The key to coaching is to promote critical thinking. I use two types of coaching to do this: top-down and bottom-up.
Top-down coaching
This involves a manager or a higher up providing feedback to a rep, like listening to a call (or a snippet!) and leaving a coaching comment. It doesn't take a huge amount of time, but it moves the coaching needle forward.
Bottom-up coaching
This is a more reflective process for reps. I have my team members provide feedback about one of their calls before I leave my own comments. I then schedule a follow-up call with that team member to review the call in depth, together.
Pro tips:
If you're an individual contributor, take charge of your own development by tagging your manager on calls with questions. What did I do well here? Where are my opportunities for improvement? Don't forget to provide your own feedback to those questions as a first step!
If you're a manager, when you get tagged on a call, prioritize it and remember that it's a golden opportunity to develop your team and achieve your talent development goals.
