What Is a Coaching Triad?

Coaching skills need learning, developing and practicing. Coaching triads are an opportunity to get this practice in a safe space.

In a coaching triad, three people take turns playing the role of "coach," "coachee" and "observer."

For a pre-agreed time, the "coach" uses their coaching skills to facilitate a conversation with the "coachee" on a real and current issue of the coachee's choosing. If they're a new or relatively inexperienced coach, they might use an approach such as the GROW model to structure their conversation.

Through this structure, the conversation starts with Goals, moves onto current Reality, Options, and often ends with what the coachee is going to do – their Will/Way Forward. As a coach gains experience and confidence, conversations can become more free-flowing, or take a different order to those suggested in models.

For the duration of the conversation, the "observer" takes notes on the coach's performance. At the end of the conversation, the observer provides constructive feedback.

The triad then rotate roles so that all participants play all roles.

How Is It Different From Other Types of Coaching?

Coaching triads are often made up of internal colleagues and, as such, can be different to coaching with an external or independent coach.

Working relationships, power dynamics/hierarchies and a desire to protect personal information might influence how open your coachee is. For these reasons, you might not be able to dig into issues as deeply as you wish.

You can increase trust and openness from the outset, though, by discussing confidentiality and boundaries. For example, you might agree to keep the entire conversation confidential, unless it becomes apparent that someone might hurt themselves or others.

What will your approach be if someone says they’ve committed a crime, or wants to? What happens if you speak to each other in another work capacity?

Of course, in a normal coaching conversation, you wouldn't have an observer. If you're running a triad virtually, the observer might consider switching off their camera until they give feedback. This helps create a more natural environment for the coaching conversation to take place.

Why Is It Useful?

To be an effective manager, you need to be able to adapt your approach during conversations with colleagues.

In one instance, you might give someone very direct instructions, and in the next, offer suggestions. Later, you might switch into a non-directive approach and use coaching skills to help that person make their own decisions.

This ability to switch according to situation and conversation partner allows you to support people's performance in a personalized way.

Some managers and leaders use a non-directive coaching approach less frequently than instructing or advising colleagues. There are many reasons for this: perceived time constraints, lack of trust, needing to prove expertise or wanting to rescue someone.

However, coaching triads are a chance to use this less familiar approach and to see how someone else responds.

Of course, you're not always going to be the "coach;" you'll be a coachee too. Triads then, are an opportunity to be coached on a real, current issue that you're grappling with. Moreover, this experience will help you to empathize with anyone you coach and adjust your approach.

For example, it makes a difference if your coach asks a question and then sits in silence, versus asking a question and asking another soon after, or even giving you their answer! Experience the former and it's obvious how much better you can think and respond.

As an observer, closely watching the coach's performance and how the coachee responds will also influence and shape your own coaching skills.

How to Get the Most From Coaching Triads

1. Pick one or two skills to really focus on when you coach.

The brain can only focus on executing one or two new behaviors at any one time. So pick one per conversation. For example, if you find it difficult to stay silent and not interrupt a coachee, count to five after each question you ask in one conversation. In your next conversation, you might choose to ask more open questions. It's useful to tell the observer what you're mainly focusing on so you get targeted feedback.

2. Use an observation checklist.

List key skills and traits that you want to develop in a short observation checklist. Give this to the observer and ask them to note down examples of you demonstrating that skill or trait. A checklist helps the observer to listen and watch for what matters, which will help you to develop your coaching skills more quickly.

3. Keep practicing.

As with any new skill, improvement only comes with regular, consistent practice. This is how the brain learns and automates new behaviors, so they just come naturally. Even experienced coaches will find triads useful, as different observers will offer distinct feedback.

How regularly can you meet up with your triad?

What's Next?

If you’re feeling inspired, why not start your own coaching triad now?

You might wish to get a sense of how good your coaching skills are before you start by using our self-assessment, How Good Are Your Coaching Skills? After a few months, take it again to see how your skills have progressed.

For more on how to create a workplace where coaching is part of everyday conversations, listen to Senior Consultant Karen Summers talk about Developing a Coaching Culture, or watch our video How to Be a Workplace Coach.

Formal coaching isn’t always the right conversation approach for managers. Read our article Informal Coaching for Managers for guidance on how to work out when to use it, and when not to.

Tip of the Week

Using Universal Design to Meet the Needs of All Team Members

By Melanie Bell, Mind Tools Content Editor

Most likely, your team is diverse, and that includes diversity in the way members think and process information. So how can you best meet this range of needs and create a work environment that supports everyone to do their best work?

In our Expert Interview with Ed Thompson, author of “A Hidden Force: Unlocking the Potential of Neurodiversity at Work,” I learned that universal design is key. This is the idea that simple adaptations can be built into the workplace and offered to all employees to make the environment more conducive to wellbeing.

Thinking about neurodiversity, colleagues with ADHD, for example, might benefit from being able to take movement breaks, while autistic employees might have sensory sensitivities and find it helpful to wear noise-cancelling headphones to mitigate the impact of a loud working environment.

But they’re not the only ones who benefit from these options. As a rule of thumb, things that make work more comfortable for some team members tend to make it more comfortable for many. So, take the time to research and offer options to make people comfortable. A little bit of universal design can go a long way!

Pain Points Podcast

Collaboration is crucial in the modern workplace. We innovate, problem solve, and get things done by working together. But in remote or hybrid workplaces, collaboration can suffer.

So, what’s the remedy? What can managers do to protect collaboration when we’re globally dispersed? Listen to this week’s episode of the member-only Pain Points podcast to find out!

Subscribe Today

News Roundup

This Week's Global Workplace Insights

The Global Gender Gap Is Bigger Than We Thought

A new report from the World Bank has found that the workplace gender gap is much wider than previously believed, The Guardian reports.

This was the first year that the report included childcare and safety policies in its investigation of women’s inclusion in the workforce.

And the resulting findings were dramatic: with these two factors taken into consideration, women experience just 64 percent of the legal protections that men experience, down from the previous 77 percent estimate.

Globally, women make, on average, 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. And while several of the 190 countries surveyed have laws in place related to workplace gender equality, on average, they only have 40 percent of the policy systems needed to ensure their implementation.

If this gender gap is closed, the World Bank suggests that gross domestic product across the world could increase by over 20 percent.

What Happens When Robots Run a Shop?

Automated retail isn’t an entirely new idea – vending machines have been around for over a century – but it’s becoming popular in Canada, The Conversation reports.

Toronto, especially, has seen the rise of “automats” where food and drink are served by robots instead of people.

These include grocery stores, automated pizzerias, and coffee chains where you can order by touchscreen and watch a robotic arm prepare your order.

Automated food shopping prioritizes convenience, often to the detriment of accessibility. Older shops, with bathrooms, have been replaced by automated establishments that lack them. Many also lack accessible instructions and rely on credit cards and apps, which aren’t options for everyone.

Whatever the costs and benefits, robotic retail appears to be in a cycle of expansion.

To learn more about how technology matures and declines, and how you can harness these trends in your own organization, check out our article The Technology Life Cycle.

See you next week for more member-exclusive content and insight from the Mind Tools team!