Elevating Workplace Performance Through Shadow Coaching

How often do managers know what actually happens when their employees are doing their jobs?

A sales report may show that a salesperson is struggling to convert opportunities into orders. A team meeting may appear productive, yet some members rarely contribute. A manager may receive feedback that their presentations are difficult to follow. These situations raise an important question: what is really happening during the work itself?

Managers can learn a great deal by observing employees in their everyday working environment. When those observations are followed by a thoughtful coaching conversation, employees have an opportunity to recognise their habits, reflect on their actions and make practical improvements.

This is where shadow coaching can be particularly useful.

What is Shadow Coaching?

Shadow coaching is a workplace coaching approach in which a coach or manager observes someone carrying out their actual work and uses those observations to support a coaching conversation. The observation may take place during a customer visit, team meeting, presentation or other work activity.

The purpose is to understand how the individual approaches their responsibilities, interacts with others and responds to situations as they unfold. For example, a manager may notice that a salesperson explains product features thoroughly but spends little time understanding the customer’s concerns. The salesperson may leave the meeting believing the presentation went well. The manager, however, has observed an opportunity to improve the conversation.

During the coaching discussion, the manager can invite the salesperson to reflect on what happened and consider a different approach for the next customer meeting. One important consideration is that the person being observed should understand the purpose of the observation beforehand.

Shadow coaching works best when it is approached as a learning opportunity, with clear expectations and appropriate respect for the people involved.

Where Can Shadow Coaching Be Applied?

Shadow coaching can be useful in different workplace situations where behaviours and interactions can be observed directly.

Field Sales Coaching

Field sales coaching is one of the most practical applications. A sales manager accompanies a salesperson during a customer visit, observes the interaction and conducts a coaching conversation afterwards.

The manager may pay attention to how the salesperson opens the discussion, explores customer needs, presents solutions, handles concerns and agrees on the next step. For example, the salesperson may have established a good relationship with the customer but failed to clarify who would make the purchasing decision.

That observation provides a specific starting point for coaching. Instead of offering general advice such as “You need to improve your selling skills”, the manager can discuss what happened and help the salesperson decide how to approach a similar situation next time.

Leadership Meetings

Managers and leaders can also benefit from being observed during meetings. A coach may notice how the leader encourages participation, handles disagreements, listens to different viewpoints or guides the discussion towards a decision.

A leader who frequently answers their own questions, for instance, may unintentionally discourage team members from contributing. A coaching conversation can help the leader become aware of that behaviour and consider how to create more space for others.

Team Collaboration

Shadow coaching may also be applied when observing teams working together. The focus could include how responsibilities are shared, how people communicate, how disagreements are handled and whether decisions are followed through.

In this setting, the coach needs to be clear about whether the coaching is intended for an individual or the team as a whole. Observations should be discussed constructively, without turning the session into an exercise in finding fault.

How Shadow Coaching Can Contribute to ROI

Organisations invest in employee development because they expect improvements in capability, performance and business results. Shadow coaching can contribute to these outcomes by helping people improve behaviours that affect their daily work.

However, a financial Return on Investment (ROI) should only be claimed when the organisation has sufficient evidence to connect the intervention with measurable benefits and costs.

There are three practical areas worth examining.

1. Improving Work Behaviours

Shadow coaching allows managers to observe how employees perform specific tasks. For example, a salesperson may repeatedly leave customer meetings without agreeing on a clear next action. After coaching, the manager can observe whether the salesperson begins confirming follow-up commitments more consistently. That is a measurable behavioural improvement. Whether it leads to higher sales depends on other factors, including customer needs, opportunity quality and the overall sales process.

2. Strengthening Self-Awareness

People are not always aware of how their behaviour affects others. A manager may believe they are encouraging discussion while regularly interrupting employees. Observing this behaviour and reflecting on it during coaching can help the manager recognise the gap between their intentions and actions. The next step is to practise a different approach and review whether colleagues are given more opportunity to contribute.

3. Making Development More Relevant

Shadow coaching helps managers focus on what an employee actually needs to improve. A salesperson who struggles with customer discovery may benefit more from practising questioning and listening than attending another general product knowledge session. Similarly, a manager who has difficulty facilitating meetings may need focused coaching on how to encourage discussion and reach clear decisions. This allows development efforts to address observable needs.

Practical Tip: Before shadow coaching begins, agree on the behaviour to observe and how improvement will be recognised. Where business results are also being measured, consider other factors that may influence those results.

Return on Expectations (ROE) for Management Stakeholders

Financial results are important, but organisations also need to understand whether development activities are delivering the improvements they expected. This is where Return on Expectations (ROE) can provide a useful perspective.

ROE focuses on whether the outcomes of a development initiative meet the expectations agreed with its stakeholders. For shadow coaching, those expectations should be established before the activity begins.

