Working with a Writing-Skills Coach

With input from a manager, a writing-skills coach from Write It Well helps each participant define and achieve three or four personal learning objectives. To achieve these objectives, the coach does three things:

  • Carefully develops and follows a customized program agenda
  • Sets a series of job-relevant assignments
  • Reviews the completed assignments between sessions

Each week, the coach provides feedback on all these learning objectives.

All participants in coaching must be committed to tackling their personal writing challenges. They must have full support from their managers, a half-hour or more free each week for scheduled meetings, and an additional half-hour or more for the assignments. They must also have an idea for at least one job-relevant work assignment.

Developing the Coaching Agenda

After an initial kickoff meeting and a careful review of writing samples, the writing-skills coach develops a customized agenda that focuses specifically on achieving three or four well-defined learning objectives.

At the first meeting, the participant receives an agenda for the coaching package; the agenda maps out the focus and assignments for all meetings. Assignments include customized, job-relevant reading and writing exercises taken from Write It Well materials.

Reporting

The coach will send the manager a short update in the middle of the program. The coach will also prepare a summary of the participant’s accomplishments after the final coaching meeting.

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