We know QwikCoach works for several compelling reasons:
1. QwikCoach users have told us it works!
Based on their experience with thousands of QwikCoach coaching interactions, a sample of 300 users in the US and Europe told us that QwikCoach coaching support was clear and easy to understand (98%) and that it taught them something they didn’t already know (85%) and helped them to handle a work-related situation successfully (76%).
2. QwikCoach fills a critical workplace void!
In most organizations, there are often long periods of time between when goals are set and support and evaluations are provided. QwikCoach calls this period the void because it is a time when people often don’t get the support they need or want to address day-to-day workplace challenges so they can perform effectively. Managers, team members, and even colleagues can be great sources of such help and support, but in today’s fast-paced, complex environments, getting time to have a “coaching session” is often impossible. As a result, more and more people are looking online for directions and answers they can’t get or find elsewhere.
QwikCoach can fill this critical void because it is an online coach that’s available 24/7. QwikCoach is at hand to offer needed work-related input, feedback, and advice when work is actually being performed and the need for support is likely to be most urgently needed, welcomed, and appreciated.
3. The ‘advice’ in QwikCoach is practical, and it makes sense!
QwikCoach was developed by coaches, and it reflects all of the coaching insights they gained from working with ‘real’ people who have benefited greatly from all of the direct coaching advice that has been put into QwikCoach. The advice in QwikCoach includes straightforward material on a wide variety of topics related to typical workplace challenges; practical information and suggestions; easy-to-follow practice ideas; and worthwhile tips and techniques. Plus there are also additional kinds of useful coaching recommendations related to each of the topics presented.
Here’s a sample of what’s offered in each of the 3 areas of QwikCoach.
People Smarts
People Smarts strengthens interpersonal skills and assists in the development of strategies that enable individuals to be effective with executives, colleagues, and customers.
Getting Along with Peers
- Why and how people are different.
- How to get along with people who are similar or different.
- How to “get along” and work with others in a sensible way even if someone is not your “favorite” person.
- Why and how to listen effectively.
- Handling difficult people.
- Handling normal and exceptional workplace conflict.
- Being appropriately assertive.
- Getting people to listen to you.
- Being collaborative at work.
- Knowing what to share with people and what not to.
- Helping people work with you more effectively.
- Giving and receiving feedback productively.
Interacting with Senior People
- How to coach anyone for improved performance.
- How to work with various people in coaching situations.
Handling conflict in coaching situations. - Getting others to coach each other.
- Coaching “winners” and those who are struggling.
Giving coaching help to those with personality or personal issues. - Knowing how to coach remotely.
- How to coach via email or other technology.
- The process of coaching.
- Using feedback to help the coaching process.
- Getting coaching help for yourself.
Coaching
- How to coach anyone for improved performance.
- How to work with various people in coaching situations.
- Handling conflict in coaching situations.
- Getting others to coach each other.
- Coaching “winners” and those who are struggling.
- Giving coaching help to those with personality or personal issues.
- Knowing how to coach remotely.
- How to coach via email or other technology.
- The process of coaching.
- Using feedback to help the coaching process.
- Getting coaching help for yourself.
Teamwork
- Why and when teams are needed and work best.
- How to improve team performance.
- How to organize a team, set norms, and lead teams.
- How to work in a team, be a more productive team member, share ideas and contribute, help everyone focus on common goals.
- How to work with/use team conflict constructively.
- How to get teams back on track.
- How to sponsor a team or get a sponsor for a team.
- When teams work and when they don’t.
- How to involve people in teamwork.
- How to produce specific results with teams.
- How to encourage team work and shared responsibility.
Meetings
- When to have meetings/when not to.
- How to organize meetings.
- How to work within a meeting.
- When to end a meeting.
- Handling conflict in a meeting.
- Handling presentations or participation in a meeting (with senior people or with people at various levels).
- The difference between leading a meeting and facilitating one.
- How to share the leadership of meetings.
- How to organize an agenda.
- How to set and use norms for meetings.
- What makes for a productive/successful meeting.
- How to keep folks on track in a meeting.
- How to keep yourself interested and involved in meetings.
- What to do when no one wants to lead a meeting.
- How to get everyone to contribute in a meeting.
- How to help people to be more open and effective in meetings.
- Building on the ideas of others.
- Using synergy to get more out of meetings.
- Technology and meetings.
- How to build cohesion to maximize productivity in meetings.
Leadership Essentials
- Defining management and leadership—differences and similarities.
- Why and how it’s best when everyone knows how to manage and lead.
- Why management and leadership are both critical to success.
- How to develop competence in management and leadership.
- Why and how everyone needs to manage and lead themselves personally first.
- How to understand and develop personal accountability.
- How to understand and exhibit self-awareness and self-regulation.
- How to understand and become a person focused on continuous learning.
- How to manage and lead others.
- How to motivate, persuade, create an environment of motivation, and help others to succeed.
- How to encourage people to learn.
- How to lead in the organization by setting a consistent example.
- How to develop people for optimal performance.
- How to understand and develop the capacity to provide vision.
- How to lead and manage change in an organization.
- How to be a strategic and complex thinker.
Personal Savvy
Personal Savvy delivers information and advice for developing essential personal competencies, such as time management and self-directed learning skills.
Managing Priorities
- Knowing how and what to prioritize.
- Handling multiple tasks.
- Understanding how to set goals based on a vision and mission of what needs to be done.
