Winning by Design™

Managing
for Impact

Session 4 · Candid Conversations and Running Team Meetings. The skills that separate a good coach from a great one.

SESSION 1

REKS Framework

Diagnose the gap: results, effort, knowledge, or skill.

SESSION 2

Cadence

Set the coaching rhythm and use the call analyzer.

SESSION 3

Questions + the 1:1

Ask, do not tell. Give the 1:1 a spine.

SESSION 4 · TODAY

Candor + Team

The candid conversation and the team meeting.

Open with energy (-5 to 0)

"Welcome to Session 4, our last one together. We have built the system, set the cadence, and mastered the questions. Today is the hardest and most human part: the candid conversation, and the team meeting that keeps it all alive." Roadmap: this is week four of the FCTG M1 program, Ongoing Skill Development. Today is Module 7, Candid Conversations and Productive Feedback, then Module 8, Running Team Meetings.

Music as people arrive, same as every session. The room knows each other now, use first names freely.
Name that this is the finale. Energy should be a little celebratory: they have done the work, today they sharpen the edge.
Tee up the two live builds early: a feedback rehearsal where Claude plays a tough rep, then a team meeting they design for real.

Goal of this slide: presence, warmth, and a sense of arrival.

What we're
covering today.

MODULE 7

Candid Conversations & Productive Feedback

The conversation most managers avoid. How to be direct without triggering defense, then rehearse a real one in Claude.

MODULE 8

Running Team Meetings

The team meeting as a coaching forum, not a status readout. Then build your own recurring format in Claude.

Last week you gave the 1:1 a
spine. How did it hold?

1You structured one 1:1 with REKS and an async pre-read.
2You ran the question bank before a real coaching moment.
3You completed the pre-work for modules 7 and 8.

Quick round: one 1:1 that went better, or one moment you wished you had handled differently.

The conversation you
avoid is the one that matters most.

Today you master the hardest moments: telling someone a hard truth so they can act on it, and running a team meeting that actually develops people.

Session 4 · Module 7 · Ongoing Skill Development

Candid Conversations
& Productive Feedback.

Direct is not harsh. Vague is not kind. The most caring thing a coach can do is be clear about the gap.

Clear is kind.

The feedback you soften to protect someone usually protects you. They leave the room unsure what to change. Name the gap cleanly, then coach it.

Lead with the gap, not the person Specific beats gentle Then ask, do not pile on

What makes feedback land, and what makes it backfire?

Lands

Backfires

write here

Four moves,
one hard conversation.

Move	What it does	Sounds like
Open neutral	Lowers defense before the gap lands	"I want to talk through last quarter with you. How are you feeling about it?"
Name the gap	Specific and behavioral, tied to a REKS gap, never the person	"On the last three deals, discovery stopped at the first pain. That is the pattern I want to close."
Ask, do not pile on	Hands ownership back to the rep	"What do you make of that? What would you do differently?"
Commit together	One change, a follow-up, shared accountability	"What is one thing you will try, and how do you want me to support it?"

Lead neutral, name it once, then get curious.
The conversation is theirs to finish.

Walk the four moves (15 to 35)

Do not over-teach this. It is the same coaching spine they already know, pointed at a harder moment.

Open neutral is the discipline from the questions module: do not open with the problem, even with a rep. Leading with the problem triggers defense.
Name the gap is the candor. Specific and behavioral. "Discovery stopped at the first pain" is coachable. "Your discovery is weak" is an attack.
Ask, do not pile on is where most managers fail. They name the gap and then deliver ten minutes of advice. Name it, then hand it back with a question.
Commit together closes the loop: one change, a follow-up date, and your support. Accountability is shared, not imposed.

From the room (Aisling, NZ): her insight was that running the gap through REKS first removes the emotion and zones in on the facts. That is what makes a hard conversation survivable. You are both looking at the same evidence, not at each other.

The barrier is not skill.
It is avoidance.

The stories we tell

×"It is not the right time."
×"They are sensitive, it will demotivate them."
×"I will mention it in the next 1:1." (You will not.)

The reframe

→Avoidance is a decision to let it continue.
→Prep is a time investment, not a time cost.
→Culture changes how you say it, not whether you do.

Every week you wait, the gap gets more expensive and the conversation gets harder.

Name the avoidance (35 to 55)

This is the honest heart of the module. Most managers do not lack the words. They lack the willingness to sit in the discomfort.

Ask the room: "Be honest, who has a conversation they have been putting off?" Most hands, including yours. Normalize it.
Prep as investment, not cost: several leaders named rushing to solution mode because they are slammed. The rehearsal build directly answers this: ten minutes of prep makes the real conversation shorter and better.
Culture is the variable. Directness reads as respect in some cultures and as aggression in others. Relationship-first cultures need more warm-up. The model does not change, the dial does. Draw this out, it matters more in this session than any other.

