What Have You Done to Change Your Situation? | Peer to Peer Coaching Techniques

Most coaching conversations fail before the advice is ever given. In this episode of Now What?, Glenn Sharp breaks down lessons from his MVHRA Advanced Coaching Techniques presentation and explains why effective coaching starts long before the actual conversation. Too many leaders rush into advice, correction, or problem-solving without first building trust, clarifying the situation, and helping the other person examine their own responsibility. One of the key questions from the episode is simple but uncomfortable: What have you done in the last year to change your situation? That question cuts through excuses. It forces ownership. It helps separate frustration from action. If someone has been unhappy, stuck, resistant, or blaming others, the real issue may not be that they lack options. The issue may be that what they have been doing is not working. Glenn also explains why peers often make better coaches than bosses in certain situations, especially during onboarding or early development. Employees may be more willing to ask vulnerable questions of a peer because they do not feel like they are being judged by “internal affairs.” That distinction matters. Coaching requires trust, not surveillance. This episode also introduces the Birthday Cake Method, a practical way to think about preparing for difficult conversations. Before jumping into the hard conversation with a boss, employee, or peer, you have to build the foundation first. The relationship, trust, timing, and context matter. Without that foundation, even the right words can land the wrong way. What You’ll Learn Why coaching fails when leaders skip the foundation Why peers can sometimes be better coaches than managers How onboarding creates natural opportunities for peer coaching Why employees may not open up to leaders they see as “internal affairs” How to ask better questions before giving advice What the Birthday Cake Method teaches about difficult conversations Why “What have you done to change your situation?” is such a powerful coaching question How to recognize when someone’s current approach is not working Why trust has to come before resistance coaching Chapters 0:00 — Highlights: What Have You Done to Change Your Situation? 1:00 — MVHRA Advanced Coaching Techniques 2:00 — Doing the Work Upfront 3:00 — Why Peers Can Be Better Coaches 4:00 — Audience Questions and Comments 5:00 — The Birthday Cake Method 6:00 — How to Have a Conversation With Your Boss 7:00 — Build the Foundation First 8:00 — What Have You Done in the Last Year? 9:00 — When Your Current Approach Is Not Working 10:00 — Summary / Now What? 11:00 — Resistance Coaching Next Steps → Get the book: readnowwhat.com → Subscribe for weekly leadership content #LeadershipDevelopment #CoachingSkills #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #NowWhatPodcast #GlennSharp #WorkplaceLeadership #Accountability #ManagementTraining #DifficultConversations #EmployeeDevelopment #HRProfessionals #ResistanceCoaching #BuildingTrust #LeadershipAdvice