Communication Supplemental

Supplemental coaching can be done through peer-to-peer coaching and creative activities that don't require physical presence. Communication is important, and active listening without interruption is key. One suggestion is to create weekly case studies for employees to practice specific conversations in groups of three. Feedback should be structured, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. Another strategy is to have people observe and journal about great communicators to learn from them. Journaling can reduce stress and help individuals coach themselves. Peer-to-peer coaching and observe-and-journal techniques are effective supplemental coaching strategies. Supplemental coaching, creative coaching activities where you do not physically have to be present. There is nothing better when it comes to supplemental coaching than using peer-to-peer coaching, getting peers together, and you want to be careful when it comes to communication. So let's use our example of active listening and thoughtfully listening without interruption. Maybe you create a case study every week, a very short situation that your employees go through. Have them get together in groups of three, maybe two, preferably three, and have them practice those conversations that they need to have specific to the situation. Have the third person count the number of times somebody provided active listening, paraphrasing back what somebody said, and how many times they interrupted or potentially did not interrupt, and how they were perceived as thoughtfully listening. Now you want to create a safe place. You want to structure the feedback where here's what you did well, and here's where I think you have an opportunity to improve. You have to give your people that language because most people are not gifted at providing feedback. They typically resort to, well, that was pretty good, but what I would have done if I were you, and they discount the other person, not because they're mean or vicious. It's just that they don't know how to give feedback. So when you're using supplemental coaching with communication, remember, peer-to-peer coaching is a great way to do it. Number two, I love to use observe and journal. Have people, give them a short notebook or a small notebook, and have them observe other great communicators, people who are in the moment presenting great communication, and have them journal it. Here's why. There's a great book at Harvard by a woman by the name of Teresa Amable, and she wrote The Progress Principle. And one of the cool things about it is she talks about the power of journaling. Do you know that journaling can reduce stress? I think it's up to 23%. And when you journal, you bring in other senses. You tend to own it more. So when the person is writing down, wow, Tim is doing XYZ really well, and his presentation is a great communicator, they're actually coaching themselves. So think about observe and journal, and think about peer-to-peer coaching for your supplemental coaching strategies.