How can you ensure your coachee or mentee implements feedback changes?

I have had the privilege of mentoring some of the smartest (top 0.1%) talent around the world. 3 things I learnt & would offer here A burning desire for change: Most are aware of their ‘gaps’ but usually not able to understand the potential value of making such change. Creating this awareness can help, and usually drives a ‘want’ for change Building trust: Mentees usually start from a position of respect. Most of the feedback hence gets surface attention. It is only when personal trust is built are they able to go deeper Seeing the change: Taking one feedback item and helping them put that into action with practical/tangible execution steps helps build muscle. This in return fuels the desire for implementing further feedback

It is important to first build trust with your mentee and to have a genuine interest by listening intently on the issues he/she is facing. It is important for mentee to acknowledge the gap between his/her current situation and desired outcome. Then there will be more desire or motivation to follow up and act on the agreed action to improve.

As a coach and manager, I emphasize to the people I coach about the importance of setting goals to ensure alignment with expectations, staying focused to achieve results. Coaches are the mediators between coachees and their managers, so be sure to build trust and rapport with both sides, and seek their support to overcome obstacles when needed. Aligning goals is also key for effective performance reviews, so managers can review your work progress. Schedule recurring bi-weekly meetings to share a 15-min update, even if managers are busy. This will help managers to know if you are continuously challenged and growing in your role.

In my experience, first of all my feedback as a coach has to be impactful and clearly communicated. Sharing my feedback based on frameworks such as OILS or AID will help the coachee or mentee to understand the feedback better and build solutions better. For an example, As a coach we might share overview feedback like “good job” or “you did well in that session” but instead if a coach can share it as “that session was good because as a scrum master, you supported the squad to share facilitation and asking probing questions so that they can collaboratively find a solution as a squad”. This will lead the coachee to understand what to carry forward and think what else can be done to improve the next session.

As a Coach, I tend to follow up with the client to focus on the benefits of implementing the change and how this might benefit them

Drawing a roadmap, setting clear goals and having kpi dashboard is a key factor when coaching or mentoring. Also allowing the coachee/mentee to setup short,medium and long term goals is essential. By this way the coachee/mentee should have a weekly or bi-weekly feedback session with their manager. Both the manager and choachee/mentee should celebrate the quick victories during the process to keep coachee/mentee going.

1. Situation: Describe the specific situation or event where the behavior was observed. Example: "During yesterday's team meeting when we were discussing the project deadline..." 2. Behavior: Focus on what the person did or said, avoiding assumptions or judgment. Use language that is clear and concise. Example: "...you interrupted your colleagues several times while they were presenting their ideas..." 3. Impact: Emphasize the impact on relationships, productivity, or any other relevant factors. Example: "...which made them feel unheard and devalued their contributions to the discussion. It created a sense of frustration and interrupted the flow of the meeting."

Using the SBI model needs to be followed with the 'so what? or 'what next?'. If you want to drive accountability and change, when you have given the feedback, you need to move to 'coach' mode to agree what the individual would or will do differently. This might mean asking them to define or, if you're mentoring them, you may offer a suggestion. It's also powerful to elicit feedback from your mentee/coachee for how you can be better. It's a good frame for the conversation that it's learning both ways!

One of the easiest things to get wrapped up into is giving feedback based off of what others have told you. I believe we should always strive to focus feedback on things we have personally witnessed. If you skip over this, it is all hearsay and you could be doing more damage than good no matter what your intentions.

Impact/Outcomes are the things that tell us who we are. If you do something long enough you will start to identify with it. This can be inverted to create a changing identity that will bring with it changed behaviour. Let's say your goal requires you to be a disciplined person - we would start by gathering all the places you've been disciplined before and create mini-stories from them using SBI. In this way, it affirms your identity as a disciplined person, and makes the transition so much easier. In coaching there is a lot of resistance to the word CHANGE. Through this process, I place emphasis on remembering... something the psyche doesn't resist. And the results speak for themselves :-)

SMART is a great start, and should be followed with 'what might get in the way of achieving this goal?' This question, assuming you have a good relationship, can uncover the previously unconscious self-saboteur who might be lurking in their way.

Action steps should be immediate and periodic making sure the easier actions start. Then build consistency with milestones of progress reward or celebration.

Agree on tangible/ measurable goals and ask your coachee for their views to deliver on it . In a scenario that the coachee has missed on achieving their goals, its important to understand their perspectives of why it didn't go well. Bring your coachee on the journey on the feedback changes and in my experience they would deliver. Most importantly welcome their feedback for you as a Coach !

