Leveraging Leadership

Exclusive Edition: AceUp’s Game-Changing Coaching Platform and 360 Feedback Reports

• Emily Sander • Season 1 • Episode 167

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Emily Sander hosts Sara Dakin, Senior Coach Network Manager at AceUp, to discuss their coaching platform focused on leadership development using technology and data. They explore the use of 360-degree feedback reports, highlighting strengths and growth areas, with examples of how this has impacted leaders like Sara. They also talk about AceUp's team coaching initiatives and the integration of AI to enhance coaching experiences. Emily has a special connection to AceUp - tune in to hear about it!


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Who Am I?

If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want. 

 

Time Stamps:

00:00 Introduction to Sara Dakin and AceUp
00:38 Overview of AceUp's Mission and Technology
01:38 Emily's Experience with AceUp
02:45 Introduction to 360 Degree Reports
03:18 Sara's Role and Experience with 360 Reports
04:09 The 360 Degree Process and Data Integration
06:05 Understanding Hidden Strengths and Weaknesses
07:18 Reactions to 360 Feedback
09:13 Addressing Reluctance and Creating a Safe Environment
12:03 Core Competencies in 360 Reports
13:28 Typical Reactions to 360 Feedback
19:40 Building Trust Through 360 Debriefs
22:14 Strengths and Coaching Confidentiality
22:22 Anonymized Feedback for Leadership
23:44 360 Feedback and Women Leaders
25:47 Debrief Reports and Data Insights
29:19 Triad Calls and Manager Involvement
34:11 Setting Up Coaching Programs
34:28 Tailoring Coaching to Client Needs
36:10 Preparing Coachees for Coaching
37:02 Explaining Coaching to New Coachees
39:14 The Value of Coaching Relationships
43:07 Upcoming Innovations at AceUp
44:48 How to Get Started with AceUp

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

My guest today is Sarah Dinkin. She is the senior coach network manager for ASAP. Sarah, welcome to the show. Thanks for being on.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Hi, Emily. Thanks for having me. Excited for our conversation today.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

So just to start us off, can you give folks a brief overview of what ASAP is and what your mission is and your role at the company?

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah, absolutely. So ASAP is an organization, and our goal is empowering individuals, teams, and organizations to maximize their impact through transformational coaching. And we do that in a way that is enabled by technology and backed by data. So what I mean by that is, you know, we are a coaching platform, um, at our core. We are not who we are without our amazing coaches who connect with individuals and teams every single day. We have our technology in the form of our platform. That's amazing at connecting individuals and teams to their coaches. Um, and then data is also a really important theme of ours, which we'll talk a little bit about today. Um, Um, which is how do we measure the success of coaching? How do we measure the progress of coaching through data? Um, in this ever present data minded world that we live in.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Beautiful. And full disclosure, I am an ASAP coach. So when I first started my coaching practice, ASAP was the first platform that I connected with. And throughout the years it's moved. There's various. Platforms out there is up is the best one. Um, but basically the way I explain it to people is ASAP. We'll connect with companies who want to provide coaching to their leadership team or to a certain department or to all managers, and then you also partner. With coaches, and then you through your proprietary algorithms, match them to a, uh, freakishly accurate degree of, of like, Oh, this is like the perfect match for me. And you connect coaches and coachees that way. And so that's how the, the process that I describe when family and friends are like, what, what, what do you mean by that? Coaching platform, but ASAP was the very first one that I partnered with. And throughout my coaching practice, I've primarily moved to direct clients, but I've stayed with ASAP because your team is great and your tool is great. And the people that I'm connected with to coach have been fantastic. So full disclosure on that end, we are here to talk about 360 degree reports. And most people have heard about these in some form of another, but I thought it would be fun. You guys use these as a hallmark of your coaching process. So maybe you can just give us a deep dive into how do you weave 360 reports into your overall coaching process.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yes, absolutely. And thank you for that wonderful description of ASAP and your perspective as well. Emily, we have loved working with you here at ASAP as well. And before I even get into the 360 that I forgot to mention my role here at ASAP, which is probably really valuable for everyone to hear as well. So my role here at ASAP is Senior Coach Network Manager. So what I do is I support, train, onboard, really am the main point of contact for all of our coaches here at ASAP. Before that, my role at ASAP was Implementation and Delivery Manager, where I got even more hands on experience into our 360 process. So I'm really excited to have this conversation today because I've had a couple of different perspectives. And also as an ASAP employee. I get to work with amazing coach as well. And we've gone through a 360 together. So I have all of these different perspectives of being a coachy going through a 360 training coaches on 360 and even boots on the ground, implementing three sixties with clients. So in terms of how our three 60 works and how we integrate it into our coaching process. I think it's good to actually start with the data piece. So when all of our coaches get started on the ASAP platform, they take what we call our intake survey and that asks them to rank themselves across 12 core competencies that we have here. And you know, their perceived strength in each area and what they might want to work on. And then in addition to that, as you kind of mentioned earlier, we also use that information to find them an amazing coach to work with. This intake survey. Also acts as a baseline for a lot of the data that we're sharing back with the coachee to enhance their experience. So when they take their 360. We use that intake survey as their baseline. So how are they reporting their own strengths across all of these areas? What do they think they need to work on? What do they think that they're already really strong in? So we already have that information to start. And then usually within the first 60 days or so of the coachee's experience, they go through the 360 on their end. They invite up to. Excuse me. invite six or more reviewers to complete a 360 review, where those reviewers get to share feedback about the CoChi. So they share their insights on what the strengths are of the CoChi. They share their reflections on how the CoChi can improve. We always ask the CoChi to include, you know, really like a circle of 360 of all different individuals across their organization. So, your manager, Your direct reports, your peers, your manager's manager. If you work closely with them, it's really helped the coach. You get an understanding of where can they improve, where can they really direct their coaching energy and focus to get the most out of the experience. Essentially, unless you have any questions, I can keep going. I could probably talk about this on my own.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

