Prioritize Your Coaching to Gain Maximum Impact

Coaching others is one of the most important things we do as leaders. Arguably it is our highest priority when our team is considered. Our role is to develop other strong leaders, and that requires coaching.In a busy retail world with no shortage of things to do, how do you find time to observe, provide feedback, and coach for success? Coaching individuals needs to be prioritized as much as anything else. This is not an easy task and will require tough decisions. Unfortunately, time is a limited resource, and when prioritizing, some choices must be made where that time will be spent.Using a four-box grid to help define your team can be a way to assist in prioritizing who you coach on your team and when. This requires a lot of honesty with yourself and anyone you are discussing this process with. It will be a challenge to potentially turn your back on some team members. But that does not mean there are not alternatives to how you can support them. We will explore that as we discuss each of the quadrants of the Coaching Priority Grid.

4 box for potential and coachability

Our four boxes are built on defining for each team member their long-term potential and the coachability. This could easily be a 9-box exercise as well. However, I have found when trying to prioritize time and more immediate needs, having a middle box only creates a level of ambiguity. High/Low forces a decision and more clearly defines priorities when you have completed the exercise. Since the purpose of this exercise is to prioritize, we cannot have any vagueness in how we are determining our action steps.PotentialWhat do you see this individual doing throughout their career? What do you estimate that timeline to be? The timing may also play a role in how you determine their potential for the purpose of this exercise. If your need is immediate, someone with potential that will not be realized for many years may have to be classified as low potential for the immediate term. You are evaluating and assessing the contribution they can make in a narrower window of time. It still may be measured in months and even a year or two. But someone that shows potential in five years may not fit the time window you are looking for in this activity.CoachabilityPeople do have to want to grow and develop. We have all known people who do not want other’s help and choose to actively avoid learning from others. Those must be classified in the ‘low’ coachability bucket (and arguably should be evaluated for whether they are a good fit for your store or district as well). Individuals that want to learn and seek out new information will inevitably make more progress than those who do not. Marrying someone eager to learn with their high potential is a fast track for success.

	Low Potential	High Potential
High Coachability	Spend some time here	Spend the most time here
Low Coachability	Spend no time here	Spent moderate time here

Reviewing each quadrant

High Potential/High CoachabilityIt seems rather evident that this is where you would want to spend the majority of your time. Individuals that have a high level of coachability and the potential you need will benefit most from the time you spend with them. The benefits for you and your business are also more significant here. Helping someone reach more of their potential will allow you to leverage their skills, knowledge, and leadership in other areas.If you are a Store Manager and you have an Assistant Manager that is highly coachable and has the potential to be a Store Manager soon, coaching them in new areas will only benefit you - long and short-term. They can take on new projects for you as part of their development and may even free you up for additional coaching of other associates in your store.In this top quadrant, dedicate most of your coaching time to the individuals you have identified in this area. This may be daily (certainly weekly) interaction and follow up on specific coaching and learning activities.High Potential/Low CoachabilityThis can be a tricky area and a difficult box to prioritize. I would recommend leaning more towards the potential as a priority. While working with them, you may be able to demonstrate how coaching can help them reach that potential they know they have. In many cases, individuals that have a lot of potential, and know it, may fear that being coached could be seen as a weakness. Ensure you allow them to see how you are there to help. That coaching is not just something that is for people that have challenges to overcome, but a way to build on strengths.This may have a varying window of time you are engaging with them. It may begin with weekly planned follow up on coaching activities. As trust is built and the coachability of the individual shifts, you can determine whether you could move them to a highly coachable individual. You also can consider whether you shift your coaching timeline to more monthly or beyond. It will be important to continue to measure how their potential is being realized. Some associates can do their own learning to help their potential become fully achieved without your hands-on coaching.Low Potential/High Coachability We have all come across people that have a strong desire to learn and grow individually. They are highly coachable, but you can see that the potential will take many years to be fully realized. For these individuals, the best course of action is to be open, honest, encouraging, and positive with them. These are not folks you should turn your back on, but rather provide a longer runway for their learning. You can give them activities to work on for their development, and point them in the direction of other, outside resources that can help them continue to grow as a leader. Define windows of time to meet with them - this may be each quarter or twice each year.Team members that fall into this group could also represent an opportunity for your high potential, highly coachable leaders to support as part of their development program. This allows the low potential individuals to still receive the coaching they are seeking without drawing from the time you have available in the immediate time frame.Low Potential/Low Coachability This is a tough box to place someone in, especially if they are a positive contributor to specific tasks in your environment. There are occasions where you’ll have strong role players, yet they choose not to do more or seek out learning. That is ok, so long as they understand the limitations that come with that choice. However, they will not receive any of your coaching time. People in this box may also present an opportunity for others to work with to ensure they remain current on day to day operational and service needs.For those of us who love to coach and share learning within others, this can be a very challenging exercise to complete. The reality we all face is time is a limited resource. We must prioritize our time in such a way that will provide the most benefit to everyone. Done correctly, I believe that even those that do not show immediate potential, but have a desire to learn, will ultimately receive the support they need because you are prioritizing effectively.How can the Coaching Priority Grid help you build a stronger team for the long-term?Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive FREE leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills all at no cost. JOIN NOW!No spam ever - just leadership goodness.Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash