DASHBOARDS – A Structure for Accountability

In class today, we discussed the use of ways we have used STRUCTURES in coaching. With my private clients, I use something I call a “Dashboard” and I am excited about how it could be used with teams. Here’s how it works:
As my clients set goals or things they want to accomplish, we co-create a metric to measure progress. These items go onto a Dashboard; a simple form with fields to enter whatever it is we are monitoring together, and this form gets filled out each week prior to our coaching session. We start each coaching conversation with a check in and review of the Dashboard.
As we add items to the Dashboard, it becomes more and more interesting. My clients love it! It can measure anything from paying down debit, to how often bosses coached in the moment, to production goals, to clearing their inbox, to items they procrastinate on. I often use it to help my clients pay attention to their numbers and financial statements, something my clients (dentists) tend to ignore.
We all will often coach clients and especially teams, who don’t have business backgrounds and don’t want to hear business language. My clients fall into that category! I ALWAYS express any business result in terms of TIME, MONEY, QUALITY or QUANTITY. Every KPI can be expressed in those terms, and for that matter, so can TPI’s. This language is far easier for clinical folks to wrap their head around.