Revolutionize Your Career Planning with Whiteboard Coaching

Curious about how to transform your career planning process into an engaging and dynamic experience? Try out the innovative Whiteboard Coaching technique, which promises to revolutionize the way you approach career development. Clearly mapping out your present state, desired future state, and the actionable steps needed to bridge the gap will give you a refreshing perspective on your professional journey.

Inspired by the insights of Julie Winkle Giulioni, this episode emphasizes the importance of aligning career growth with personal aspirations, whether you're aiming for a promotion or a lateral move. Grab a whiteboard or piece of paper and learn how to build confidence through practice and positive reinforcement, and start transforming your career trajectory with Whiteboard Coaching.

Another great technique to help career-based coaching start off on the right foot is something called whiteboard coaching. If you have a piece of paper or whiteboard, write down three columns across the top (preferably landscape, not portrait; see image below):

Column 1 is your Present State. Whether you're doing this for yourself or if you're coaching someone, ask five basic questions for this exercise, starting with Columns 1 and 3. Let's start with Column 1: Present State. Answer these questions:

1) What do you love about what you're doing?

2) What do you like about what you're doing?

3) What do you dislike about what you're doing?

4) What strengths do you feel like you have as it relates to what you're personally doing or presently doing right now?

5) Where do you feel like you have opportunities to improve?

Write all those things down. Then you go to Colum 3: Desired State. Notice you skipped column two. There's a reason...wait for it. In Column 3, ask these questions:

1) What's your desired state?

2) What does that next step look like for you?

If they don't know, that's okay. Ask them to describe it. It's not always something obvious or specific. What you're really doing is having them explore what their next step could be. (Continue the article below this video):

Now, there are two forms of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Someone who's intrinsic is motivated within the job. Someone who is extrinsic is somebody who is motivated by the job as being a catalyst or a stepping stone for something else. That doesn't always mean a promotion. My friend, Julie Winkle Giuliani, wrote a great book called Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, where she talks a lot about motivating employees and teams. In her second book, Promotions Are So Yesterday, she talks about how leaders have to make sure they have alignment with what their employees want in their careers, and often make the mistake of assuming it's always a promotion. That's not always the case.

So again, Column 1: Present State. What do you love, what do you like, and what do you dislike? What are your strengths and what are your opportunities?

Then Column 3: Desired state. Get them to describe it as best they can. Then ask the same questions as their present state. What would they love about that end-state? What would they like about that? What would they dislike about that? Potentially, what strengths do they have for that position or that destination? What opportunities do they feel like they would need to improve to get there? Write all those down in Column 3.

Now you've got a picture of Columns 1 and 3 written out.

Then go to Column 2. Ask them these questions:

1) What actions do we need to take to move toward Column 3?

2) What knowledge do you need to gain to move toward Column 3?

3) What skills do you need to improve to get to Column 3?

4) Where do you feel like you would need more confidence to achieve Column 3?

First of all, using this process accomplishes what we call a psychological disrupt. Most people just go from left to right, which creates laziness or complacency. The way we proofread is from left to right because that's the way we've been trained. We have to disrupt that to get out of complacency.

We teach something at Progress Coaching called the Tiers of Learning: knowledge, skill and behavior. Knowledge is training. Skill is where you practice with them. Behavior is gaining confidence from repetition and positive reinforcement from you, their coach. That's the secret sauce to real development.

Here's the coolest and most important part: Between these three columns, they've just co-authored their own development plan. They've laid the path they need to take to change and reach their desired state. This is called whiteboard coaching.

ACTIVITIES TO INSPIRE MOTIVATION IN YOUR EMPLOYEES:

1) Have them teach you what they've specifically learned, what they've specifically done to pursue their motivation, and where they feel like they're improving. This activity seems simple yet can be very powerful when it becomes an expectation for future coaching sessions.

2) If someone has stalled in their motivation, first understand the source of the stall. If someone is just losing sight of their motivation, prioritize and organize their tasks to help regain it. However, if there are extenuating circumstances beyond that, potentially coach to things like resilience, overcoming fears or challenges, or refocusing on positive ideas. Be extra sensitive and don't jump to conclusions or don't push too hard; otherwise, things could become worse

3) Have them itemize attributes that make them feel good about themselves, about their role, and things they love/like doing. Have them write out why they are good at these things and why they like these roles/attributes. Reinforce with positive praise the things they are good at and things they like doing.

Being approachable and coachable-- this is the real secret sauce to what's missing in workplace cultures and is needed most.

Watch the FREE Webinar with Tim Hagen today: Become Approachable & Coachable: The Secret Sauce to Workplace Success

Learn how to help coach individuals to become approachable and coachable. Teach them how to EAT feedback (Embrace, Ask, & Tell) to help them pursue their own development in positive and effective ways. Learn the top 10 tips for approachability and how to implement them in your coaching sphere.