Impactful presentations are key components of monthly Forum meetings. While the best ones usually have the benefit of advanced preparation and off-site coaching, sometimes impromptu presentations with Open Coaching are unavoidable.
While some Forums find value in Open Coaching, this method can actually be a Forum disruptor—especially if it becomes the default for your meetings. Here, we’ll discuss this alternative to Traditional Coaching, as well as the potential benefits, risks to be wary of, and tips to determine whether Open Coaching can work for your Forum.
First, what is Open Coaching?
Basically, Open Coaching occurs in front of the entire Forum. This alternative method was designed and introduced by EO member and Forum Trainer Phil Kristianson in the 2010s as an alternative to Traditional Coaching, which takes place outside of the Forum meeting in a private setting between the Coach and Presenter.
Open Coaching proved to be a viable solution to help members who were facing an emergency situation and needed to present, or to fill the void when the planned Presenter wasn’t able to deliver their presentation.
Although this alternative coaching method has several benefits, there are also a number of risks and challenges involved. Thus, most healthy and productive Forums tend to prefer Traditional Coaching for most of their presentations.
So…what is Traditional Coaching?
The Traditional Coaching method that most Forum members across the world are familiar with involves a private, confidential meeting between the Presenter and the Coach.
This meeting, which usually lasts about an hour, is intended to help the Presenter carefully think through their presentation before the Forum meeting. Proper preparation helps the Presenter ensure they’ve identified the core issue and gathered all the information needed to have a successful and productive conversation with the Forum.
Within the Traditional Coaching model, the Coach is assigned to work with the Presenter in advance. In some cases, Forums schedule their presentations and assign their Coaches as much as a year before the presentation takes place.
That all sounds great. But why did Open Coaching evolve?
It’s not uncommon for Forums to include an occasional impromptu presentation in their meetings. Sometimes this happens when a member needs help with an emergency situation, and other times the spontaneity is caused by the scheduled Presenter declining to present.
Unfortunately, impromptu and uncoached presentations sometimes fail to deliver high value to the Presenter, which impacts the rest of the Forum. Open Coaching may solve this issue, and has been used by EO, YPO, and other peer group Forums.
Over the years, several creative variations of Open Coaching have evolved. For example, some Forums designate a primary and an assistant Coach, each with specific roles and responsibilities. Other groups choose to assign observation roles to each member during the Coaching process and gather individual feedback after the presentation is complete.
What are the benefits of Open Coaching over Traditional Coaching?
In addition to filling gaps in the meeting agenda with an impromptu presentation, Open Coaching can offer several benefits, such as:
- Guidance for the Presenter. Open Coaching is dramatically better than no coaching. When a Presenter hasn’t received any guidance—or hasn’t had time to prepare for an emergency presentation—they have a tendency to wander off-track, miss key points, and lose focus on their core issue.
- Everyone in the Forum can learn coaching techniques. As long as the Coach is a talented one, each member gets the opportunity to observe the coaching methods they’re seeing live.
- Time savings. The logistics of assigning a Coach and arranging a Coach-Presenter meeting outside of the Forum meetings can save time and scheduling headaches. With Open Coaching, that meeting is eliminated.
These benefits might make Open Coaching sound ideal. However, this method also comes with a handful of drawbacks, which is why many Forums only use it in emergency situations.
What are the risks to Open Coaching?
If your group decides to use Open Coaching, it’s important to understand the risks so you can prevent it from becoming a disruptor to your Forum.
Although Open Coaching can help boost a presentation’s impact over one that’s completely uncoached, there are several risks related to the presentation itself—and others that could threaten the health and value of the Forum as a whole.
Lack of preparation can mean lack of impact
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of Open Coaching is inherent in its impromptu nature. Because the Presenter isn’t as prepared as they might be if they’d pre-planned their presentation, it’s possible that it won’t be as strong or as valuable as it could be, even with Open Coaching during the meeting.
They may miss key points or lose focus when discussing their issue, and the rest of the group might not have the information needed to provide valuable feedback. This means the presentation runs the risk of falling flat for the entire group.
No time for an “Aha!” moment
The approximately hour-long coaching session that takes place in the Traditional Coaching method has a bit of a hidden benefit. In addition to the helpful feedback the Presenter receives, this meeting also affords them the opportunity for an “Aha!” moment.
