As a public relations industry leader, it’s essential that you take on the responsibility to coach your team. In order to draw ideas from your team members, the best way to do this is through asking questions, listening, and then providing whatever insights you can. Your ultimate aim is to create a strategy that helps your team members solve their problems.

Here are some key questions that are essential to a PR team coaching session.

1. Check-In

The most important part of your coaching sessions is checking in with your team member and seeing how they’re getting along. What progress have they made toward their goal? How do they feel about what they’ve done since the last session? At each session, review their goals and the steps that need to be taken to get there. Ask them what they did toward that goal this week and how it went. Determine whether it succeeded or failed, and why. Then, what can you do about it?

2. Remove Obstacles

Focus your coaching sessions on removing obstacles and solving problems. Ask this question to help the team member identify an obstruction or problem they’re facing. Once it’s identified, you can work together on ideas for solving the problem. Your ideas may or may not be the right ones. However, the important thing is to have a tactic that you both think will work. Between now and the next session, your team member will put the idea into action and then when you meet next time, you can evaluate its success.

3. Support Level

Ask your team member what support or resources they need from you or others. In some cases, they may need something, but not know exactly what it is. If this is the case, use the coaching session to try to draw it out. Ask them questions about how they’re stuck and the answer will reveal itself. If you’re not sure, you can also make suggestions. This is where your expertise comes into play. You may have faced a problem like your team member is facing, and you may have a resource or idea that can help them.

4. Action Steps

Wrap up each coaching session by making sure that the team member knows what it is they need to do. Have them explain to you what they’ll do between this session and the next to make sure that they’re on the right track. Also, ask them if they have any lingering questions and remind them that they can contact you with questions or concerns at any time. It’s important to remember that your role is to draw out the key information from your team member during the coaching session and listen to them, providing whatever support, feedback, and help you can.

Innovative leaders come in all shapes and sizes, but there are some key characteristics that successful women in public relations have in common. If you want to improve your own leadership qualities and build an innovative team culture, download this free guide from Women in PR North America.

If you need someone to keep you on track and help you grow a successful business (or career), you can book a one-on-one coaching session with our President & CEO, Talia Beckett Davis. These sessions are perfect for you if you want to upgrade your products or services, and you need someone to bounce your ideas off to ensure you are working on the right things to move forward. Or, if you need guidance and you want to learn from someone that has been in your shoes as a successful female entrepreneur and public relations professional.