You know, this like the back of your hand. Well, one of my favorite parts of the 360 report is the, you call them hidden strengths, and then I forget the other one, but it's basically where if someone is rating themselves, they're like, look, I know I'm pretty good in this area. And some of the people in the 360 report, their boss, their colleagues, their direct reports will say, yeah, like you're pretty good in this area. And that's like confirming data points. Great. But what's really cool is when someone says, you are amazing at this. And the person goes, like, what? I didn't know I was good at that. It's a hidden strength. They take it for granted. It comes so naturally to them. But to other people, that's a big deal. That stands out to them. So, there's the hidden strengths, and then there's the hidden, I guess, weaknesses. Um, I forget the exact terminology, but basically, Oh, like, I, I kind of sense I have, room to grow in these areas. I could probably spend more time upskilling here. So I'm going to concentrate over here. But if, you know, if, if seven out of 10 people are highlighting something else that wasn't even on your radar, you're like, Whoa, okay. That's really good to know about. Didn't even cross my mind.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yes. And I'm over here smiling because I have personal experience going through that with my own

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

As

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

three.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

do I.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

So first off for the people watching at home or listening at home. thing that's really special, you know, about the ASAP 360 and often 360s in general is that you are comparing how the individual rated themselves to how others are rating them. And that's really the crux of our 360 as well. So for example, when I went through that process, I had a very similar experience to what you're mentioning, Emily, where when I completed my intake survey, I ranked three areas and I said, These are growth areas for me. I need help with this. I really want to work on this in coaching. I got my 360 results back and all three of those areas, all of my colleagues had said, she's great at that. She does not need to work at that at all. And we need to focus on some other areas. And it was this really eyeopening moment for me. Um, because, you know, for example, one of those areas for my 360 was, you know, General confidence, leadership presence. And I thought really need to work on that. And then I learned from my colleagues, you're good there. You don't need to

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Nope.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

that. Um, which was really eyeopening because, you know, as you think about imposter syndrome and confidence, it's something

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yeah.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

many leaders struggle with on a daily basis and to have that three 60 experience where you can hear directly from your colleagues. You're doing great at this. You don't need to worry about this really allows you to immediately direct your focus somewhere else that's more productive for you and also helps you overcome some of those, you know, fears you might have about yourself.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yeah. So let's compare notes on this. So a lot of people, so let's, let me do a personal story. When I first did a 360 report, this was years and years and years ago, someone said, we're offering 360 reports. And I was kind of voluntold to take one. And I was like, Oh, my first reaction was like, Oh no. Like feedback from my boss, feedback from my colleagues that I only work with. Sometimes my direct reports are going to give me feedback. My first reaction was like, Oh, I don't know about this. So our P do you find people are reluctant to go into a three 60?