And this breakthrough can be invaluable. Walking through the presentation details with the Coach allows the Presenter to see their situation in a new light. They might see holes or gaps in their information or even come up with new ideas that make the presentation more impactful. The breakthrough could happen anytime during the hour, even in the last few minutes.
Because Open Coaching doesn’t allow for such a long walkthrough (there’s usually only about ten minutes for the coaching and the rest of the designated hour for the presentation itself), the “Aha!” moment may never happen in an impromptu setting.
Pre-work or handouts aren’t feasible
In Open Coaching, it’s not only the Presenter who suffers from a lack of preparation. The entire Forum is unprepared.
When Forums use Traditional Coaching, the Presenter may want to email their presentation or some handouts to the rest of the group in advance of the meeting. This allows members to review and potentially research information on the topic. This is impossible with Open Coaching, as the presentation doesn’t even exist prior to the meeting.
Practice makes perfect…but there’s no time to practice
Coaching skills improve with time and practice, so the Coach-Presenter sessions that take place outside of Forum meetings can be as beneficial for the Coach as they are for the Presenter.
With Open Coaching, though, Coaches are given less time to sharpen the skills they need to help the Presenter get to the core issue and deliver an impactful presentation. Additionally, impromptu coaching during a meeting puts more pressure on the Coach, as they’re forced to provide guidance on the fly in front of the entire group as opposed to a more comfortable—and confidential—one-on-one setting.
A missed opportunity for deepened connections
In the above section on the benefits of Open Coaching, we discussed time savings as an advantage. Clearly, this method doesn’t involve a session outside of the regular Forum meeting—but this can actually be a drawback.
When there’s no face-to-face coaching session between meetings, both the Coach and the Presenter miss the opportunity to connect one-on-one and deepen their connection. Strong relationships built on trust and vulnerability are essential foundational building blocks for all healthy Forums, and missing the opportunity to meet outside of Forum meetings can prevent members’ bonds from strengthening.
In other words, not having outside coaching sessions can actually threaten the Forum’s health as a group.
A lackadaisical approach to presentations…and maybe to the Forum itself
Yet another potential drawback to Open Coaching is the very real possibility that impromptu presentations could become the standard instead of the exception. Forums may choose Open Coaching as their default instead of crafting well-thought-out and impactful presentations, which take weeks or months of work and coaching.
This lackadaisical attitude could also permeate into other areas of the Forum—and this is another way that the time savings offered by Open Coaching can actually hurt the group. Healthy Forums consist of eager and dedicated members who are willing to spend time helping each other, even when that means spending time together outside of regular meetings.
If the group gets a bit lazy and isn’t willing to address important Forum business like effective presentation coaching, there could be deeper health and commitment issues the Forum must address.
How do we decide if (and when) Open Coaching is right for our Forum?
If your Forum has done Open Coaching—or if you’re interested in trying out this method—it may be helpful to hold a candid discussion among members to determine whether Open Coaching is a good fit for your group. Here are a few questions to get you started:
- What has been our experience with Open Coaching? What are the biggest pros and cons that members have noticed?
- Do we notice that traditionally coached presentations are stronger than those that have Open Coaching…or no coaching at all?
- Have the depth and value of our presentations declined or increased since we’ve been doing Open Coaching (or no coaching)?
- Why have we stepped away from Traditional Coaching? For example, have we had an influx of emergency presentations, are we trying to save time by foregoing Coach-Presenter meetings, or have we perhaps gotten a little lazy?
- What would we like our coaching and presentation experience to be moving forward?
Keep in mind that every Forum is unique, and the methods that work in one group might not work in another. Also, what works for your Forum for a while may stop working or become stale at some point, so keep a close eye on your practices and be prepared to make adjustments.
If and when you notice a decline in Forum health markers like takeaway value, meeting preparation and attendance, or members’ levels of depth, openness, and commitment, it might be time to rejuvenate your Forum experience with some fresh alternative presentation formats.
Looking for alternative presentation formats? We’ve got the innovative tools to rejuvenate your Forum!
Even healthy Forums sometimes fall into a rut of flat presentations that lack impact and value for the Presenter and the rest of the group. While Open Coaching may provide some variety, it isn’t the only way to shake things up, and it can actually be disruptive to your Forum.
If you’re looking for different methods and formats to enhance your monthly meetings, you’ve come to the right place. Contact us today for more information on our alternative presentation formats!
Written by Britt Spread