Free tools · Elle Anderson · andersonco.ukThe Stretch 1:1
A manager-as-coach conversation for capable people. The premise: the person in front of you does not need fixing. Your job is to ask the questions that stretch their ideas to the next level, then get out of the way. One page, thirty minutes, one stretch at a time.
Before: they bring, you don't set
The problem they chose
Their agenda, sent before the session. A live customer or business problem, not a status update. Status lives in writing, not in this meeting.
During: the question ladder
Understand, then widen, then stretch
- Understand: What have you already tried or ruled out? What does the customer say, in their words?
- Widen: What are two other ways this could be solved? Who has solved a problem shaped like this before?
- Test: What is your hypothesis? What evidence would change your mind? What is the cheapest way to be proven wrong?
- Gotchas, especially with AI: What happens when it's wrong? What does a wrong answer cost, and who pays it? What would this look like if the technology were boring?
- Stretch: What would the version you're slightly afraid to propose look like? What would you do with twice the ambition and half the budget?
- Commit: What will you do before we next speak? What do you need from me, and what should I stop doing?
Hold yourself to this: no advice in the first twenty minutes. Every time you catch yourself about to hand over an answer, trade it for a question. If they leave with your solution, they return with your problems. If they leave with their solution, they return taller.
After
The one stretch action
One action, theirs, named by them, with a date. More than one means none.
Capability note to self
What did this conversation reveal about their next skill edge? Feed it into their development plan, not into this meeting.
How I use this: the ladder is a map, not a script. Some weeks you live on "understand" the whole session and that is fine. The only non-negotiables are that they bring the problem, they name the action, and you ask more than you tell.
Free to use and share, with attribution.More free tools · How I can help · andersonco.uk