CLC LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Creating a Coaching Plan Toolkit

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EXBD_Support_CLC@executiveboard.com for further discussion. The views expressed herein by third-party sources do not necessarily reflect the policies of the organizations they
represent.
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any errors or omissions in their reports, whether caused by The Corporate Executive Board Company or its sources.

CLC Learning and Development, Corporate Leadership Council

2010 The Corporate Executive Board Company. All Rights Reserved. LDR6597510PRO

Creating a Coaching Plan Toolkit

OVERVIEW
Sample Development Area Root Cause Analysis
Page 3

Coach the Root Cause, Not the End Result

Maximize your coaching efforts by ensuring

that you focus on the root cause of an
employees area of weakness, rather than just
the surface-level issue. (For example, an
employee with poor communication skills may
have an underlying weaknesssuch as a lack
of product knowledgethat you must make
sure to address, rather than just focusing on
improving his/her communication skills.)
If you understand why an employee struggles in
a particular area, you can better improve the skill.

CLC Learning and Development, Corporate Leadership Council

2010 The Corporate Executive Board Company. All Rights Reserved. LDR6597510PRO

Coaching Plan Template

Pages 45

Measure Your Coaching Success by Your

Employees Improvement
A coaching plan benefits both you and your
employee in two ways:
1. It sets a course for consistent coaching efforts
across a development cycle, which ensures
steady growth as opposed to coaching in
spurts.
2. It focuses your efforts on one or two skills and
ensures alignment between your employees
development areas and your coaching efforts.
Although you should have milestones and target dates
for your coaching activities, the true measure of your
coaching efforts is the degree to which your
employee improves in the targeted skill area.

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Creating a Coaching Plan Toolkit

SAMPLE DEVELOPMENT AREA ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Employees often target general skills in their development plans (e.g., I have problems getting projects in on time. I need to work on my project management
skills.). The problem confronting managers is that these skills are usually just symptoms of the root cause. While treating the symptoms can create some
improvement, the returns on your coaching efforts are maximized when you focus on the root cause itself. The diagram below provides an example of how
different components can actually impact a particular development area:
Sample Root Cause Analysis of an Employees Difficulty in Managing Projects
Development Area:
Project Management

Poor Time Management

Spends too long on projects

Poor Prioritization
Cannot discern between urgent
and important

Inability to Say No
Takes on new tasks when asked
regardless of time to do so

Possible Approaches
Encourage Efficient Use of
Time
Have employee schedule

Provide Guidance on
Identifying Important
Explain the organizations and

Focus Your Coaching Efforts on Your

Strengths
particular
parts of his/her day
teams big picture strategy.
The gray highlighted areas represent the skills where you are best equipped to serve as a coach for your
to
accomplish
different
tasks.
Encourage regarding
employee to fill
employees. While the column labeled 2 is a solid opportunity, you appear to have reservations
column 3. Before you make your decision,
the following
Provide consider
clear guidance
to questions:
out an urgency/impact

help employee differentiate

1) Do I really believe this skill is a strength?
between expected
performance and perfect
2) Is it a strength Im naturally good at, or is it one Ive had to work at
performance.

matrix with his/her

assignments and view it with
him/her.

Explain Job Responsibilities to

Employee and Peers
Provide a script on how to
say no to colleagues
professionally.
Help employee establish
clearer boundaries on his/her
job responsibilities.

to build? In other words, can I identify components of the skill that

I can build in others?

The Root Cause Should Determine Your Coaching StrategyTake the time to ensure you understand the
underlying root cause of a development weakness so you can implement the most effective coaching approach.

CLC Learning and Development, Corporate Leadership Council

2010 The Corporate Executive Board Company. All Rights Reserved. LDR6597510PRO

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Creating a Coaching Plan Toolkit

COACHING PLAN TEMPLATE
Coaching plans serve two purposes: they create a foundation for consistent coaching efforts across the development cycle, and they ensure that the managers
coaching activities are supporting their employees development goals. To that end, the coaching plan outlines the responsibilities of both the employee and the
manager. The employees responsibilitiessuch as activities and success measuresare generally pulled from his/her development plan to ensure targeted
development. The managers responsibilities center on the specific coaching activities he/she will perform over the course of the coaching plan, and milestones
ensure that coaching obligations are being met. The success of a coaching plan is ultimately decided by the employees improvement.
Employee Information Should Align with the Development Plan
To ensure the employee and manager are working toward the same goals, the
employees development areas, the activities he/she should engage in, and the
metrics that track successful progress against these goals should be identical to those
in the employees development plan.

Manager Should Focus on Activities That Help Employee Learn and

Apply Lessons
The manager should commit to activities that prepare the employee before
he/she engages in development experiences, track progress along those
experiences, encourage reflection, and ensure that he/she applies the
lessons learned.

Sample Coaching Plan

Employee Name: Loren

Manager Name: Ryan

Date: August 8

Employee Responsibilities
Development Areas
Closing (Specifically,
handling objections)

Employee Activities
1. Shadow top
salespeople on visits
to potential clients
2. Script ways to
handle objections

Manager Responsibilities
Success Measures

1. Lifts sales by 5%

2. Turn around one

solid no

Manager Activities
1. Sit in on closing
calls, providing
immediate
feedback
2. Identify possible
objections and go
through scripting
before sales visits

Milestones

Target Dates

1. Sit in on one call per

week

1. Once a week for first

month, until
employee achieves
goals

2. Discuss why closing

did or did not occur
after all sales visits

2. After each sales visit

Success Is Measured by Employee Improvement

While coaching plans outline the activities a manager commits to, the true
measure of a plans success is the development of the employee. If an
employee fails to demonstrate growth or to reach his/her goals, it may
become necessary to revisit the plan.
CLC Learning and Development, Corporate Leadership Council
2010 The Corporate Executive Board Company. All Rights Reserved. LDR6597510PRO

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Creating a Coaching Plan Toolkit

COACHING PLAN TEMPLATE (CONTINUED)
Use the table below to ensure that your coaching efforts are aligned with your employees development areas.

CLC Learning and Development, Corporate Leadership Council

2010 The Corporate Executive Board Company. All Rights Reserved. LDR6597510PRO

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Creating a Coaching Plan Toolkit

Coaching Plan

Employee Name:

Manager Name:

Date:

Employee Responsibilities
Development Areas

Employee Activities

Manager Responsibilities
Success Measures

CLC Learning and Development, Corporate Leadership Council

2010 The Corporate Executive Board Company. All Rights Reserved. LDR6597510PRO

Manager Activities

Milestones

Target Dates

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