally on board with it! We both left the meeting beaming and relieved! 

I learned A LOT through this experience. I was able to practice my coaching questions. I’ve already seen productive changes with the issue of mistakes. And they responded so well to coaching, that my courage and confidence with the tool has increased. 

I’m so glad that I made time for both the Navigating Challenging Dialogue Essentials class and the Coaching in the Workplace class. Thank you for everything!"

How fantastic is that?

The tools of Navigating Challenging Dialogue really do help to unburden people, create space for problem-solving conversations, and build positive relationships in the workplace.

If you’d like to leave difficult conversations beaming, check out our upcoming workshops and offerings:

If you have any questions about how you can integrate coaching into your skillset, I invite you to schedule a call with me today. 

Beth Wonson