Congratulations on your Coaching Resolution for the New Year!

Before you get to the 1-on-1 specifics, remember to ask your employee how they are doing. Ask about their weekend, their family, or anything they are looking forward to. Building your relationship with team members is just as important as the guidance you'll provide during the coaching session. Here's a list of questions to use for any conversation starter. 

It's important to begin coaching by starting off the conversation with something positive. It can be a simple as recognizing an employee's attitude or effort. It always helps to provide an example of their behavior. 

Is this employee meeting expectations? What can they improve on? Try to find one specific focus for the area of improvement. If you track performance with metrics, it is helpful to associate one with this focal point. This will help you track progress and provide guidance in future 1-on-1s.

What can you (their team leader) do to help them improve. Can you share peer examples or best practices? Can you practice or role-play with them? Can you sit-in on one of their activities and provide support?

It is extremely important to get the employee to make a measurable commitment for improvement. This can be a statistical improvement in a KPI or metric (5% better in Customer Effort Score). Or it could be a commitment to try something new (ex: open customer chats with the new power greeting).