How To: Build Coaching Agendas That Make Every 1:1 Count

Every good coaching conversation has a shape. There’s something you want to ask, something you want to look at together, and something you want the other person to walk away with. In Ambition, that shape is the agenda.

The agenda is the set of items your employee sees before the Session, responds to ahead of time, and works through with you during the conversation. Build it well, and both of you arrive knowing what you’ll talk about. Here’s how to put one together, one piece at a time.

Start with what you want to know

Most agendas open with a question, because the best coaching starts with listening. Ambition gives you a few ways to ask, depending on the kind of answer you want:

• Question for open-ended reflection, with no limit on how long the answer can be. Good for “What’s your biggest blocker this week?”
• Multiple Choice when you want one clear answer.
• Checkboxes when more than one answer might apply.
• Poll to get a read on how someone is feeling about a topic.

Multiple Choice and Checkboxes both include an Other option, so your employee is never stuck with answers that don’t fit.

Bring the numbers into the room

Next, give the conversation something concrete to work from. Instead of pulling up a dashboard during the meeting, put the data right in the agenda.

A Metric Snapshot captures up to eight metrics across one timeframe, or one metric across two timeframes, so you can compare this month to last. If the numbers change after you take the snapshot, you can regenerate it. A Pipeline Snapshot builds a question on a preconfigured pipeline view, so you can talk through specific deals instead of trying to remember them.

What you need: The Coaching: Metric Snapshot Item feature for Metric Snapshots, and the Pipeline Intelligence: Pipeline Views feature for Pipeline Snapshots.

Set the context

Some agenda items aren’t questions. They’re there so both of you start with the same information.

A Content Block is a rich text space for program details, company updates, or links, with headers, lists, text colors, and file uploads. Embed Media brings a video, dashboard, or third-party page into the agenda, such as a YouTube walkthrough, a Power BI report, or a Google Sheet. An External URL links out to training or HR content and asks both of you to mark it Complete. A File Upload shares a document of up to 2MB that your employee needs to acknowledge.

Tip: For Google Sheets, use the link from Publish to web, not Share with others. If an embed won’t load, the site or your IT team may be blocking it.

Review the real thing

The most useful coaching often comes from looking at actual work. With the Gong or Zoom integration turned on, you can attach recorded calls to the agenda and watch them on the Session page.

With Gong Calls, you can select the calls yourself during a standalone 1:1, or have your employee choose the call they want to discuss. That second option also works in Programs, Cadences, and individual Templates. With Zoom Calls, your employee attaches a recorded meeting, and you can ask for their feedback on it before you meet.

What you need: The Gong or Zoom integration turned on and authorized.

Close the loop with feedback

The Feedback item lets you lay out strengths, areas to improve, or any other topics you want to name directly. Your employee acknowledges each one and can comment on it, so feedback becomes part of the conversation instead of being one-way.

Note: Feedback is only available in one-on-one Sessions and single-employee Programs.

What changes for group conversations

Group Sessions keep it simple. Only Content Block and Embed Media are available, so you can set the context and share content, but the discussion happens live. Each Group Session auto-generates that week’s agenda, and participants can comment, take notes, and complete action items together.

What happens after you hit save

Once the agenda is ready, your employee is notified and can work through it before you meet. If they haven’t submitted by the due date, they get an automatic reminder about 60 minutes before. When they submit, you’ll get an email letting you know the Session is ready for review. You’ll both walk in having already read each other’s thinking.

After the Session, the agenda doesn’t disappear. Past Sessions and their agendas live on the Coaching tab of the employee’s dashboard, along with shared notes and action plans. Over time, they become a running record of what you’ve worked on together.

Try it this week

Before your next 1:1, add one new item to the agenda you usually use:

1. Add a Metric Snapshot with the two or three numbers you always end up asking about.
2. Follow it with a Question asking what’s behind those numbers.
3. If you use Gong or Zoom, ask your employee to pick one call they want to review together.

Then notice how much more of the meeting goes to the conversation itself.