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

It's a good question. And, you know, first off, I have to validate that feeling. I think it's a very vulnerable thing to ask all of your colleagues for feedback on yourself, especially for areas that you're saying, Hey, tell me what I need to improve on. It can be scary to ask for that and not know what responses you're going to get. Um, and, you know, we do see that, but I would say for the most part, by the time our coaches start taking the 360, they have an understanding of what it is, thanks to our launch process. know, a big piece is we emphasize to these individuals that the 360 assessment is a development tool for you. It is not a performance management tool. This 360 is being shared between you and your coach. You two get to have a conversation. Use this input and then decide how you're going to proceed on your coaching journey. This is not getting shared with your manager. So your manager can see how everyone's ranking you. It's really just for you. And you know, our amazing coaches like you, Emily, do a great job at this of, of helping coaches overcome those fears, um, and helping them understand this is for us, um, more, more than anything else. So I would say that's a big piece. And then, you know, Our launch team as well does a really good job of this, where early on in the process, they explain the 360 to individuals, we even give them a guidebook, a little template that they can send all of their reviewers, so they don't even have to think about, how am I going to ask for this feedback? We really try to make it as easy as possible for them. And then in the platform, all they have to do is, Put in their name, email address and relationship to them. And they're off to the races. So we try to make it as easy as possible. Um, we also like to partner with our coaches that they can help make sure it feels safe and really reassure the coachee that this experience is for them. Not for anyone else.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yeah. And just to tag onto that, I think it's, I often say feedback is an offering. It's not like the end all be all a hundred percent truth. Someone is offering you something and you can. Listen to it and read it and think about it and say, okay, I'm going to take this part and move that, you know, into my action steps going forward, or this part I'm going to discard because that doesn't seem relevant or helpful to me. And so it's, it's an offering. You don't have to. Accepted. Um, but that's always a good way to kind of help make that space safe and encouraging. And like, this is helping you, it is critical data points for you to get better. And most people taking that 360 want to get better and they want to learn. And after they get over kind of the, okay, let me push that send button and they get the feedback and they start digging in. They really, really like that. Um, and speaking of which, maybe you can go over. Just highlight a few of the core competencies that are in that report so people can get a sense of, okay, when, when someone's going through an ASAP 360. Here are some of the things we're talking about.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yep, absolutely. So one I've already mentioned that is really common. We often see this coming up with a lot of coaches in some capacities. One, the idea of developing leadership presence. Um, another one that comes up quite a bit is this idea of collaborating across the organization as one of our competencies. Um, some others, I'm just looking at our list to see which ones really call out to me here. You know, managing conflicts and difficult conversations also

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Huge one,

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

up quite a bit. Um, and then leading with a growth mindset is one of my favorite competencies. So we've got 12 of them. Um, but I would say those four are pretty popular and come up quite often, especially on the 360.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

