Coaching Conversations in 2025
Coaching Conversations with Tim Hagen, where we teach leaders and managers how to coach their employees. This is the ideal podcast for leaders, managers, and aspiring leaders to improve their coaching and leadership skills to create a more positive coaching culture within their teams.
In 2025, we're doing weekly podcasts on various coaching topics and strategies that will rotate throughout the month, as opposed to 2024 where the weekly episodes featured a monthly theme. Coaching Conversations will continue to have four episodes per month and we're going to sprinkle in masterclasses, which will be lengthier, workshop-style formats.
We also invite you to join the new FREE e-publication, the Workplace Coaching Times founded by Tim Hagen. This weekly newsletter contains expert insights on coaching strategies on specific topics like sales coaching, leading with empathy, and self-awareness techniques, and much more. We're a community of leaders, managers and coaches transforming workplace challenges into coaching victories—one conversation at a time. Subscribe here: https://coachingtimes.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Coaching Conversations in 2025
Naked On The Ledge ... Ready to Coach?
Welcome to Coaching Conversations
We have created a NEW and Innovative line of books called Workplace Coaching Books. These books use QR codes with embedded audio and video lessons speaking directly to the reader. Each book comes with assessments and journal based coaching pages where they document what they've learned and what they've applied. In addition each book comes with the self analysis link that prompts them to share what they've learned and what they've put into action leading to greater learner application a
Coaching Talks is a dynamic leadership development speaking series customized to your needs. Need help spreading the value and application of workplace coaching? Let us help:
We provide many styles of speaking services:
- We provide virtual keynotes
- We specialize in 4 part virtual series (we always customize)
- We have a unique feature called "Speaker Tracks" where we send to all audience members reinforcement lessons after the talk (to the pc or cell phone), thus keeping people on track after the talk
Get More Info Here: https://form.jotform.com/241193119118149
So, what's coming in the coaching field? What are our challenges as leaders in the workplace? You know, we talk about training, we talk about AI, we talk about all these things, and I think about something called conversational readiness. Let me challenge you right out of the gate. An employee comes up to you and says, Boss, is AI going to replace my job? You are on. You cannot hide. You certainly cannot say, I don't have time to talk about this, because they might read into that message. Are you ready? Do you feel like your fellow leaders are ready? Now, I don't want to make this all about AI, but often leaders will get a knock on the door and say, boss, you got a second? And it's going to be roughly 22 minutes, but it's going to be probably one of five people who have already done that. And it stretches our day. We're on. We can't hide. I call it being naked on the ledge, and someone shut the window behind you. And someone says, you know, I'm getting a little stale. I really think I need a promotion, or I'm probably going to start looking for a job. Or I just started last Friday and I really think I should be promoted. It's already Wednesday. And then you have that employee who comes in and says, I'm just lacking motivation. I don't know if this is what I want to do anymore. And then you've got a high potential who you can't even promote because there's not jobs. How do you have that conversation? You know, I think one of the best things that we can do if you think about coaching in three stages, is you think about the first stage, prepare. Number two, deliver. Number three, maintain continuity. We often show up and throw up. I know that's crass. So often we will just say what we want to say in the moment, not realizing what we say matters, that there was impact. It's going to stay with somebody. I'll give you an example. Recently I had a client say to one of his employees, no, no, no, no, don't let it bother you. AI is here to partner with us. So in a breakout room, I asked him, I said, is that true? Before you answer, is AI being discussed to replace some job functions? He said, Well, sure. I go, can I share with you what I heard you say to your employee? He said, sure. I go, that AI is not going to touch my job. He goes, that's not what I meant. Is that how it came out? I said, I think so. And so leaders have it tough today. What we say matters, how we say it matters. So often it's taken out of context. Let me give you another example. When we're having a conversation and someone knocks on the door and you say politely, I'm sorry, I'm on my way to another meeting. I don't have time now. Could we reschedule? And you're polite and you're friendly. Do you know how often, as an outsider, I hear employees walk out of those interactions saying, he never has time for me. He never gives me the time of day. He never or she never listens to me. What do we do? We've sent a message. And it's unfair to us as leaders. It's not what happened. People are emotional. AI is not, if it scares people, calming people down. Some people are excited about it. I'm excited about it. Does it make me have trepidation of how it's going to affect my business? Sure, it does. So what do we do? We have to not only, number one, prepare for conversations, number two, when we're doing our conversations, having our conversations, is do a reflection. Think about to ourselves, you know what? How did that go? I wonder what impression I created. Maybe I should follow up. Then number three, create continuity. Please don't for a second think your leaders are having awesome conversations in the moment. And attitudes and motivation and collaborations and teamwork and ability to have conflict is all solved because our leaders had one-time conversations. Oh my God, am I over the top? But that's what happens. Well, I coached this guy last week. I said, What'd you coach him on? Attitude. He's got a negative attitude. I said, When are you meeting with him next? Well, no, I'm not meeting with him again. I think I corrected it. Really? It doesn't happen like that. So when you think about progress or improvement, I go back to the numbers. 76% of people are at their most motivated state when they're progressing. Call people into the office for the good stuff. Schedule time on a weekly, bi-weekly basis. I think because of AI, I really do. It's created this incredibly exciting, scary disruption. We got to get back to the basics. Prepare for your conversations. Schedule time. Schedule 10 minutes a week. You don't have to spend 30 minutes. Don't spend an hour with your employees. I can save you the time. They don't want to spend an hour with you. And the reason you keep it short and sweet, you create consistency. You maintain a focus on a specific area. A specific area creates progress. When we're specific in an area, we create traction. Their association with the conversations gets to become, wow, I'm improving, I'm progressing. Their association with those conversations increases in terms of trust and transparency and feeling like those conversations are worthwhile. So let me ask you, are you ready? Are your fellow leaders ready? See, conversations make up cultures. We do all the surveys and all these employee engagement studies, and I think those are valuable. So let me ask you something. If you spend a lot of time and money on that, how much time do you spend on preparing for conversations by practicing? And if you can't answer that, you've lost an opportunity to improve your workplace culture.