The Five Ingredients to Coach Great Product Managers

Petra Wille

Product Leadership Coach & Author, Strong Product People

COACHING MASTERY

The Framework

5 Ingredients for PM Coaching

130+

direct 1:1 coaching

50k–60k

people influenced across coaching ripples

The 5 Coaching Pillars

Build Your PM Development System

1. Definition: Write down what "good" looks like for a PM in your context—personality traits vs. skills
2. Map Their Position: Pin where each PM is now. Bigger vision: what could they become? Next challenge: what would stretch them?
3. Share the Vision: Alignment conversation. Show them your belief in their potential

4. Build a Dev Plan: Help them close gaps between your definition of "good" and their current profile. Small, actionable steps
5. Follow Up: Nudge them regularly. Ask how their dev plan is progressing. Respect their day job—be the reminder system they need

"It's not a role, it's a career being in product. There are so many things to learn and get good at."

Where to startMost managers lack step one: a clear definition of what excellence looks like. Start here. Everything else flows from this clarity.

Storytelling Mastery

How to Tell Stories That Move People

Great storytelling takes serious time investment—plan 2 weeks of work to craft a story about a 3–4 month product vision
Most people underestimate this. One to two hours per day of focused storytelling work
Practice + iteration = the only path. You don't become a great storyteller overnight
Americans culturally trained earlier in storytelling due to school system; many Europeans come to this skill late in their careers

Speak to hearts + minds

Remove business jargon. Use sensory language: smell, feel, how their life improves. Avoid three-letter abbreviations. Stories release hormones in the brain; natural language is key.

Know your audience

Same story, different framings depending on who hears it. Plan multiple versions. Think about when and where you'll tell it.

Public Speaking

Overcome the Fear

Start with tiny, super-friendly audiences: your team (5–10 people)
Move to company all-hands once you're comfortable (50–100 people)
Local product meetups are goldmines: 30 friendly PMs, low pressure, easier feedback loop
Grow audience size incrementally, not in big jumps
Get feedback from strangers and peers—peers give harsh critique; use both

The coaching questions trickCreate a go-to list of 10–15 coaching questions for your 1:1s. Emotions list, Moshary's framework (1–10 scale questions), open-ended growth prompts. Prepares you. Makes PMs feel valued.

PM Coaching Myths

What You're Getting Wrong

✗Product leadership is strategy-onlyINSTEAD →✓ It's people development. Most leaders lack a clear development strategy for their PMs, just like they lack product strategy.

✗Your untrained manager can coach PMsINSTEAD →✓ Non-product leaders miss best practices. They can't point PMs to resources, patterns, or a path forward because they don't know the craft.

✗One skill matters—pick one to developINSTEAD →✓ PMs need an eight-legged creature, not T-shaped. They need breadth: discovery, data, shipping, strategy, communication, user empathy, iteration, and more.

✗Good storytelling is a natural talentINSTEAD →✓ It's a learned craft requiring deliberate practice, cultural training, and weeks of work per story. You get better by doing, not by talent.

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