yes, and I like you, you guys have little like popup definitions for all of those competencies, so someone can open the popup and look at what you're talking about there. But yes, those all sound familiar. Now I get a lot of different reactions to. Someone going through their three sixties. I mean, some people on like one end are like so nervous. They're like literally sweating as we're going through the three sixties. So I, you know, nuance my, my delivery there. Some people are like, Emily, I pick the people who I don't get along with, who are very critical of me. They, you know, always have something negative to say about me and my project and work style, and I wanted them on the three sixties, so bring it on. So there's lots of different personalities kind of taking in the information, but what's the typical reaction? You get from, from your end for people who have received the 360.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah, so fortunately, the reaction is very positive. Um, and I, I think a big part of that is because of the way that the 360 arc kind of happens based on the report that the coach is receiving. I will share when I was going through my 360. I was kind of in the middle of everything you've mentioned where. I was nervous to receive the feedback, but I was also really hungry for the feedback because I really wanted to know, you know, everyone's being so nice to me at work. But what can I really work on now that people are sharing some things anonymously? So it's a little bit of apprehension. Um, but I think before I even got to the survey. And I think what all of our coaches do really well, what my coach did really well is this idea of creating an environment upfront that is safe. We do a little bit of contracting in the coaching terms of our agreements of, of how we're going to work together in this session. So she and I had a conversation about how are you going to react when something comes up that you don't agree with? You know, how do we want to talk about it as it comes up? Um, you know, we even made an agreement, which is sometimes really hard in a 360 with anonymous feedback of saying, we're not going to read into who shared this anonymous feedback. We're really going to try and just understand this and reflect and take it in. So, the 1st step was definitely having. That conversation with your coach. And then in terms of the report itself, you know, folks generally react positively because I think the way that we build them up to receiving feedback that can sometimes be harder to hear. For example, when they read the report and they talk through the report with the coach, the first thing that they see are their strengths. So they see a numerical chart. That shows them. Here's what everyone says. You're really strong at. And then you read the next page and you get to hear all of the amazing things that everyone said about you of what are your strength areas. Why are you an amazing person to work with? And it really helps to, to let that sink in as well. I'm curious if you've seen this Emily, where, um, sometimes coaches, if, if, you know, sometimes it's hard for them to take in the positives too. They say, yeah, it's nice that everyone said these things about me, but I really want to get to the tough stuff. And I think it's really. Important and valuable to just pause on the positives and pause on what you're doing really well, just as much as the areas for improvement that come after that.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Absolutely. I see that all the time and I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, when I talk to coaches about moving, moving things into action steps, we do two parallel paths. So one is like, yes, let's take some of these growth and development areas that you have such good data points on now and talk about that. But also let's take a look at your strengths because clearly people respond to this and want you to continue. doing this, how do we incorporate this and almost double down in your strength areas? So I think that is important. And I do this and I think most of my clients do this where they just glaze over the strength. They're like, okay, yeah. But like what this is really about is the growth areas and it's, it's, Equal equally important if not more important to say no, I have strengths. I bring talent and skill to the table and my team Needs those things and recognizes and appreciates those. I mean, that's a big deal. That's a really big deal Yeah, just as much as you know, your growth areas I think the framing is really important and it's also like look Everyone on planet earth has things they're good at and things that they're not so good at. It doesn't make you a good or bad person. It's just useful to know which types of things you are inclined toward and which types of things take a little bit of extra effort for you.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yep. I completely agree. And you know, when I had this debrief with my coach, she, this great thing of saying like, I'm going to read half of these out loud and you're going to read half of these out loud as we go through the anonymous feedback together so that you can really take it in and we're going to pause on each one and say, how did that make you feel? And I'll be honest, it was a little uncomfortable to take in the compliments and say, am strong at this and it feels good. And, you know, she gave me an assignment after a session that was just great. Read this, let it sink in, let it feel good, which was really, really important. And for me going through that experience, although I was kind of, you know, shy and humble about receiving it, those pieces about strengths were really helpful for me to hear first before I went into my growth areas. Cause I already had this confidence of, wow, my team members think I'm great at this thing that I didn't think I was that great at. So now I'm really curious about What do they think I need to work on? Cause clearly I was misaligned on, on what my areas of growth were. So it was really helpful. And we'd had that foundation with my coach of this process of, going to read some of these, you're going to read some of these, and we're going to reflect one by one. And I think a lot of the magic did happen in those growth areas. And I think it often does where coaches see for the first time, okay, here's an area that I can really improve. And let's talk about what that means for me. Um, for example, for me, one theme that came up in my 360 was this idea of taking ownership. And what that means. Someone had shared feedback that it's a good next step for me in my role. And now in my coaching sessions, the last two we've talked about taking ownership. So it really helped us to, to have this arc and then our three 60 after that too, has this amazing, you know, as I've mentioned, kind of curve where you hear your growth areas. they get to hear, how do I contribute to the organization? And everyone shares great feedback there. And then they share general feedback too. So it's a lot of different things, both positive and growth areas for coaches to hear. It really allows them to take this all in from different angles. So. I really appreciate the experience. We've heard that coaches really appreciate this experience that by the time they come out, they have action items. They have increased self awareness and often it really helps with their relationship with the coach too, to just have this vulnerable conversation. I'm curious, Emily, in your perspective, do you feel like having that 360 debrief increases the trust in your relationship with your clients? Yeah,

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

definitely moves the relationship. Uh, forward. So it's, it's interesting. The timing of it is usually like my second or third session with this person. So, you know, first couple of sessions, you're always getting to know someone and kind of laying the groundwork. But yes, after that 360, it's like, okay, now we've both dive into this together and this is a vulnerable thing, but it's also we're going through this feedback, it's sometimes it's pretty candid, and it's like, sometimes it's surprising. Both directions and then we get to build action steps and it is. It does solidify that partnership in a new way. So I've had a few where it's the very first session and that's like, boom. Okay. We're just, we're just going into this, like our, our relationships being forged in the fires of, of mortar or whatever, here we go. Um, but it's, it's definitely a catalyst moment. And, uh, I love the fact that your coach had you read them out loud. I. I use the one where if someone has written something really, really nice, but also constructive like this was really good feedback and it was around your strength with examples and how it made them feel or how it impacted their experience of working with them. I tell them to print that out and someone who was having confidence issues and was having a bit of imposter syndrome in their new role thought they did nothing well. Thought they were messing up all the time. And I said, well, wait right here. You have five people outlining specific examples of things you do well. What would it be like to print those out and look at them or put them in your drawer and look at them when you're kind of feeling those, those bits of imposter syndrome? And so she did that. And that was something that a tangible takeaway that she took from her 360 report.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

I love that. And I love the theme of that too, of taking the notes and bringing them out in times of doubt or struggling too, because the beauty of a 360, you know, you're working with the same coach who's debriefing your 360, you're going to be together for the next six months, 12 months is, you know, that 360, you're going to be there. You can pull it off the shelf when you need it. You know, you have that assessment from the beginning and you can look back and see what folks were saying about you at the start. It's not an isolated experience really gets to shape your entire coaching relationship, your entire coaching experience moving forward. So it doesn't just end after that debrief. And I love what you mentioned about notes. Cause. Really exemplifies that, you know, those areas that you have strengths, they're probably going to be strengths in six months too. So keep reminding yourself of that.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

For sure. For sure. Now, You work with, some of your clients are companies, so organizations who want to offer coaching. And one of the things you do is you offer them anonymized, rolled up feedback for their leadership. Can you touch, talk about how that works and how that benefits, uh, leaderships of leadership teams of companies?

