What’s involved in working with a coach?

This week, to celebrate International Coaching Week, we’ve been exploring different aspects of coaching. We’ve covered ‘What is coaching?’ and ‘Does coaching work?’. Today we discuss what’s involved in working with a coach.

1. Initial ‘chemistry’ session

For coaching to be effective, you must feel at ease with your coach. During the initial ‘chemistry’ session, we'll explore the work you want to do and how coaching can support your goals. We'll also discuss how we can work well together to ensure a good fit and successful coaching partnership.

2. Contracting

If we decide that we can work well together, move seamlessly on to what is often called ‘contracting’. Much simpler than the word would suggest, contracting includes discussing and agreeing your coaching goals, outcomes and measure of success, i.e. how will we know you’ve achieved your goals. We’ll also cover other practicalities, including confidentiality.

Coaching sessions may vary in duration and frequency. As a guideline, online sessions, which are the most popular, (using Teams, Zoom etc.) usually last one hour; face-to-face sessions may be scheduled for 1 -3 hours. We'll also mutually agree a coaching schedule - weekly, fortnightly, or monthly - to best meet your needs. The frequency may alter as we progress.  

To book a free initial conversation to discuss how coaching can support you, or the leaders in your organisation, please contact me.

Three-way meetings

If you are purchasing coaching for leaders, or your organisation is sponsoring your coaching, you might be wondering how the organisation remains involved whilst respecting confidentiality between the coach and coachee. During the coaching we may have a three-way meeting with the coachee (the person being coached), the organisation sponsor (which might be HR, L&D or the coachee’s line manager) and me to ensure alignment of goals and to review progress. Outside of this, the content is confidential and not shared.

To explore how coaching can help you achieve your goals, contact me.

My approach to coaching 

I bring a straightforward approach to coaching, partnering with you and your leaders to determine the best way we can work together to achieve your goals. Clients comment on my warm, calm manner and my dedication to their success. Together these create a trusting and caring environment which supports leaders and enables them to challenge themselves and move forwards.

Feedback on my coaching style spans common themes – collaboration, flexibility, focus, humour, warmth, attentiveness, clarity and a sharpness of thinking – yet I adapt my style to meet your unique needs. By balancing support and challenge, I create a space where you are encouraged to push the boundaries of your thinking. This results in heightened awareness, deeper insight, and meaningful progress towards your goals.

Goal-focused, our coaching sessions provide the time and space for you and your leaders to think things through, explore ideas and develop action plans. I hold clients accountable for their progress, combining empathy and encouragement with a practical approach to efficiently accomplishing the work. Previous clients say that I feel like a partner invested in their growth and development.

They report that coaching has improved their critical leadership competencies including:

·         Strategic thinking

·         Self-awareness

·         Emotional intelligence

·         Communication skills

·         Decision-making abilities

‘Just finished a great project with Kate to develop our leaders - C-suite down to mid manager - and Kate has been fantastic! She customised her approach to fit our culture, unique needs and values, providing coaching to the participants starting at the very top of our business. It's been hugely successful, really impactful and is making a real difference in our business. We can already see improved positive leadership intent and behaviours from our leaders. Thank you, Kate, for your coaching, challenge, consultancy skills, adaptability, patience and graft in helping us deliver something awesome to our business leaders.’

Ria Rogers, Head of People Strategy, Hemsley Fraser (leading global training provider who asked me to head up their internal leadership development programme)

Interested in gaining clarity on your leadership vision, challenges and opportunities?  

Keen to develop strategies to align actions with the desired outcomes? Contact me for more information