I prefer the SPECIFY model which is more detailed and includes an actionable step in a short amount of time. S specific P positive E ecological C choice increasing I initiated by you F first step identified Y your resources identified The “I” in this goal setting model allows the coachee to look at what actual step can be taken in the first 24 hours. This creates movement, movement creates momentum. Accountability is then the secret sauce to all of the above to achieve success.

When I work with my coachees & mentees, I focus strongly on the 'A' - Achievable - and by achievable, I like to pass it through an 'how easy to achieve is it?' conversation. Change is hard, and when we want to make a change, the probability of it happening increases in line with the increase in ease of the change. The second factor it's important to consider is, desirability, or the enjoyment of the change. When we think we will enjoy trying a new change, again, we are more likely to implement it. So, when we marry desirability or enjoyment with achievability we have a good recipe for higher probabilities of change happening.

One of the pitfalls I see with mentees is they commit and agree to the actions yet as the days pass by, get bogged down by other responsibilities and duties. By the time we are ready for our next session, nothing much gets done. 3 ways I help my mentee to overcome this pitfall: 1. When we plan the actions and completion dates I ask them to also include other plans, events, commitments outside our coaching. This allows them to set a more realistic and achievable plan. 2. I ask them to schedule the actions and block both their calendar and my calendar. This way its easier for me to check base and follow up with them. 3. Remembering coaching n mentoring is a long term process. Spread out the actions so the mentee does not get overwhelmed.

Often when the action plan is developed, we (mentor and mentee) thought that is the highest priority (for the moment). However, when the mentee returns to their real life, there are many things compete their attention and they get distracted. Follow-up is one of the most effective ways to ensure the plan is on track and actions are implemented.

Consider the curve of forgetting, studies suggest that humans forget approx 50% of new information within an hour of learning it. That goes up to an average of 70% within 24 hours, and this can dictate when and how you follow up and support the person.

At the top of every coaching session, I ask my coachees: "What have you learned or done differently since our last session?" Responses reflect new learnings or insights from "homework" as well as actions taken on feedback from colleagues or leaders. Another way to support coachees as they action on feedback is to check in regarding their "big agenda" -- or the reason they initially came to coaching, especially if they're in coaching to work through feedback they've received.

Follow-up is key. You should establish check-in points to re-assess progress at various intervals. You can also ask the employee to track their progress and report to you at set intervals. They key is to make sure that you follow through on your commitments to your mentee - whether it is additional training or more resources.

Obtaining feedback is important because you were not likely trained to be a mentor. Feedback from your mentee is an opportunity for you to grow and adapt. There are numerous methods that can be used to solicit feedback from a simple conversation, to a survey, to an anonymous comment in a box. The method is less important that what you do with the feedback.

As a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, I have long recognised the power of aligning the changes we want to make with our natural talents or strengths. When we do that, not only will we be naturally more brilliant at making the change, but we will enjoy it too. That is a powerful combination for success. So, as a coach we therefore have to take time to work with our coachees & mentees to check for that alignment, and this then means we may need to adjust the way in which we reach the desired change. The outcome could be the same, but the route could be very different to somebody else trying to make the same change... and that is all down to the different strengths that we possess.

Simple answer. You can't! It is not your responsibility and if you take that perspective, you will not engage without an agreement that the mentee will follow through. If the agreement is broken, respectfully request that your mentee dissolve the mentoring agreement. Perhaps that will be the best mentoring action that you provide such an individual.

First, we need to be clear that the ownership of the coaching/ mentoring plan lies with the coachee/ mentee. That said, as a coach/ mentor, we should also tune our listening to unarticulated challenges or perspectives that they may be struggling with and help them realize the same. For example, when a coachee tells me that they could not accomplish a certain task due to time constraints, a simple rephrasing of the same I ask them to use is 'This task was not a priority for me because I had XYZ to do'. The 'priority' comparison helps them self-clarify whether the time constraint was the real inhibitor or does the issue lies somewhere else. If the latter, ask how they plan to address the same. Repeat the process as may times as needed!

Adjusting and adapt as needed are important tools part of feedback journey. Be flexible and open to adjusting the feedback or action plan if necessary. Coaching is a dynamic process, and adjustments may be required based on the coach's evolving needs or changing circumstances.

For me I would suggest empowering them to feedback to you on their successes and failures. As part of the coaching process you should be encouraging honesty in themselves first of all.