Alignment with Business Goals

Suppose an organisation wants its sales managers to become more effective at coaching their teams. The expected improvement could be that managers conduct more purposeful field observations, provide specific feedback and follow up on agreed actions. These expectations are closely connected to the managers’ daily responsibilities. They also give the organisation something practical to review after the coaching intervention.

Observable Leadership Improvements

A leadership development initiative may aim to improve how managers facilitate team discussions. Instead of relying only on participants’ satisfaction with the coaching, the organisation could observe whether managers ask more open questions, encourage broader participation and clarify decisions at the end of meetings. Feedback from team members can provide an additional perspective.

Sustaining the Improvements

A successful coaching conversation does not guarantee lasting change. Employees need opportunities to practise, receive further feedback and reflect on their progress. Managers and stakeholders should therefore agree on when and how improvements will be reviewed. The important question is whether the expected behaviours are becoming part of everyday work.

Shadow Coaching in Action

Consider a sales manager who regularly conducts weekly pipeline meetings. The manager notices that team members provide brief updates but rarely discuss the challenges behind their opportunities.

During a shadow coaching session, the coach observes that the manager moves quickly from one salesperson to another, asks mainly for forecast figures and frequently suggests solutions before employees have explained their situations.

After the meeting, the coach invites the manager to reflect on the discussion. The manager recognises that the meeting has become largely a reporting exercise. Together, they explore how the manager could encourage salespeople to examine their opportunities more thoroughly.

The manager decides to try three changes during the next meeting:

• Ask salespeople what is preventing an opportunity from progressing.
• Allow more time for employees to explain their thinking before offering suggestions.
• End each opportunity discussion with an agreed next action.

At the following meeting, the coach observes whether these behaviours have changed. The manager can then reflect on what worked, what remained difficult and what to practise next. This example illustrates how shadow coaching can move from observation to reflection, action and follow-up. It is an illustrative workplace situation, rather than a reported client case.

The G.R.O.W. Model: Maximising the Impact of Shadow Coaching

The G.R.O.W. model, which stands for Goal, Reality, Options and Way Forward, provides a practical structure for conducting the coaching conversation.

Let’s use a different situation: a department manager wants to improve the clarity of their presentations to senior management. A coach observes the manager delivering a business update and discusses the presentation afterwards.

G – Goal: What Does the Manager Want to Achieve?

Begin by understanding what the manager wants to improve. The manager may want senior leaders to understand the key message more easily and make decisions with greater confidence.

Questions to ask:

• “What would you like your audience to take away from your presentation?”
• “Which part of your presentation would you most like to improve?”

The discussion establishes a clear purpose before reviewing what happened.

R – Reality: What Happened During the Presentation?

The coach invites the manager to reflect on their experience and then shares relevant observations. For example, the coach may have noticed that the manager spent considerable time explaining background information, leaving limited time to discuss the decision required.

Questions to ask:

• “Which part of the presentation went well from your perspective?”
• “Where did you notice the audience becoming less engaged?”
• “What do you make of the time spent on background information?”

The coach should distinguish between observable behaviour and personal interpretation. Saying “You spent 15 minutes explaining the background” provides a clearer basis for discussion than saying “Your presentation was boring”.

O – Options: What Could Be Done Differently?

The manager explores possible ways to improve the next presentation. These may include introducing the key recommendation earlier, reducing unnecessary detail or organising information around the decisions required.

Questions to ask:

• “What could you change to make your main message clearer?”
• “Which information is essential for the audience?”
• “What other approach could you try?”

The coach can contribute suggestions when appropriate, while encouraging the manager to evaluate the alternatives.

W – Way Forward: What Will the Manager Do Next?

The manager selects specific actions to practise before the next presentation. For example, they may decide to prepare a shorter opening, limit supporting slides and rehearse the main recommendation with a colleague.

Questions to ask:

• “Which change will you make first?”
• “How will you prepare for the next presentation?”
• “What feedback would help you know whether the change worked?”

A follow-up discussion allows the manager to review the experience and identify further improvements. The G.R.O.W. model helps turn the observations into a structured conversation, while keeping the individual involved in deciding what to change.

Conclusion

Shadow coaching gives managers and employees an opportunity to learn from what happens during actual work. It is particularly useful when the development need involves behaviours that can be observed, discussed and practised. The value comes from the quality of the observation, the coaching conversation and the actions that follow.

For organisations, the benefits should be considered at different levels. Observable behaviour changes provide evidence of learning and application. Agreed stakeholder expectations help determine whether the coaching is delivering its intended outcomes. Business results can then be examined where a reasonable connection can be established.

For managers, there is a practical starting point. During your next customer visit, team meeting or workplace observation, pay attention to one specific behaviour that could make a meaningful difference. Afterwards, discuss what you observed, listen to the employee’s perspective and agree on what they will try differently.

The next time you observe someone at work, what could you learn about how they perform that a report or performance review might never reveal?