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah, absolutely. So one thing that makes us really unique is that we do hold this relationship with these organizations as well. And these decision makers who also get to benefit from learning from us in the work that we're doing with our coaches. Before I get into details too, I always like to emphasize here that As you know, as a coach, Emily, one of the most important components of coaching is confidentiality, which always there's a question that comes up of what are you sharing with the organizations? What does this mean for confidentiality? And we follow the ICF code of ethics, which is the international coaching federation and confidentiality is really important to us. So all the information that we roll up to organizations is always anonymized and it's always an aggregate to give them high level systemic insights of what's going on in their organization. What do folks want to work on? What are folks struggling with? To really help them. as a leadership team, as an organization to help hone their focus as well and understand what's going on within their teams. For example, with the 360, we do this in a really special and really interesting way where we roll up to organizations and we show them, you know, the differences between Cochise self reports and their peer self reports from the 360 to really show, you know, again, it's all anonymized and aggregate never points back to one individual, but we can say, you know, all of your team thinks they need to improve and collaborating across the organization. All of their reviewers are saying they don't. So then you give that organization a great insight into how can we help lead our people? How can we help support our people? What do we need here? For example, I was just talking with a member of our team where It was really fascinating. We were talking about the 360. And he mentioned that we had a cohort of women leaders going on, um, through the ASAP program. They all were doing one on one coaching as well as group coaching. And they had the 360. a lot of these women leaders, you know, ranked similarly to myself, that their leadership presence needed work. And we saw in the organization from their feedback that it didn't. And that was a really great reflection to share back with an organization of saying, you know, Women leaders really struggle with this challenge. You now know this, and we hope that you can use this in addition to the ASAP program to build up your women leaders with this additional context. So it really helps the organizations to understand in depth through data where they can really focus to support their employees and also helps us to work with them to say, here's an area of focus. Do we want to have group coaching around this? Do we want to have team coaching with this specific team that's struggling with this? So it allows us to, to work with them to really identify how coaching can specifically help their organization. So it's very cool, very exciting. The way that we roll it up to really make sure that our coaching is making an impact on an organizational systemic level, not just on the individual level, though, of course that happens as well.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Sure. And one thing I'll bring up too, is as a coach, after each session with a coachee, I'll fill out a little debrief form. Um, and I'm sure this is all anonymized, but one of the questions in that is, Is what patterns or trends do you see across this organization? So if I'm working with coaches from the same organization, then I can fill that part in. And then you also ask, you know, what types of topics did you highlight or what progress did your coachee make? And so I'm imagining if you have All of those debrief reports from all of the coaches from every single session across dozens, hundreds, thousands of employees, depending on how large this corporation is. That's a huge amount of data being rolled up and anonymized to leadership that they can actually get insight from and take action from.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Exactly. So we get to say, you know, here's what's coming up in all of your sessions. All of these coaches over the last six months have really been interested in communicating effectively or having a growth mindset. It's really valuable for us to share that with those organizations as our partners so that we can decide with them. Again, where do we go next from here? What decisions do we want to make? And we're really grateful for our coaches because you all have those amazing systemic insights from working with these individuals. And you all naturally have such a great sense for what those individuals might need. So we give our coaches in that systemic insight section and Opportunity to share with our team. You know, I'm hearing a need for group coaching here. Then we get to see that we get to lead that up again, anonymously and say, we've heard from a couple of coaches that coaches might benefit from group coaching, then we have those insights to bring forward to. Make the most impactful program possible with the rest of our contract.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yeah, and I don't know if you can share this, but I imagine it would be helpful for leadership to say, okay, in this department, we're picking up on this trend, like others are stable, but this one's a little bit, you know, certain types of feedback are coming from there and or, um, whoa, our team just, we had this big change happen at our company, we're picking up like stress, people are stressed and a little bit, tense, and then now that things have stabilized, maybe a couple of weeks or months later, now we're seeing that. Yeah. Um, lagging indicator where like, yes, people are feeling a little bit more comfortable and stable about things.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah. So it's definitely a better question for our research team, exactly how we, we break up those cohorts. Um, but typically the way that we do it is we do look at our teams and our group coaching in the framework of cohorts. So whoever's going through coaching within that specific period of time. But I love what you're mentioning too, of. What themes are we capturing? Are people stressed right now? And then at the end of the program, are we capturing more that feelings are better and people are feeling happier as well? And we also do have a way of measuring this from the Cochise directly too, which is a really valuable point of data for us, which is every 90 days or so, We're also sending a survey out to all of our coaches called our impact assessment, and then that impact assessment, they are again rating their competencies just against that intake survey again, the one that we used in the 360, so that we can see, you know, every 90 days, how they're perceiving their growth as well, and how they're reflecting on the coaching experience. So that's often also a really great indicator for us of how are they feeling about things? How are they growing? from their experience directly, because that's invaluable.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yes. And another thing I want to bring up here is you also offer triad calls with a coachee and their manager and the coach. And I've had a number of those that are very valuable and those can be used in a lot of different ways, but that's also available through ASAPs, uh, various programs. Um, did you want to say anything on that?

