Is Effective Coaching Possible Without Full Attention?

[finley1991]

Good morning!

I am looking for a few suggestions if any of you can help me out!

Here's my situation: I have 2 consultants who I do coaching calls with weekly. They have requested this and I am happy to help. I send them a weekly coaching form (I'll attaching it here if anyone wants to use it as well) that I got at our recent Director Retreat. I ask them to fill it out and e-mail it to me for each call.

Here are my challenges:

1. From 1 consultant, I get the coaching sheet about 10 seconds before our call is supposed to start. I finally asked her last week to send it to me AT LEAST 30 minutes prior so I have time to review it and think about ideas. That seems to go okay but she was unhappy that I called her on it.

2. From both consultants, they are doing A LOT of multitasking during the call. One is usually out doing errands so there is a lot of talking to me AND the bank teller, etc. The other is usually cleaning her house, checking e-mail, etc. Basically both are distracted.

This morning *L* had her call and her poor sick child was in the background screaming. He has a 102 fever and I felt terrible for her. She had him in the car and was driving around hoping he would fall asleep. I suggested that we reschedule because I felt really bad for her. She is frustrated as well and didn't want to reschedule but I really couldn't be effective listening to it myself. We had to reschedule last week because of a doctor's appointment.

On one hand, I know I should be thankful that they are participating in the coaching at all... but on the other hand, if they aren't paying attention, is it worth it? Is the call effective?

In hind sight I know I should have set up some ground rules and will going forward with others that I start to coach. Any suggestions (and/or thoughts overall) on how to talk to the current two about *being there* when we have the calls? I feel like I've let it go on so long now that to tell them things have to change wouldn't be fair in a way. I guess I'm just frustrated and not thinking clearly...

 

[baychef]

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Unfortunately, I have no suggestions but can relate to your frustration. I appreciate you sharing your training sheet. My ED is here for a visit, so if I can, I will pick her brain about this as well. I am sure I will run into it.

 

[Chef Kearns]

It is not to late to set up ground rules. You should basically let them both know that you value their time and you're sure they value yours. To make the most out of the time you've both "set aside" we need to choose a time that you can truly focus on our call and time together. Let them know that the current time slot doesn't seem to be working.

 

[cincychef]

I think the weekly coaching call is awesome! I just wanted to give a bit of a different perspective here, I usually am multi tasking while doing any and all of my training calls with my upline. If I wasn't I wouldn't take any of them because I have 4 kids six and under. I really appreciate it that my director is so understanding of the background noise too. I did a group training call with a home office contact who kept complaining about a noise in the background until I finally realized it was my fish tank, I have never taken a live call with that person since because it made me so nervous.

That being said, I personally wouldn't take a training call while running errands because that is rude to you and the bank teller. Also if my kids are really screaming I will reschedule . I had to get off a group training call today half way thru because my kids were acting up so much and my line was muted! (it is going to be a loooong summer)

Anyway, I just wanted to say that the extra contact may still be really effective even if there is a lot of background noise but if it is so bad you can't hear yourself think that is a little too much

 

[Sheila]

That makes me wonder if they are more relaxed with chatting with you and feel that it's okay or if they actually do that kind of stuff while talking to hosts???

I agree that it would benefit you and them to mention that the current time slot seems to be at an inconvenient time for them & see if you can both work out a better time (ie NAP TIME!) when they are not so distracted. Or cut back their time! My AD just told me yesterday that she's cutting back consultants to 15 min's and reserving longer time slots for SC, TL and even longer for Directors! That way, it's short & sweet & to the point with no time for chit chat or goofing around.

I have a 1 year old & a 2.5 year old in the house. My AD knows that & the first question out of her mouth is "are the kids napping?" because she knows if they are awake I'll be distracted. 90% of the time, they are down because it's important to me to time their nap schedules so that I can give her my undivided attention. If they are up, she'll ask if I want to continue or chat later via e-mail. Most of the time, I can still chat if they are distracted with playing or watching an Elmo video. But once when the baby was sick, I had to apologize and skip the call. I'm a retired Police Dispatcher and actually can multi-task and stay on track. I had an Officer who thought he'd be funny one night & was standing over my shoulder asking me questions while I was on the phone & talking to an officer on the radio. I kept up with all three conversations & was answering each person appropriately. It blew the Officer's mind. He was trying to pick on me & it didn't phase me at all. But just because I can do it, doesn't mean that it's the polite thing to do in this situation!!! I wouldn't want to waste my time sitting around and waiting for someone to talk to the bank teller so I don't do stuff like that to anyone else either. It's call courtesy. I'm frustrated for you girl! I hope you find the right wording to approach the situation without getting them upset. (((hugs)))

 

[cincychef]

I just wanted to add, I do try to make sure that the kids are fed and busy with a tv show or project during a call, but there is always some background noise here. Colleen you know them best, if they are not making an effort during the call time then you should say something, I just know there are times when I have pre planned all day to get everything quiet for a call and it just isn't quiet and I appreciate my AD and NED understanding when that happens as it is embarassing and frustrating for me.
It doesn't sound like that is really what is going on for you though!

 

[finley1991]

Thanks ladies! All of your suggestions helped and I'm feeling MUCH better about the situation! I even received the coaching sheet from the one for today's call over an hour early!!!! YAY!!!

 

[baychef]

I am enjoying hearing all of the prospectives from each end of the phone. I can identify with Colleen, however, because when I do talk to a consultant, I want to make sure I stay focused on the flow of the conversation and keep the consultant in the flow as well. Some can actually multi task successfully but some think they can multi task but miss important parts of the conversation.

That said, I do feel better that I have done what I can do coaching another. It really is up to the individual to take what we say and apply it. We all do that at our own pace.