In this article
The Center for Creative Leadership publishes its own coaching principles. The six principles below are Peak Belt’s practical organisation of an everyday manager conversation; they are not a reproduction of CCL’s framework or a professional coaching certification.
Coaching principles for a real stretch assignment
1. Coach a problem the employee actually owns
Begin with a decision, skill or challenge within the colleague’s responsibilities. Coaching becomes frustrating when someone is asked to think harder about a problem they have no power to change.
Ask: “What part of this is yours to decide?” Then identify the parts owned by the manager, another team or a formal process.
A new supervisor may own how to prepare a shift briefing but not the staffing budget. Help them improve the briefing without implying they can solve chronic understaffing through better attitude.
If the real issue is missing authority or resources, address it directly. Do not disguise a management obligation as an employee development opportunity.
2. Agree what growth would look like
Name a learning outcome alongside the business outcome. “Complete the presentation” is a deliverable. “Learn to explain a recommendation using evidence and acknowledge uncertainty” describes a capability.
Keep the development goal narrow enough to observe. One assignment cannot reasonably improve strategic thinking, confidence, stakeholder management and presentation skills all at once.
Ask the employee which aspect matters to them. A goal imposed without discussion may still be necessary, but explain why it is required and give them a voice in how to practise.
Write a simple completion test: “At the review, you can explain why you chose one option and what evidence would change your mind.”
3. Ask questions that open a decision
Ask for reasoning rather than a guessed answer. “What options have you considered?” is useful if the answer can influence the discussion. “Would it not be better to call the supplier?” is advice disguised as a question.
A short sequence can help:
- What is the decision?
- What do you know?
- What is uncertain?
- What options are available?
- What would make one option preferable?
Stop when the employee needs information rather than another question. Share a policy, introduce a stakeholder or explain a technical constraint. Coaching is not a contest to see who can speak least.
Leave space for “I do not know.” That response can identify the next useful investigation.
4. Set a boundary for experimentation
Development needs room to try, but not unlimited exposure. Agree what can be tested safely and what requires permission.
A hypothetical example: A customer-service supervisor wants to improve the team’s handover. She can test a new internal briefing format for one week. She cannot change customer promises, share personal data in a new channel or remove required checks.
The manager asks her to collect examples of missing information and compare the new format with the current handover. The purpose is to learn whether the change addresses the problem, not to prove her first idea was right.
A clear boundary makes a stretch assignment more usable. Without one, the employee must guess how much risk the manager will accept after the result is known.
5. Provide support without taking over
Offer the smallest intervention that helps the person continue. That could be a sample document, access to a subject specialist or a rehearsal before a difficult meeting.
Ask, “What help would move this forward while keeping it yours?” The answer may differ from the assistance you were preparing to offer.
If you rewrite the entire presentation, the immediate output may improve while the learning opportunity disappears. Instead, review one section together and ask the employee to apply the reasoning elsewhere.
There are exceptions. An urgent safety problem or material contractual risk may require direct intervention. Explain the reason and return to the development discussion when the situation permits.
6. Review judgement, not just the outcome
A successful result can come from weak reasoning and luck. A disappointing result can come from a reasonable decision under uncertainty. Review the process as well as the final outcome.
Ask what the employee expected, what happened, what they would keep and what they would change. Distinguish information available at the time from facts learned later.
Then choose the next practice. If the colleague identified the right options but struggled to explain the recommendation, the next assignment should focus on communication rather than repeating the same research.
Keep a brief record of the agreed learning and next action. Avoid building a file of personal reflections that is unnecessary for the work.
Use the principles in one real conversation
Choose a colleague facing a manageable stretch task. Agree the task, learning goal, experiment boundary and review date. Ask them to describe what support they want from you.
For wider context, explore Peak Belt’s practical leadership skills guide and feedback guide, alongside the TrueNorth hub.
Avoid coaching as a hidden performance test
Tell the colleague whether the conversation is developmental, corrective or part of a formal procedure. A person should not discover afterwards that an exploratory discussion was treated as an assessment they did not know they were taking. Keep the purpose clear and follow the appropriate process when documented performance expectations are involved.
At the review, listen for a change in how the person makes the decision. A completed task matters; growing the capability to handle the next one matters too.
AI-assisted researched guidance from PeakBelt. Hypothetical examples are labelled in the text. See our editorial approach.