If you’re an organizational leader, executive coach, or HR professional, have you ever wondered whether you’re seeing the kind of change you expected from a coaching engagement?

It’s not surprising, considering that coaching typically operates in a primarily private and confidential manner. But what if that didn’t have to be the case?

Over the years, I’ve found that while the coaching relationship must feel safe and supportive, it also benefits participants to take the risk of sharing what they’re working on. In fact, by sharing this with teammates, we often observe a reliable shift in behavior that “black box” interventions frequently miss.

Even better, we witness an increase in social cohesion and motivation. It’s as though there’s suddenly more oxygen in the room; more permission to speak freely.

So, one key to enhancing our coaching process is to bring the conversation out of the black box and into the team dialogue.