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah, I'm happy to. So within one of our, or a couple of our one on one coaching offerings, that's correct. Coaches can bring their managers in. And we find one of the most valuable ways to structure this is early on in the coaching experience. So when you bring a manager into a call, I'm sure, as you know, as a coach, Emily, can be very vulnerable too. Just like having a, an experience of a 360 where your manager is sharing anonymous feedback. So a big part of bringing a manager into a call is having that contracting conversation again, before. coach and coachee where they say, what is the purpose of bringing your manager into this call? What are we hoping to achieve together? What do we want to share? What do we want to not share? And often bringing the manager in early can be really valuable because the manager comes in and they get to share from their systemic organizational leadership perspective. What might be valuable for the coach you to work on what's good for the coach you to know in terms of organizational context so that the manager can share their input, the coach can hear it as well. The coach can, of course, hear it, and they can use the manager's inputs and perspectives as well to help guide them on how they want to set their goals moving forward. So the manager's input in that live call in combination with the 360 gives the coachy a really good baseline of where do I want to direct my energy now I've heard from a couple different sources now of. What I'm strong at, where I need to improve. And then they get to have that magic of that one on one relationship with their coach, do with that input, what they will and let the transformation happen.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

And I will say from a, from a coach's perspective, just having even five minutes with someone's boss, just like brings color to the whole situation. So having that full session is amazing. But even, you know, when you hear about someone and, and people are telling stories and you kind of get a sense, but just meeting that person for even five minutes, it's like, okay, now I understand what we're talking about here.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

And. Those, those triad calls are interesting because you're right. You have to set it up well, and you can't have a manager walking in and be blindsided by what's happening here. But oftentimes it's me and the coachee talking about how to set that up with the manager. And then I'll obviously introduce myself and say, Hey, I've been working with so and so and as part of the ASAP program, we have an opportunity to speak. And, I was just talking to someone who had moved into a new role and Really get, success criteria and what is this, the scope of this role and what makes it successful in 90 days and all these things with the manager. And that was a perfect topic to have with them both. And I could listen and my job was to make the coachee successful. Um, as we walk out of this, this conversation, but just hearing all the perspectives and hearing them interact was very valuable to me as a coach. So definitely wanted to throw in the triad calls. Cause those are very cool.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

I can imagine, you know, from our perspective too, the manager is such a crucial relationship in the success of coaching. Of, you know, if we have that manager's buy-in to the coachee's coaching experience, that's a really beautiful thing.'cause that the manager knows the coachee's going through this. The coachee maybe is bringing it up with their manager when they wanna talk about it. You know, for example, in my coaching experience, when I have coaching my manager, he knows that I'm in coaching of course. And sometimes I'll say to him, if I'm feeling really vulnerable, I'll say. I've been working on this with my coach and this is where we're leading and it leads to this really wonderful moment of connection where he gets to support me in the coaching work that I'm doing. I get to openly share with him when I feel comfortable what I want to be doing and where I'm going with coaching and it really just opens up the experience so much. So we really view the manager. As a vital person in this coaching relationship, and wherever possible in our launch experience to, you know, our enterprise launch manager is amazing at this. She'll sometimes have launch calls with just the managers of the coachees, so they fully understand what their, um, direct reports are participating in. So they're bought in as well. Maybe they're not going through coaching themselves, but. We get them bought in ahead of time of you're going to be invited to this call. You're going to be asked to complete a 360. And here's why it's really valuable to your direct report and to you and your relationship with them. So the manager is definitely key in that coaching experience.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yes. And one of the greatest things that happens after one of those, those triad calls is the coach. He will come and say, Emily, um, my manager said that this would be a great topic to bring to coaching and not in like a punitive way, but just like, you know, they know that I'm working with you. And you know, she thought that this would be a great topic. And it's like, Oh my gosh, okay. This is, this is a good thing. So just to zoom out for a second, can you just talk about how ASAP Works with companies to set up, develop, implement coaching programs. I mean, you work with companies of different sizes and in different industries and have different needs. Can you just kind of touch on an overview of that?

