Build Manager Alignment Meetings into Your Coaching Program

Review this article for best practices and guidance on integrating manager alignment meetings into your Torch Coaching program. On the platform, the functionality is simple: coaching participants can invite someone who isn't on the platform (like their manager) to a meeting, generating a unique link that the invitee can use to access the scheduled coaching session. Beyond the technology, there are other things you'll want to consider to ensure these sessions are as effective as possible.

Make Manager Alignment Meetings optional for participants. Allowing participants to choose whether or not they want to have a meeting is crucial, especially if they feel uncomfortable including their manager. 

Guide participants in scheduling meetings at the right time. If you’re setting timing guidelines for Manager Alignment Meetings, it’s important to give participants enough time to build trust with their coach and create potential development goals before jumping in. This tends to take around 2-3 meetings with their coach. 

The ideal schedule may depend on if participants predominantly want to use the meeting specifically for goal alignment, live feedback from their manager, or both. You can reference a summary of our guidance for each scenario below:

• Manager Alignment Meeting Focused on Live Feedback - Once the participant has completed 2-3 meetings with their coach, they can schedule a Manager Alignment Meeting while collecting feedback on their 360 Leadership Assessment. If your program does not include a 360, the first Manager Alignment Meeting can be scheduled once the 2-3 initial coach meetings have been completed.
• Manager Alignment Meeting Focused on Goal Alignment - To align on goals, the participant should schedule a Manager Alignment Meeting after debriefing feedback from their 360 Leadership Assessment with their coach and beginning to identify goals for their coaching engagement. If your program does not include a 360, the first Manager Alignment Meeting can be scheduled after the participant has discussed goals with their coach.

Regardless of the participant's desired meeting focus and agenda, if your program will include a second Manager Alignment Meeting, the ideal timeframe for this is just past the midway point of the engagement. Ideally participants will have completed their Coaching Impact Survey and requested Colleague Feedback, if your program includes that feature. This second meeting can then be used by the participant to share peer feedback results, highlight progress they have made on their goals, and demonstrate to their manager everything they've gotten out of coaching.

Clarify expectations with outside stakeholders (like managers). The participant and their coach will own and shape the meeting agenda. Additionally, coaching is confidential and the participant will determine what they are comfortable sharing.

It’s crucial to make the purpose of Manager Alignment Meetings – both what they are, and what they aren’t – clear to managers and coaching participants prior to the session. 

Manager Alignment Meetings are:

• To explore how the participant would like to be held accountable, and what their coaching engagement means to them.
• An opportunity for a participant and their manager to align on goals and objectives.
• For the manager to build trust with the coaching participant and their coach.

Manager Alignment Meetings are not:

• For the manager to set the goals for the coaching engagement.
• For the coach to help coach the manager.
• A performance review.