“Catalytic coaching is literally a system where you learn to say to somebody’s face the kind of thing you’d say about him more comfortably behind their back for the benefit of the organization as well as the benefit of that individual.” (via RapidLearning Institute)
What is Catalytic Coaching?
If you aren’t familiar with the Catalytic Coaching process, here’s the short version: Catalytic Coaching is a process that involves three stages, each labeled by a color: yellow, blue and green. An employee filling out a yellow intake form for their manager. This form focuses on accomplishments, shortfalls and long-term development goals. The manager completes a blue evaluation form with strengths, areas for improvement and development recommendations. Finally, the employee uses both yellow and blue forms to make a green personal development plan, with specific SMART goals. This plan is reviewed regularly and usually updated annually.
I practiced Catalytic Coaching at Open Mortgage and I found it was an invaluable process for increasing engagement with my team. But after three years of it, I found that I was always asking more questions or getting additional feedback outside of the process. Eventually a pattern of missing information emerged and I created a final (and optional) step in the process: Super Green.
Green?
The Super Green stage asks four questions from manager to employee, seeks to revisit topics from earlier in the Catalytic Coaching process and fill in a few gaps. They are:
- What are things that cause frustration at your job?
- What are things that prevent you from doing your job effectively?
- What can I do to help you do your job more effectively?
- What are things you want to work on to improve your effectiveness?
#1: Frustration
While “constraints” is covered on the yellow form, it is not revisited as part of the normal process. This question is intended to cover that feedback that might slip through the normal process which can be instrumental in promoting employee happiness.
This is where you can get things off your chest and allows the employee to later focus in on specific job-related issues. I’ve seen a wide range of responses but most of them are surprisingly easy to fix or at least improve. All you have to do is ask!
#2: Increase Job Effectiveness
With frustrations off the table employees can focus on how they can work better. One bit of wisdom goes, “If you want to improve your production line, ask the line workers.” This is a variant on the “front-line advantage” (HBR) and is dedicated time to review process improvement including or beyond the employee’s scope.
While I also tried to tackle outside problems with effectiveness, I tried to focus on being effective with the constraints of business. A few will make a case for a new tool or new system for improved efficiency, but if that’s not possible the best question to ask is “how can you be most effective with the existing tools and systems?”.
#3: The Manager’s Role
Some of the best feedback I’ve ever received was in response to this question. In fact, the first Super Green round I completed gave me better specific information on what I needed to do to make my team more effective than several years of traditional Catalytic Coaching.
This feedback also goes to the core of Catalytic Coaching as the uncomfortable things you need to hear to make you and your organization better. Certain feedback can make it difficult to avoid being defensive. When in doubt, the best replies are the simplest: “thank you”. I’ve found these questions get the best responses after a level of trust and honest feedback is established– don’t expect recent hires to give you the same quality as veterans.
4: Increase Personal Effectiveness
This question is placed last because only after you’ve stripped away frustrations, process constraints and any potential issues with a manager can you reflect on personal improvement. I’ve found that most people know their own limitations and what they need to improve upon. This question allows them to articulate those concerns and starts a process of accountability with both the employee and manager working towards personal development. It is about improvement, not finger pointing.
You won’t spend as much time as a manager on this topic as you will as employee. For managers, items from these answers make excellent goals and green sheet revisions are recommended.
Super Green!
Super Green is my take on full-circle feedback. Even if you don’t practice Catalytic Coaching in your organization, you can use these questions as part of your one-to-one coaching process or even as initial questions during project Retrospectives. I’ve found that these questions help “step back” from specific tasks any projects and provide dedicated process improvement time, which benefits both employee and manager.