When should you call your coach?
If you've got someone helping you navigate the mastery of your CRM system, then hopefully you've got a great relationship with them and communication is easy.
But like everything, your time with your coach or mentor is a limited resource.
Here are a few tips to use that resource most effectively:
1. Do your homework
With my coaching clients, I don't mind answering any questions they may have — really. I make sure in the beginning that my coaching clients are people I love talking to.
But when I'm the one getting the coaching (like everyone, I have areas of my life where I benefit from experienced help), I don't want to use up my coaching time with questions I could have answered myself.
Before you reach out to your coach, ask yourself:
Have I read the documentation?
Have I tried it myself a few different ways, and did I note the different results I'm getting with each variation?
2. Clarify your questions
It's inevitable that you'll use part of your time with your coach just to explain your situation and your questions.
You can make the most of that time by preparing your questions carefully.
Where exactly are you getting stuck?
Is it early in the conceptual phase of deciding how to tackle a challenge?
Is it in the implementation, where you're pretty confident of what to do but having trouble getting it work?
Take notes on those questions so you're ready to dig in on the right areas when you're with your coach.
As a bonus, it happens a lot that just clarifying the question will go a long way toward finding the answer yourself. This is great! After all, making progress on your own is one of the goals of good coaching.
3. Focus on measurable goals
Sometimes it's useful to ask a general question just to increase your well-rounded knowledge of your CRM.
In that case "increasing your well-rounded knowledge" is the goal, and there is some way to measure it.
But more often, the ultimate value is in addressing some specific business goal: increasing membership retention, reducing staff workload, increasing donor engagement and giving, etc.
When you're knee-deep in a problem, it can be easy to forget what you're really trying to accomplish.
As you prepare to reach out to your coach, take a step back and put some focus on your actual business goals.
This helps ensure you're getting measurable value out of your work with them, not just slogging through a bunch of technical detail.
Here's the thing:
Good coaching and mentoring is an incredible resource to help you become the master of your own data, and to nail your membership and fundraising goals.
But like all resources, it's limited.
A little preparation will help you make the most of it.
All the best,
A.