What you'll learn
How to use Discover to make sense of a working relationship that suddenly feels off, whether that relationship runs downward, upward, or sideways
How to tell a style mismatch from a communication gap
How to set a Coaching Focus to prepare for the next interaction, with separate examples for managers and individual contributors
How to use Feedback to find out whether the reset actually landed, instead of assuming
Who can do this: All Cloverleaf users. This guide is written specifically for managers and individual contributors. If neither describes your role, the same features still apply, but the examples below assume one of those two.
Who is this guide for?
This is a role-based guide for managers and individual contributors. Every section below gives a manager example and an IC example side by side, pick the one that matches your actual role.
A manager example here means a relationship with a direct report. An IC example means a relationship with your own manager or a peer. If you manage people and also report to someone, both sets of examples apply to you, just pointed at different relationships.
Before you get into the tools
Think of one relationship at work that's felt a little off lately. It doesn't have to be happening right now, it might be something from a few months back that never quite got resolved. Maybe it was a 1:1. Maybe it was a team meeting that got derailed. In person or over video, it doesn't matter.
Hold that relationship in mind as you read through this guide. Every prompt and every example below is more useful applied to something real than read in the abstract.
One thing worth naming up front: it's a weird interaction, not a weird person. The moment felt off, that doesn't mean the person is difficult to work with. Keeping that distinction in your head makes it a lot easier to approach what comes next with curiosity instead of judgment.
How do I make sense of what happened using Discover?
Discover is Cloverleaf's on-demand AI coach. Ask it about yourself, a teammate, or a specific working relationship, and it answers using real behavioral data instead of generic advice. It works the same way regardless of which direction the relationship runs.
If you manage people, ask Discover about the direct report the meeting involved:
"Why might my 1:1 with [direct report] have felt off today?"
"How does [direct report] typically respond when a project's direction changes quickly?"
If you're an individual contributor, ask about your manager or the peer involved:
"Why might my conversation with [manager or peer] have felt off today?"
"How does [manager or peer] typically respond when a meeting doesn't go as planned?"
The answer is grounded in how that person is actually wired to work, and it's often enough to explain the friction without assuming anyone did anything wrong.
Before you move on: put the response in your own words. Not what Discover said, what you're actually noticing. What would you approach differently next time, given what you just read? That one step is what turns an interesting answer into something you'll actually remember to do.
How do I tell a style mismatch from a communication gap?
Once Discover gives you a read, sort the friction with two direct questions. This works the same regardless of your role, a style mismatch with a direct report is diagnosed the same way as one with your own manager.
Would this have gone differently with almost anyone else in that seat? That points to a style mismatch, it's about how the two of you are wired, not a judgment on either person.
Did you each walk away with a different read on what was said or decided? That points to a communication gap.
Turn the answer into a follow-up prompt in Discover.
Manager example: "What might explain why [direct report] and I read that meeting so differently?"
IC example: "What might explain why [manager or peer] and I read it so differently?"
Again, before you move on: your own words, not Discover's. What's the actual difference you're noticing between how you two work?
How do I prepare for the reset?
Coaching Focus is a running focus you set on a specific relationship or goal. Once it's set, Cloverleaf sends you bite-sized coaching nudges over time, so the reset doesn't just live in your head today, it actually follows up with you over the following weeks.
Go to Grow > Coaching Focus and describe your goal in plain language, the way you'd actually say it out loud.
Manager example: "I want to reset things with my direct report after a tense meeting."
IC example: "I want to reset things with my manager after a tense meeting."
A tip worth using: include your timeframe directly in the prompt, something like "for the next four weeks," so you skip the extra step of adjusting the default afterward.
Cloverleaf will ask a couple of follow-up questions, what's making this hard, what would success look like, and how often you want coaching. It then finds the actual relationship, pulls in both people's real assessment data, and frames the whole plan around a reset. Review the preview before it goes live, and edit it anytime through chat, for example asking it to add a week.
How do I close the loop instead of guessing whether the reset worked?
Most escalation doesn't happen in the meeting itself. It happens in the days after, in the gap between "that felt off" and the next real conversation, when assumptions fill in the blanks.
Your Coaching Focus keeps working here in the background, sending scheduled nudges over the following weeks so the relationship doesn't quietly drop off your radar.
Use Feedback to get an actual answer instead of an assumption. Manager example: send a direct report a request like "How did our conversation this week land for you?" IC example: send your manager or a peer something like "Was that clear, or did I come across more direct than I meant to?" Feedback runs in both directions, and it lives in the same Grow section as Coaching Focus.
Where should I start?
If you manage people:
Think of a direct report relationship that's felt off lately.
Ask Discover about it, then put the answer in your own words.
Sort the friction: style mismatch or communication gap.
Set a Coaching Focus on that relationship.
After your next conversation with them, send a Feedback request to see how it landed.
If you're an individual contributor:
Think of a relationship with your manager or a peer that's felt off lately.
Ask Discover about it, then put the answer in your own words.
Sort the friction: style mismatch or communication gap.
Set a Coaching Focus on that relationship.
After your next conversation with them, send a Feedback request to see how it landed.
You'll know it worked when...
Discover gives you a specific, grounded answer, and you can restate it in your own words without checking the screen.
You can name whether it was a style mismatch or a communication gap, not just that something felt off.
Your Coaching Focus preview shows the right person, a set duration, and scheduled nudges.
You get an actual Feedback response back, instead of assuming how the reset landed.