Objection, "my report is too senior or too sensitive for direct feedback." Response: seniority raises the stakes of avoidance, it does not lower the need. Senior people are starved for honest feedback because everyone tiptoes around them.

From the room

"I caught my advice monster mid-sentence. The stakes felt high, so my instinct was to just tell them the fix. The hard part is staying curious when it matters most."

A leader in a recent cohort, on the candid conversation

High stakes feed the monster. The harder the conversation, the louder the urge to take over and solve it. Candor is naming the gap clearly, then trusting the rep to think, even when every instinct says jump in.

The AI Coaching Edge

You would never walk into a big customer meeting cold. Stop walking into hard coaching conversations cold. Rehearse them first.

Claude can play the rep. Give it the person and the situation and it will push back, get defensive, deflect, exactly like the real conversation. You practice the open, the gap, the question, and get feedback before it counts. In a moment, you will do exactly that.

Build 1 of 2 · in Claude · pairs or groups of 3

Rehearse a hard conversation before you have it.

One person shares screen, everyone opens https://mfi-s4.pages.dev/rehearse Click, copy the prompt, paste into Claude. Claude becomes the rep and pushes back.

Your scenario today

The high performer with low EQ

Hits every number, leaves colleagues bruised. Claude plays them getting defensive the moment you raise the people cost.

1Open the link, copy the prompt, paste into a new Claude chat.
2Give Claude the person and the gap. It will play the rep and push back.
3Run the conversation: open neutral, name the gap, ask. One person coaches, the others observe.
4Ask Claude for feedback: where did you pile on advice, where did you stay curious? Then swap and run it again.

Run the rehearsal (35 to 55)

This is the centerpiece of the session. The energy is in the roleplay, protect time for it.

Demo first, then go (do not skip): share your screen, open the link, copy the prompt, and run the first 60 seconds live so the room sees Claude get defensive. Then send them to pairs or trios, one coaching, the rest observing.
Drop the link in the chat: https://mfi-s4.pages.dev/rehearse (full https, no www). Every room opens it and is self-sufficient. The scenario on the slide is pre-loaded on the page for this cohort.
Name 2 tech buddies up front who float between rooms.
Fallback if a room is stuck at 5 minutes: have them write just the opening neutral line and the one-sentence gap by hand, then feed those to Claude. Nobody sits in a dead room.
The magic is the after-action feedback: Claude names where they slipped into advice. That is the advice monster, caught on tape.

Objection, "roleplaying with AI feels fake." Response: it is a rehearsal, not the real thing, and that is the point. A fake rep you can fumble in front of beats fumbling in front of the real one.

Take-home: the prompt is theirs to keep. They can rehearse any hard conversation, any time, before it counts.

Share-out

Where did the
monster show up?

Each group: the one moment you caught yourself piling on advice, and the question you used to recover.

Break.

Grab a coffee. Back in five for the one meeting where coaching scales past the 1:1: the team meeting.

05:00

Session 4 · Module 8 · Ongoing Skill Development

Running
Team Meetings.

The 1:1 develops one rep. The team meeting develops the whole team, or wastes everyone's hour. Most do the second.

A coaching forum,
not a status readout.

If every person could have read the update in an email, the meeting failed. Use the shared hour for the things that only work live: peer learning, real plays, hard problems.

Offload status async Spotlight one play a week Let the team coach the team

What makes you lean in to a team meeting, and what makes you tune out?

Lean in

Tune out

write here

A 45 minute team meeting, built on purpose.

BEFORE · ASYNC

Numbers + wins

Pipeline, results, shout-outs posted in writing. Never read aloud.

0 to 10 MIN

Theme + win

One focus for the week, one team win that models it. Set the tone.

10 to 35 MIN

Spotlight + play

One real call or deal, dissected together. The team coaches, not just you.

35 to 45 MIN

One commitment

One thing the team tries this week. Name it, write it, revisit it.

You set the theme. The team does the coaching. Status never says a word out loud.

One shape,
many different teams.

Match the rhythm

→Fast motion teams, weekly spotlight.
→Rotate the chair, not just the audience.
→Forecast and pipeline get a separate slot.

Beyond sales

→AM and CS: spotlight a retention or relationship play.
→Onboarding: spotlight a ramp milestone.
→The forum is the same, the play changes.

From the room

"I had the tenured reps coach the junior one. The senior people taught better than I could, and the junior got three role models instead of one."

A leader in a recent cohort, on the team meeting

The best coach in the room is not always you. When the team coaches the team, the senior people sharpen by teaching and the junior people get more models. Your job shifts from answer-giver to forum-setter.

