Coaching audit: time to be self critical

Having been in business full time for approaching 10 years, I thought it was time to assess where we stood. Having had a couple of heavy deadlines earlier in the year, I decided to take the time to get some input on where the company stood.

I am in the last stages of a 4 part audit of Excelsior.

 April: Customer focus.

Myself and the staff did an extensive survey of what the athletes and customers wanted and expected from us. This included verbal Q&A and written questions. We looked at this information about what they didn’t know, common questions they had, where they looked for information and in what form.

One of the surprising things that came out of this was that they wanted Excelsior stash!

This information has helped shape our workshops, current and future, as well as the blog and resources.

May: External coaching audit.

As part of the Transformational coaching course run at Bath University, Wayne Roberts has been observing some of my coaching sessions at different locations. He then assimilated his thoughts into a very productive feedback session. I am not sure how many of you get observed coaching, and then get constructive feedback- I recommend it. Of course it has to be from someone who can give non judgemental feedback (don’t get your line manager or close colleague to do it). When there is no financial incentive from either party, it seems to enable honesty.

 June: Technical coaching audit.

I had an intensive 5 days on the GAIN conference in Houston (detailed blogs to follow) which covered a vast array of topics in the Athletic Development field.  This was a chance to get my practices and thoughts challenged and analysed by expert practitioners from around the world. I haven’t assimilated all the information yet, but it was a useful process to get away from my existing peer group.

July: Internal company audit.

Feedback due next week from the staff, including the Interns, on their experiences and the company as a whole. Probably the toughest critics, they have seen at close hand what work is involved and have been instrumental in helping develop what we do.

 I aim to use August to collate this information and get a head start on the next few years. Being a small company we can adapt quite quickly to changing demands, but we need to ensure that we have a stand out service and record to help our athletes and coaches in these difficult financial times.