A Career Development Secret Weapon: The Coaching Goal Alignment Session

Goal alignment sessions are to be embraced not dreaded. These three “Cs” make them a career path accelerator.
1.    Celebration
2.    Co-Creation
3.    Coaching

Clients own the session agenda with their manager. They choose which goals to share and   what to communicate about each one. My role is to a) follow my client’s lead b) stand ready to underscore their accomplishments, and c) ensure that the meeting stays on track to allow space for reactive and proactive comments by the manager. 

The content of coaching sessions is 100% confidential. This is contractual with the sponsor organization and an absolute of professional ethics. While I (coach) will never share what is happening in coaching with the corporate sponsor, I highly encourage my clients to update and engage with as much transparency as they deem appropriate.

In many instances the big “ah ha” comes in the form of a client receiving more affirmation than expected. A feeling of exhilarated buoyancy flows from the meeting to which I prompt “Now what? How does that impact your next steps?”  In some cases the result may be  “tough" feedback on a gap that could hold back career progress. Clients have shared later that while this was unsettling in the moment, “knowing” made a positive difference. In these cases I use my presence to clarify a pledge of support from a manager that can be transformational to the path forward.

With years of experience with the protocol of “goal alignment,” I now also encourage private pay clients to invite their manager to an alignment session early in the engagement. This spotlights their initiative and dials up visibility around career goals in a positive context. Jeff Beatty is an Executive Director for The Walt Disney Company who took this advice. These are the 3 “Cs” of how Jeff leveraged the coaching goal alignment session with his lead.

The goal alignment meeting affords a natural platform to overcome the surprisingly common reticence of leaders to celebrate themselves and their teams. In more cases than you would imagine it is their managers who emphasize with appreciation the contributions, aptitudes, and potential of the coachee. I have affirmations at the ready if any are overlooked. 

Jeff had set and was working on four coaching objectives. His manager embraced and validated the work Jeff was doing in coaching, then fine-tuned it with action ideas. Jeff and his manager co-created a career path forward. Vested in Jeff’s objective to gain visibility for self and team his manager invited his participation at skip level meetings. He next extended Jeff's operational involvement to adjacent domains with the goal of expanding possibilities for Jeff’s career mobility.

The construct of facilitated goal alignment is a platform for beginning or building a mentoring relationship with a manager. Jeff had already established a positive rapport with his new manager when he was promoted to a leadership role with worldwide scope and influence. The goal alignment session helped further position his manager in the role of mentor and coach. Jeff has set up an internal “Coach” within his organization.

Coaching has come a long way in the last decade. Coaching is “out of the closet” with a positive connotation for those enrolled. See the blog post "The Boardroom Beat #12 - Coaching is out of the closet" (July 19, 2022). Paired with the realization that that coaching is an investment made by and for the best and brightest, the coaching goal alignment session is a positive part of the process. 

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