Coaching for Success
Example: WIL project coaching conversation
WIL projects often require students to work individually or in teams to address a brief or problem provided by a WIL partner/organisation. This typically brings students' creativity to the fore, and with it, a keen focus on the work that students and their teams have done, as opposed to the issues and struggles the students currently face. This can pose a considerable challenge for WIL partners to identify how they can best help students. The activities set out below draws on excerpts from a coaching conversation for a team-based WIL project. The team leader is keen to share the progress of their ideas, but do they understand what is required to successfully deliver outcomes for the project?
Clarifying goals for the conversation
WIL projects often focus students on creating solutions to existing issues facing a WIL Partner/organisation. Students are often very passionate about the solutions they workshop and develop with their peers, and it can be difficult to tease out an objective for a coaching conversation. Watch this brief video and take note of how the WIL partner listens attentively and waits for an appropriate moment to focus the conversation and define a set of goals for the discussion.
The WIL partner concludes the video asking for more details. Would you have asked for more information from the student at this stage of the conversation?
Manager: Hi Danny.
Danny: G'day, hi. Thanks for coming and thanks for meeting with me.
Manager: No problem at all, I've heard such great things about this project it sounds like you guys are really on fire, and I'm really keen to hear some more detail about what you've been up to and how you been going with the design.
Danny: So obviously, you know the criteria was saying that it's interactive information tourism information installation so we you know we sat around, and we thought about it and we wanted to personalise it to ourselves, like what would we be most passionate about?
So, we brainstormed and we all came to the conclusion that we want to do it around theme parks, as you know. So, we kind of we kind of sat around and we thought like how do we make this the most immersive interactive experience for the patrons all over, you know. So we developed we developed an app for the theme park, and it would work in place of like a brochure with a map that was on it, you know, we wanted to make it a playful experience; they would see the park get informed about the park in a very immersive, storytelling way.
So, we thought about it, and it's an app for the kids we looked at the target demographic and we thought maybe that it could be for kids between the ages of like 4 to 14, because we noticed that for is like when they start going and then 14 is kind of the median age where they stop.
They go out of it, or whatever. So, the app works in a way that the patrons come into the park and they are on their ticket they have at the bottom a download link, so they can go into the App Store or whatever is similar to that and they can just download it straight onto the phones, and it works as a treasure map.
So, each ride is like a new check point that they can navigate their way to, and along the way there's like a little you know a little treasure chests that they can pick up or like you know play games and little road blocks kind of thing and it's it kind of, you know, it manages the whole theme park.
Manager: It sounds fantastic. It sounds exactly what we're looking for. It sounds great. I love the idea. So, in terms of this meeting, what's going be really good I come from you; what are you seeking from this meeting from me?
Danny: Well I just want to make sure that, you know, we're all on the same page you know, the partner and the team we the team we had some anxieties about whether or not what we were doing was aligned with what the partner wanted from us, so it's we're kind of like taking this time to make sure that you understand what we're doing where they're coming from, and that you're happy with it, that you're enjoying the ideas that are coming out of us.
Manager: Okay, so you want to make sure that we're on the same page, you want feedback from me about how it's going?
Feedback: The student is very energetic about the details and logistics of the idea his team has created. Energy sits at the core of the eFIRE coaching framework, and while it might feel as though the conversation could get overwhelmed by small details, the coachee is clearly passionate about the topic and it would likely be counterproductive to inadvertently shut them down by disrupting the flow of the conversation.
Finding simplicity to navigate complicated ideas
The WIL partner's patience has paid off, and as the initial excitement subsides, the value behind the details begins to emerge in the conversation. In this video we see the WIL partner provide one or two small prompts that allows the conversation to shift beyond the details of what the idea can do, to why the idea is important. This is a critical step in this coaching conversation as it allows the discussion to identify what is really important - an agenda for how the coach can assist the team in its approach to solving the issue at hand.
How does the WIL partner's questions and prompts change the focus of the conversation in the final 30 seconds of the video?
Manager: Okay, well I'm loving the idea so far, so tell me some more.
Danny: So I told you the target demographic we had like the 4 to 14 years old kind of thing, I told you about what the app is going to do; It's going to lead the customers through the park, in a very informative way, and we wanted to implement; So, you wait a lot at theme parks, you know, you're waiting in line for upwards of like an hour for the ride, and sometimes you don't even get through to every ride that you want to get to. So, we wanted to minimise the boredom that was happening in those lines so we thought of introducing games that can be that can be played on the phone with the friends you know it's an interactive experience that they can all kind of get involved with.
Manager: Okay, so just that I'm really clear in this, your target audience is children; kids from 4 to 14?
Danny: Yes, so far.
Manager: That's the prime customers at a theme park, of course.
Danny: Exactly. Exactly. We did brainstorm briefly maybe introducing it to adults as well though. Just because we thought about how they're sitting around for a lot longer waiting for the kids, like if they're not engaging with the rides either, they're kind of at the coffee shop, they're quite bored as well. So we thought potentially of even adding another sub app for the adults, where they can they can download it keep track of their kids, they link up with their kids phones.
