Launching a new Torch Coaching program? Read on to learn about the participant experience after program launch and understand the milestones participants will complete throughout their coaching journey.
Following the participant experience
Once your program is officially live, participants will be invited to Torch where they will be guided through the first steps in getting started with coaching.
Program enrollment
Participants will receive an invitation to your organization’s coaching program via email. From here, they’ll click the “Begin onboarding” link to set up their Torch account.
When they first access Torch, participants will start from the “What is coaching?” page, which includes an introduction to coaching and outlines what participants can expect during their coaching journey. Next participants will be prompted to complete their match profile survey, which includes questions about their goals, background, and preferences. This information will be used to match participants with the best coaches for them based on what they hope to achieve in coaching.
Coach matching
Now it’s time for each participant to be matched with a coach. Our science-backed approach uses sophisticated algorithms to suggest matches to our human Match Team, who then leverages their experience to narrow the field to three coaches for each participant.
We start by aligning time zones between the participant and their potential coaches. Next we consider the participant’s selected focus skill areas (for example, executive presence, communication, and personal brand). With alignment on focus skills, the best indicator of a successful coaching match is behavioral traits and personality styles. This is where the human touch of our Match Team is especially important, expertly interpreting each participant’s sliding scale preferences for a coach with a personality and coaching style that is more facilitative or advisory, result-oriented or well-being-oriented, and supporting or challenging.
After the Match Team narrows down to three coach options, the final choice is up to the participant. Check out this walkthrough video to see the experience in action:
NOTE: There may be a few coach matches that don’t work out, and that’s okay! You can encourage any participants who don’t feel they’ve found a successful match to keep up their momentum by requesting a new coach. |
Coaching meetings
A participant can schedule their first coaching meeting as soon as they choose their coach. During the first meeting, the participant and their coach will get to know each other, set expectations, and start digging into what the participant wants to get out of their coaching experience.
Throughout the program, participants have the flexibility to schedule unlimited meetings with their coach. They’ll also complete surveys and growth activities that support their learning as part of the overall coaching journey. Learn more about these coaching milestones.
Spark AI support between coaching meetings
In addition to live coaching meetings, participants also have access to Spark AI. Spark provides always-on support that participants can use between sessions to reflect on challenges, prepare for conversations, or practice real workplace scenarios.
Spark is designed to complement live coaching by supporting in-the-moment reflection and practice. It does not replace human coaches or change how coaching programs are structured.
Learn more about how Spark AI works alongside live coaching programs.
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Understanding coaching milestones
As participants move through their coaching experience, they will be prompted to complete surveys and growth activities at specific program intervals.
Surveys
What’s the purpose of program surveys?
Coaching surveys gather program and cohort-level data to help you assess the success and measure the impact of your coaching program. Depending on the length of your coaching program, participants will complete up to three different type of surveys:
Coach Compatibility Survey - Collects participant feedback on their satisfaction with their coach and initial coaching experience
Coaching Experience Survey - Assesses how a participant feels about their coaching engagement and if they are satisfied with their coach match
Coaching Impact Survey - Provides data on which areas in their life or work participants have changed, to what extent, and if they have noted any business benefits from coaching
When do participants complete program surveys?
Each survey is completed at a specific time during your program:
Coach Compatibility Survey - Completed by participants after they’ve met with their coach at least once
Coaching Experience Survey - Completed by participants after the third meeting with their coach
Coaching Impact Survey - Completed by participants once in 6-month coaching engagements (at Month 5) and twice in 12-month coaching engagements (at Month 9).
If you’re a more visual learner, view this info summarized in table format here.
How can I learn more?
Review our surveys deep dive to learn more about the purpose of each survey and the data collected in each one.
360 Feedback
What is 360 Feedback?
360 Feedback provides qualitative insights into a participant’s leadership from the people they work with, like their manager, peers, and direct reports. Designed to capture practical, real-life examples and observations, 360 Feedback is intentionally aligned with the leadership capacities that matter most to your organization. This ensures that the feedback is directly relevant to driving organizational goals and leadership growth.
How does 360 Feedback work?
After completing a short self-reflection, participants invite five or more colleagues to provide feedback on their leadership strengths, growth opportunities, and challenges. Once the feedback is collected, the participant’s coach debriefs the results during a coaching meeting and helps the participant identify the key areas to focus on for their development. As a program manager, you’ll have access to reporting on the overall 360 Feedback trends and insights for your coaching participants.
When do participants complete 360 Feedback?
Participants complete their 360 Feedback and gather input from colleagues at the designated timeframe during your program, typically soon after matching with their coach or completing their first meeting. 360 Feedback is most often used as a tool to kickoff a program so participants can discover actionable insights about themselves and identify leadership opportunities to focus on in coaching.
How can I learn more?
Check out our 360 Feedback FAQs for admins.
Manager alignment meeting
What is a manager alignment meeting?
A manager alignment meeting is an opportunity for a participant and their manager and coach to have a conversation about the participant’s professional growth.
This is the participant’s meeting, and they can use it as they see fit. For example, a participant might be interested in using a manager alignment meeting to discuss career development and get specific feedback, or to share their intended area of development for coaching and how their manager can best support them. The overarching aim of the meeting is to highlight the participant’s strengths as perceived by their manager or leader and provide deeper insights into important areas that the coaching engagement might touch on.
The participant, coach, and manager all have different roles and responsibilities within a manager alignment meeting:
Participant
Determines what a successful meeting will look like
Decides the parameters for the meeting (what will and won’t be shared)
Schedules a preparation meeting with their coach
Schedules the alignment meeting with their coach and manager or leader
Participant’s Coach
Helps the participant prepare for the meeting
Facilitates the meeting
Debriefs with the participant after the meeting
Participant’s Manager or Leader
Provides input as asked based on meeting parameters
When do participants complete a manager alignment meeting?
Participants should ideally schedule this meeting toward the beginning of the coaching engagement to help provide further fuel for their future coaching meetings and strengthen their relationship with their manager.
How can I learn more?
Check out our best practices for incorporating manager alignment meetings into your coaching program. You can also review the guidance participants and managers receive to prepare for the meeting.
Colleague feedback
What is colleague feedback?
Colleague feedback is a feature that allows participants to ask their colleagues about the growth they’ve seen in them at work since they started meeting with their Torch coach. The invited colleagues will complete a brief survey about the changes they’ve noticed in the participant to ensure they receive clear, actionable guidance on what’s working and where they should focus next in coaching.
When do participants request colleague feedback?
Participants are prompted to request feedback from colleagues at different frequencies depending on the length of your coaching program:
6-Month Program - Participants are prompted once in month 5
12-Month Program - Participants are prompted twice, in month 5 and month 9
Anything else I should know?
Only a participant and their coach can see the feedback submitted by the participant’s colleagues. Torch will provide group trends to you upon request, but no one’s personal data from the survey is identifiable.