Be Passionately
Curious

BE THERE WHEN THEY NEED YOU.

Many organizations have annual reviews, some never do. Providing feedback is critical so people know how they are doing and you can participate in their growth. But, once a year or even each quarter is not enough.

In manufacturing, there is a term “just-in-time” that can signify that cost and resources are optimised and only incurred as needed to maintain the target minimums that enable you to pull from just the right amount of inventory. This reduces or prevents waste by avoiding production in excess, which then requires more physical space for storage, and the costs related to managing excess inventory. This also assumes the product doesn’t degrade, lose relevance, or expire while sitting in storage.

You could apply just-in-time to coaching. Instead of providing support and guidance when it is too early, or too late, work on a pull system that makes it available on-demand and exactly when it will have its highest value.

What to do:

❶ Establish clear coaching options for your people. This can be an individual manager or various people with distinct knowledge and experience.
❷ Schedule a recurring weekly meeting which creates a pulse for the longest someone might go without creating the opportunity for in-the-moment coaching to occur, or bring attention to a coachable moment.
❸ When a coachable moment is identified, dive directly into coaching if appropriate, or schedule a coaching session ASAP when all the right participants can be present and focused on the matter. However, typically one-on-one is suitable and easiest to facilitate without introducing delays.
❹ Discuss the scenario, to define what went wrong or was unexpected.
❺ Identify surface issues and potential root causes.
❻ Reflect on past experiences which may provide broader perspectives, review any relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and decide what the next steps are, if a countermeasure, a MOSI, or an update to current systems is needed.
❼ Share the outcome, learning, or distribute system updates to anyone that could be impacted by the change.