Manager: Okay. So, you are suggesting something that is both for the kids and for the adults that are with them at the theme park like to kind of aspects to it. Yeah, potentially and this is kind of where we have an anxiety around that, because we're not sure if we should focus and zero in on one age group demographic, and make sure like that's the best for that demographic, or if we should go back to that broad spectrum of like age 4 to 80, and make sure that everyone is getting.
Manager: And what information might. you need. that would help you make a call on that?
Feedback: The prompts provided by the WIL partner focuses the student's attention away from what the idea aims to do, and identifies the core concerns of the team about the scope and fit of the idea to the needs and desires of the project's stakeholders. That is, the student is quite intent in describing every detail of the team's idea, which can quickly snowball into a highly complex hive of ideas and competing interests. By simplifying the student's discussion into a brief summary of what the team is trying to achieve, the conversation has quite subtly shifted from a discussion of details to a discussion of needs - from what the team knows to what the team doesn't know (or is unsure of). This in turn allows the WIL partner to direct their attention to solving the issues facing the team, rather than critiquing what the team has already done.
Identifying a misunderstanding is an opportunity to dig deeper
It's common for a coach and coachee to think they are talking about the same thing, only to find a couple of minutes into the discussion that they're not. This excerpt from the coaching conversation highlights a moment of understanding, and demonstrates how these misunderstandings can be transformed into a learning opportunity.
Is coaching the only conversation framework deployed by the WIL partner in the discussion?
Manager: So, you're going to do some research in the market in terms of other apps; competitors, if you like?
Danny: Yes, exactly. We haven't thought about that but we should definitely.
Manager: I thought that's what you were describing.
Danny: We were kind of more talking about like, it's a business formula, kind of, but yeah I suppose that is a good way to phrase it, like looking at looking at the competition and seeing what is out there and what has already been done I suppose, right?
Manager: Yeah, I'm just wondering who the stakeholders might be? You've talked about customers and we've come up with competitors, so I mean who might be the other stakeholders?
Danny: Sorry, explain that to me.
Manager: Stakeholders, as in other people who might be interested in this app, beyond this immediate project team. So, stakeholders are people who've got skin in the game I guess.
Danny: Well we thought about um, we haven't thought about that but like potentially that could be it could be springboarded and it can be taken to hotels if they want to get that kind of technology developed for them if that's what you're talking about? Okay. You know, or like even other theme parks or I don't know I don't know if I'm answering that question correctly but like that's yeah that's kind of what you're talking about, like who else could be involved?
Manager: Yeah, just what other expertise might you need to draw upon to make sure we've got a really solid solution to this problem.
Danny: Yeah right, I'd have to consult my team because I don't think I'm sure about that one so far like who else we could consult.
Manager: The more people's input the better really.
Danny: Exactly. That's a good one. Okay, definitely, we will stakeholders.
Manager: Yep, nice work.
Danny: Cool.
Feedback: The prompts, questions, and guidance provided by the WIL partner at this stage of the conversation borrow from the eFIRE coaching framework, as well as from a mentoring framework. The discussion focusing on the additional things the team should be focusing on, as well as providing additional knowledge around definitions for stakeholders demonstrates a more active voice in the conversation. This shift into a mentoring discussion is important as the student doesn't appear to have the knowledge or understanding of key terms required to solve the issue at hand. That is, deviating from a purely coaching conversation is warranted in this instance and provides value to the student and their team in solving the issue.
Establishing clear goals for progress
Before closing a coaching conversation it's important to establish a clear understanding of what should be done before the next meeting with a WIL partner, or at least for the next deliverable of the team. This video provides an excellent example of the WIL partner seeking clarification on the types of deliverables she can expect to see before their next discussion.
What are the next steps for the WIL partner to focus on before closing the coaching conversation?
Manager: It sounds like you've got these ideas banging around which is your creative sense of that happens and what you're next what you're lacking is something a bit more structured is that what you're saying?
Danny: Yeah but I definitely I can see ourselves getting there, I think now with this you know; I think that was fueled by the anxiety that we had about whether or not we were doing the right thing by the partner, but I think today if once I go back to my team with this information we will 100% be able to organise all this into like something that we can coherently go through, you know, and present to people.
Manager: And what might that look like so that I know what to expect, is that a spreadsheet you're talking about or is it a presentation, or is it a demo or have you thought through that?
Danny: Yeah, so I've been thing about this and we would put into one document that is you know it's got headings and it's got like it's very much more of a business kind of approach to it, and we'd kind of outline it that way and it'll be like a physical copy or like an e-mailed copy, rather than having, you know, at the moment we have like presentations and powerpoints and all that kind of a mess.
Manager: Yeah. So, it sounds like you're taking all of these ideas and energy and you're creating something that's a much more structured approach to all how you're actually going to implement these really creative ideas.
Danny: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Feedback: Now that a clear deliverable has been defined in the conversation, placing some stretch goals around when the next meeting should take place, recapping the key take-away messages from the conversation, and defining the next steps as the student returns to their team, are important final touch points for this coaching conversation.