A coach reached out to me for some extra support because she did not pass her coach-training program’s final evaluation. This is a common “niche” that I tend to support, especially when the coach-training program’s support for folks who don’t pass on the first time is quite poor. I asked this coach to send me a copy of what the official evaluator had written. This gives me a starting point to understand her areas of strength and development, at least from one person’s perspective.
I was shocked to see that this coach received a feedback form with one (1) area of strength and seven (7) areas for improvement.
It is a common and appropriate practice to write 2-3 areas of strength, and 1-3 areas of growth or development per evaluation. This approach is balanced and allows the coach to see their strengths while recognizing what areas need some improvement. In addition, writing feedback needs to include specific examples of why something is a strength and why something needs further development. “I love this” or “this was so great” is not feedback – it’s superficial cheerleading.
I felt discouraged reading the assessor’s comments, and it wasn’t even my evaluation. Only one sentence was written as a strength: “Coach established the coaching agreement.” Between three to five sentences were included for each area of development. In other words, the coach received a superficial “you did a good job” comment and seven “there are detailed things you did wrong” comments.
Folks, this just doesn’t work. This is not how anyone should give feedback. It is unbelievably discouraging, no matter how much “thick skin” a coach says they have.
If you are an evaluator or assessor for a coach training program, or give written feedback to coaches (or any human) in general, please be sure you provide balanced, objective, and evidence-based feedback. A ratio of 1:7 is ugly and reflects a very lazy approach. If you own or lead a coach training program, please offer your assessors appropriate training (and maybe occasional spot-checking) so they don’t crush the spirits of coaches who want to learn and improve.
I wish I could say this is a one-off instance I just heard about, but it happens a little too often.
Photo (featured image) from Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.