Build 2 of 2 · in Claude · groups of 3 to 4

Build a team meeting you run next week.

One person shares screen, everyone opens https://mfi-s4.pages.dev/team-meeting Click, copy the prompt, paste into Claude. Describe your real team.

1Open the link, copy the prompt, paste into a new Claude chat.
2Tell Claude your team, motion, and meeting length, one answer at a time.
3Pressure-test as a group: what moves to async? What is the first spotlight? Who sits in the chair?
4Screenshot the agenda before you leave. That is next week's team meeting.

Run the build (80 to 95)

Same rhythm as Build 1. This one is more concrete, lean into the realism.

Demo first, then go: open the link, copy the prompt, answer the first question live, then send to groups of 3 to 4, one driver.
Drop the link in the chat: https://mfi-s4.pages.dev/team-meeting (full https, no www). Each room is self-sufficient.
Same tech buddies float. Fallback if stuck: sketch the four-block agenda by hand from the anatomy slide, then refine in Claude.
Push for the spotlight: "what is the first real play you will put on the table, and who runs it?" The spotlight is what makes it a coaching forum instead of a meeting.

Objection, "my team meeting has to cover status, that is what leadership expects." Response: cover it async and send leadership the summary. Protect the live hour for the thing that actually builds the team.

Take-home: step 4 is the artifact. Make them screenshot the agenda before they leave.

Share-out

Three answers,
one each.

1What you will move to async out of your team meeting.
2Your first spotlight, and who runs it.
3The one hard conversation you will stop avoiding this week.

Four sessions,
one operating system.

SESSION 1

REKS

Diagnose the gap: results, effort, knowledge, or skill. Coach the cause, not the symptom.

SESSION 2

Cadence

Set the rhythm and use the call analyzer. Coach on a schedule, not by accident.

SESSION 3

Questions + 1:1

Ask, do not tell. Give the 1:1 a spine, status async, coaching live.

SESSION 4

Candor + Team

Say the hard thing clearly. Make the team meeting a forum where the team coaches itself.

Diagnose with REKS. Coach on a cadence. Unlock with questions. Sustain it in the 1:1, the candid conversation, and the team meeting. That is managing for impact.

From your room, across the four sessions

It is not cheating. It is just getting the information faster.

A leader in this cohort, on what using AI to coach actually felt like

The permission shift is the unlock. The moment AI stops feeling like a shortcut and starts feeling like preparation, the work changes. You did that over four weeks.

Do not start everything.
Start one thing.

→Pick the one coaching habit from these four weeks that would change the most.
→Run it for 30 days before you add a second.
→Keep your prompts. The question bank, the 1:1 builder, the rehearsal, the team meeting, all yours.

The leaders who change are not the ones who try everything. They are the ones who start one thing and keep it.

Winning by Design™

Thank you.

You showed up, did the work, and got honest with yourselves. That is exactly what you are asking of your teams.

Take the 2 minute course survey→

Your feedback shapes the next cohort. Copy the link and paste it into the Zoom chat.

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Managingfor Impact

REKS Framework

Cadence

Questions + the 1:1

Candor + Team

What we'recovering today.

Candid Conversations & Productive Feedback

Running Team Meetings

Last week you gave the 1:1 aspine. How did it hold?

The conversation youavoid is the one that matters most.

Candid Conversations& Productive Feedback.

Clear is kind.

What makes feedback land, and what makes it backfire?

Four moves,one hard conversation.

The barrier is not skill.It is avoidance.

The stories we tell

The reframe

Rehearse a hard conversation before you have it.

Where did themonster show up?

Break.

RunningTeam Meetings.

A coaching forum,not a status readout.

What makes you lean in to a team meeting, and what makes you tune out?

A 45 minute team meeting, built on purpose.

Numbers + wins

Theme + win

Spotlight + play

One commitment

One shape,many different teams.

Match the rhythm

Beyond sales

Build a team meeting you run next week.

Three answers,one each.

Four sessions,one operating system.

REKS

Cadence

Questions + 1:1

Candor + Team

Do not start everything.Start one thing.

Thank you.

Which cohort is this?

Presenter controls

Session 4 · jump to any slide

Managing
for Impact

What we're
covering today.

Last week you gave the 1:1 a
spine. How did it hold?

The conversation you
avoid is the one that matters most.

Candid Conversations
& Productive Feedback.

Four moves,
one hard conversation.

The barrier is not skill.
It is avoidance.

Where did the
monster show up?

Running
Team Meetings.

A coaching forum,
not a status readout.

One shape,
many different teams.

Three answers,
one each.

Four sessions,
one operating system.

Do not start everything.
Start one thing.