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of this magic happens before coaches get involved before I even get involved, which is in our sales process where our team is having conversations with these organizations to truly understand what they need and what the solution is. So for example, we have some organizations, you know, a lot of our clients are enterprise organizations and. They might already have some development programming in place. Perhaps they've already identified some target populations. They have policies in place and what they really want to do is enhance some individuals like, you know, high potentials, new managers, et cetera, through the lens of leadership competencies and, you know, our team asks them guided questions to really understand what their needs are. And in that instance, we might say, Okay. Sounds like one on one coaching will be a really good opportunity for this group of individuals. We work with them to identify who wants to participate in coaching, who's going to be a fit for that specific offering. And then, you know, also we sometimes one on one coaching isn't the right opportunity to start with. Maybe they have a really specific team and they have a problem they want to solve, or they have an organizational problem and they say, Our organization would be stronger and we can make more of an impact. If these teams are working with more unity towards one specific overarching goal, then team coaching is a really powerful solution for them. Often one on one coaching goes in tandem with that too, as a really strong compliment. So we really listen and we understand what our clients need and what they're hoping to achieve. To help tailor to them the right coaching experience. from there, you know, once we identify that, our launch managers are amazing in crafting a launch experience for these individuals. So when I train my coaches, I always like to tell them, ideally, by the time a coachees come to you, you get to do your job, which is coaching wonderfully. We train the coachees on what the platform is, even what coaching is, so that they have a sense of it before they even get in. Um, and what to expect with ASAP coaching. Our platform also guides them through that experience as well. So they take that intake survey. That intake survey is asking them, Hey, have you ever had coaching before? What are you interested in working on? It gets them thinking about what they want to focus on before they even get in the room with a coach, so that we've warmed them up to the experience very well. So that hopefully by the time a coach, he gets to you, Emily. Though I'm sure you still talk to them about what coaching is because they always have questions. They've got some of this base understanding of Why they've been selected. What is this program? What does it mean to be in coaching, but I am curious from your perspective, you know, when a coach he comes to you, Emily, and they've never had coaching before. How do you help them to understand what coaching is as a coach?

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, it depends on where they're coming from. So for instance, just last week I had a person who had never had coaching, but she and I were talking about, we both played basketball. And so that was easy. It's like, okay, you take your basketball coach and that model where someone is like, you know, hands on knees, like watching you from the sideline and saying, all right, you're good at shooting. You're passing, need some work, all of this different things. I am here to make you successful. I am here to get you to perform at your best. I want you to win in quotes, you know, to win the game, to be a good team member, to help your team win all of these things. And that just clicked for her. So it was a very easy, take the sports coach, lift and shift that to the business world. And that's what I'm going to do for you in business. And she was like, Oh, okay, got it. So for different people, it's different things. But basically, you know, I am unlike anyone else in your world. in the sense that I don't want anything from you. I just want you to be at your best and that is my job and that will entail encouraging you and supporting you and motivating you and also challenging you and sharing some observations where, hey, you know, you've said that you want your goals are this, this, and this. Yet, in this particular scenario, your actions are going this way, this way, and this way. You know, what do you see about that, or what comes up for you? And just those types of things. But it's all from the foundation of trust and safe space, and I am here to make you best. That's the only reason I'm going to say or do anything in these sessions with you.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

I love that. And I could not agree more. You know, I think there's something really beautiful that happens in a coaching relationship once you establish this trust. Where you can really lean on your coach to reflect back to you. What's happening. You know, sometimes I'll be in a conversation with my coach and I will have convinced myself of something and I'll be talking about it and what the problem is. And she's saying, well, you're saying this. Last week you said this and now your actions are also saying this. So let's sit back and let's reflect together on what that means. And you know, we're all living in our own heads 24 seven. We can

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Oh,

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

of pretty

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

sure.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

So having that coach there to work through these challenges with you, be that extra person, that sounding board is so valuable.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

