(Part 2 of a 3-part series on coaching precision and impact.)
In Part 1, we looked at the alignment gap; the very real space between high-quality verbal coaching and low-quality written documentation. When that gap shows up, development becomes episodic, managers lose momentum, and leaders are left measuring activity instead of impact.
So what closes the gap?
Not more effort. Not another framework. The answer is simpler and more practical: the patterns elite coaches follow consistently in every coaching interaction.
After twenty years of analyzing coaching across life sciences (more than 75,000 field coaching conversations and reports) Echelon research has shown that top-performing managers don’t “coach differently” because they have special instincts. They coach differently because they use a repeatable set of practices that make coaching specific, strategic, and development-driven.
These four practices are the backbone of high-performance coaching. They’re also the clearest pathway for any manager to raise coaching quality and translate it cleanly into written documentation.
Practice 1: They align coaching with strategy
Average coaching is reactive. It lets the events of the day set the agenda: a call went well, an objection came up, a rep missed a step, and coaching follows whatever happened most recently. It’s not wrong. It’s just scattered.
Elite coaching is deliberate. Top managers start the visit knowing what matters most. They enter the day with a shared focus on a skill tied directly to brand and business priorities. The coaching conversation doesn’t drift; it builds. By the end of the day, the rep can connect a specific behavior to a strategic objective, not just to a single call.
That strategic anchor is what makes coaching transferable. And it’s what makes documentation meaningful. When coaching is aligned to strategy, the report naturally moves beyond “good job” into “here’s the skill we focused on, why it matters, and what changed.”
Practice 2: They set and coach to skill development goals
One of the most persistent differences between good coaches and great ones is goal clarity. Average managers coach against what they noticed. Elite managers coach against what they agreed on.
Top coaches treat development as a trajectory, not an event. They establish a clear skill development goal, then use every interaction (field rides, virtual check-ins, and written reports) to drive progress toward that goal. They prepare before the visit, observe through the lens of that goal, and follow up in a way that creates continuity.
This is where coaching stops feeling random to the rep. There’s a through-line. A sense of “we’re building something.” And when there’s a through-line, documentation gets easier. The manager isn’t starting from scratch after each field day; they’re capturing the next step in an ongoing cycle.
Practice 3: They engage the rep before, during, and after the visit
In average coaching, the manager does most of the thinking. The rep is coached “at.”
Elite coaches make coaching a shared process. Before the field visit, they involve the rep in setting the focus and anticipating challenges. During calls, they observe with purpose and ask questions that help the rep self-diagnose. Afterward, they guide the rep to articulate what worked, what didn’t, and what they will do differently next time.
That engagement changes everything. It increases ownership. It surfaces real barriers. It prevents coaching from becoming a monologue.
It also improves documentation quality in a straightforward way: when the rep is actively involved in the coaching cycle, the manager has concrete behaviors, language, and commitments to document. The report becomes a reflection of a mutual plan, not a one-sided evaluation.
Practice 4: They use high-quality coaching
This is the practice most managers underestimate, because it sounds subtle. But it’s not subtle in outcomes.
Average coaching tends to summarize. “Nice job handling objections.” “Good call.” “Keep it up.” The tone is positive, but the rep doesn’t learn anything new.
Elite coaching is precise, and it follows a high-value structure: observation, impact, and next steps.
They describe what they observed, explain why it mattered, and outline a specific action to repeat or improve. This is what turns a moment into development. The rep doesn’t just feel encouraged, they know exactly what to practice.
When managers coach this way verbally, writing becomes a direct extension of the conversation. The report almost writes itself because the manager already used clear, behavioral language in the field.
The important takeaway
None of these practices require a different personality, a new philosophy, or a fancy tool. They are learnable skills. And when managers improve against these four practices, you see it quickly:
- Coaching becomes consistent instead of variable.
- Development becomes continuous instead of episodic.
- Documentation becomes clear instead of cautious.
In Part 3 of our series, we’ll tackle the next question leaders ask once they see these practices: how do we build them at scale, especially when time is tight, and coaching situations are increasingly virtual or hybrid?
That’s where practice and feedback move from “nice to have” to essential, and where new AI-powered coaching environments are accelerating coaching growth in ways the industry hasn’t been able to access before.