- Getting through one’s “to do” list.
- Knowing your multiple roles and getting things done for each role.
- Organizing and scheduling time.
- How to avoid wasting time.
- Developing a way to assess good and bad uses of your time.
- Setting and stick to your priorities.
Managing Performance
- Knowing what is the most important work to focus on.
- Creating individual develop plan.
- Identifying ways to monitor performance.
- Providing appropriate feedback using effective metrics.
- Helping people improve performance by provide the right kind of support.
- Planning for and giving performance reviews.
- Making the connection between performance and rewards and recognition.
- Knowing how to differentiate between key/critical goals and objectives and make certain you are on track to support the most important outcomes.
- Staying focused on what’s important in the midst of change and chaos.
- Why organizations are always changing goals and the impact of that on your efforts.
- How to overcome obstacles to getting the important things done, including helping others understand your priorities and work with you effectively to stay on track.
- Getting the help you need to get the right work done.
- How to know when to stop pursuing something.
- How to develop competencies for the next level up in an organization.
- How to plan and organize more effectively around important performance management challenges.
- How to help others maximize their performance.
Problem Solving
- Knowing what problems are worth solving.
- Being able to recognize important problems to solve.
- Knowing when and how to act alone or with others to solve problems.
- Figuring out how to get at the root of a problem.
- Understanding and utilizing critical thinking to solve business/organizational problems.
- Understanding how to create practical and effective solutions to organizational problems.
- Figuring out the best way to balance time between analyzing and solving problems.
- How and when to use multiple people in solving problems.
- The problem solving process and how to apply it on your work problems.
- The need for research — when and how.
- Being creative in solving problems.
- Understanding the importance of learning how to set criteria for solving problems.
- Being able to use a systematic approach to problem solving.
- Being an innovator when necessary.
Effective Communication
- How to avoid turning people off.
- How to listen to others effectively to really GET what they are saying.
- Getting all the information you need from others.
- Providing information to others.
- Making sure people are getting one’s messages.
- Helping others to understand why people listen and how to present effectively.
- Differences in communicating on the phone, in person, in email.
- Communicating “bad news” effectively.
- How to write clearly, simply, and directly.
- Communicating with senior people.
- How and why to draft things before sending them.
- Giving and receiving feedback.
Presenting clearly and appropriately. - Minimizing “noise” to communicate more effectively.
- Using organized approaches to communication.
- Being “audience centered” when communicating.
Business Sense
Business Sense supports the development of core business skills and insights needed to help understand and improve the organization and ensure its success.
Consulting Skills
- What consulting is and how it is used in an organization.
- How to act like a consultant within an organization and demonstrate competence.
- Why companies sometimes hire outsiders like consultants when people inside the company can do as well.
- Why people keep changing their minds about what they want.
- Why sometimes the best solutions do not get implemented.
- How can you figure out what clients or customers need.
- How can you keep people’s interest in implementing solutions to problems and issues.
- How to hold your own when working with those in other departments and units — partnering with those in your own organization.
- Explaining to others in ways they can understand what you do and how you can help them.
- How to handle problem relationships between different units and departments or between clients/customers and internal people.
- Understanding and using a consultative process.
Connecting and understanding consulting situations. - Developing alternative solutions.
- Supporting implementations.
- How to close something out and follow up with people.
Customer Retention
- Why customer retention is so important and profitable for organizations.
- Why it is important to keep customers even if you keep getting new ones and how to tell if people are good long-term customers.
- Why and how can we create high expectations.
- How to be customer focused and appreciated even if you don’t work directly with customers of your organization.
- What to do to avoid losing customers.
- Recognizing or identifying customers who should be “fired” or ignored.
- How to ensure customers are satisfied and stay that way.
- Absolute “do’s and don’ts” for retention.
- How you affect customers even if you are not literally “around them.”
- Following up on customer issues.
- Exceeding expectations.
- Using customer feedback.
- Communicating with customers.
- Satisfying customers.
- Creating customer loyalty.
Project Management
- Getting projects off to a good start.
- Using or not using project management software.
- Getting projects back on schedule and on track.
- Biggest project management challenges.
- Getting a stalled project reactivated.
- Dealing with unrealistic project goals.
- Dealing with a changing “cast of people” on a given project.
- Addressing budget overruns and communicating effectively with others on these issues.
- How to handle multiple projects.
- How to deal with projects when objectives keep changing and shifting.
- Leading projects effectively.
- How to use teamwork in project situations.
- “Coordination” as a skill for project management—how to develop it.
- Using effective problem solving in project management situations.
- Integration and project management.
- How to wrap up projects.
Managing Change
- Why organizations are continually changing.
- Understanding that most people do not avoid change and how to use that information effectively.
- Dealing with change with different age groups or cohorts.
- How different types of workers handle change.
- How to manage change in your own job.
- How to be seen as someone “pro-change” and on board with organizational changes.
- Developing skills to handle change effectively.
- How to work with various levels of people on change issues.
- How much or how little to tell others about change plans.
- The role of learning and training in change processes.
- What organizational change processes look like and how to manage them.
- Taking personal action in change situations.
- Recognizing reality in today’s organizations.
- Stepping back and observing change and learning how best to deal with it.
- Experimenting with new situations.
- Evaluations efforts to move forward or produce change.
- Documenting success and celebrating it.
- Moving on to next steps of change.