And we were really good storytellers and our brain is meant to tell stories. That's part of his job. But sometimes it's like the wrong story. It's like, okay, if we're going to run that movie on loop and just play it on repeat, we might as well tell a good story. So it's sometimes changing up those narratives that we're telling ourselves. And I, one of the most common things I'll, I'll get from Cochise is it's so nice to have someone who gets business like from the business world, but isn't in my business. So I don't have to worry about something I say here getting back to so and so or my colleague or it being taken the wrong way. So I can just, no holds barred, I can speak candidly here, I don't feel judged, it's just a place where I can go and get dedicated time for me. A lot of My coaches, some of my coaches will just spend the first like minute or two, just kind of breathing and decompressing from their day where this hour or this half hour on their calendar is for them. And it's the only time where someone is just, I'm for you. I'm a hundred percent paying attention for it to you. I don't have any other agenda besides being here for you. So that is. I mean, it's kind of sad in some ways, but sometimes people don't have that other places with their boss or with their colleagues, or sometimes even at home and that coaching space is really precious and valuable in that way.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Absolutely. That is definitely true. And Just having that person who have that connection with is so powerful for all of the reasons you've mentioned of You know, maybe you're stressed about something and you don't know how to bring it up to your boss or your manager, but you know that you want to, and it's scary, your coach works through that with you without judgment. might feel nervous, but often your coach will put you at ease pretty quickly and validate those feelings and having someone there to say what you're feeling is normal. And we're going to work on this together. You are not alone is such. an important experience to have, especially when, you know, regardless of everyone's situation, work can be stressful. And inherently, you know, who you are at home is who you are at work, so now than ever, as we work from home. So having that coach to help you center, help you become, you know, that integrated human being. at work, but inherently at home too, is just, it's so important.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Yeah. And it's funny you mentioned, like, sometimes it is just saying you're not alone, you know, I'm not going to name names here, but they basically ask in some version, like, Emily, is this normal? Like this is happening at work. Is this normal? Does this happen to other people? And it's like, yes, like, believe me, like you're not the only one and okay, all right. That makes me feel better. Just that little bit. But, um, all right. We could talk for hours about this stuff and, and coaching is amazing. Um, but for ASAP, what is coming up? Do you have new, like. Launches or releases. I know that I've been part of some beta tests for some things. You guys are ginning up, but, uh, we'll keep that under the hat for now. But what can you tell people about that's next for ASAP?

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah, absolutely. So what you were mentioning, I'll share a little bit about now, is we are currently exploring how we're going to be Unleashing the power of AI in coaching here at ASAP. So we're currently testing some really powerful solutions, um, with some initial clients who are giving us great feedback, some coaches like yourself and our internal team. So there's definitely more to come in terms of the world of AI. We're very excited for the impact that we're going to be able to make there. And then another piece that we've been focused on for the last year, but it's still pretty new. To the digital coaching space is bringing in team coaching to our team to our ASAP platform. So we call it our team transformation engine. And in the last couple of years, we've built this really powerful solution for teams to go through coaching as well, where all of those teams are going through a collective experience together. With a team coach who's really experienced to support those teams through the lens of solving a specific problem, reaching a very specific goal so that they can go out and be more effective as a unit. So that's been a really powerful solution for us. We're really excited. We've had a Quite a few customers go through that experience and have really seen the impact of also approaching coaching from a team lens beyond just that individual lens. So I know we will continue to grow on a team aspect as well, which we're very excited about. We think it's especially, you know, for enterprise organizations, although everyone can benefit. Team coaching is a really powerful solution.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Very cool. Beautiful. So if someone is listening and you're, you're talking to a lot of chiefs of staff, to a lot of executives, maybe COO, CEOs, founders, um, VPs, if they're listening, going, Oh, Oh my gosh, my team needs this, or wouldn't it be great if our leadership team had some coaching as we move through this next phase of growth or anything else that's coming up for our company. But how do they do that? Is there a certain criteria they need to meet or just reach out to us and we'll see how we can help you type of thing? What's their best.

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah. Just reach out to us. I would suggest that you go to our website, aceup. com, where you can learn about all of our different solutions, individual coaching and team coaching as well. And when you look into team coaching as well. You would have the opportunity to take our very brief team archetype assessment, which will ask you some quick questions to really get to understand what problems are the team facing? What strengths to the team have? And our team looks at that. And then we'll follow up with you with a custom response based on those inputs to help. us identify where we might be able to support you. So you can go to our website. We have a contact page on our website too, or we're happy to answer any questions. Um, but we are always happy to connect with anyone and answer any questions to see if team coaching, individual coaching, group coaching could be a solution for your organization.

emily-sander_1_11-19-2024_120310:

Beautiful. We'll have that website in the show notes. And, um, if anyone wants to talk to me about my experience with ASAP, I'm more than happy to share that as well. You can reach out to me at emilyatnextlevel. coach, but Sarah, thank you so much for being on and sharing all about ASAP. I've had a wonderful experience with your organization and I'm more than happy to share that with, with others. And hopefully organizations will We'll invest in their people and provide coaching because it's so beneficial for just them as a, as a leadership team and also for the company as a whole. So thank you again for being on and sharing more about ASAP

sara-dakin_1_11-19-2024_150310:

Yeah. Thank you so much, Emily. And thanks for being a coach with us and growing and learning with us as well. Always appreciate you.