Choose a meaningful coaching focus
Start with situations you want to handle differently, rather than a broad promise to become a better leader.
Founder & owner coaching
Identify where your time goes, which decisions depend on you, and what the business needs from you next. Use a time review and a delegation plan to test a more sustainable way of leading.
Leadership & communication
Prepare for difficult conversations, make expectations clear, and practise giving useful feedback. Review specific situations and what changed when you tried a different approach.
Decision-making
Separate facts from assumptions, compare options, and make trade-offs explicit. Keep a decision log to review reasoning and learning without judging a decision only by its outcome.
Delegation & accountability
Define the result, authority, resources, and checkpoints for delegated work. Explore when your intervention helps and when it prevents a team member from taking ownership.
Goals & follow-through
Translate a longer-term goal into commitments you can act on before the next session. Review blockers and adjust the plan when priorities or circumstances change.
Team & leadership-group coaching
Where included in scope, work on shared priorities, decision rules, and cross-functional handovers. Agree how group discussions, individual concerns, and sponsor reporting will be handled.
What a coaching cycle can look like
This is an illustrative structure, not a fixed-duration programme. Session length, frequency, format, and support between sessions are agreed before starting.
1. Define the goal
Describe a real leadership challenge, the behaviour you want to change, and how you will recognise progress. Agree expectations and boundaries with any sponsor.
2. Prepare with evidence
Bring a recent decision, conversation, time log, or action update. Choose a priority for the session and note what you have tried since the last meeting.
3. Explore & commit
Examine assumptions, consider alternatives, and decide on a practical next step. Record the action, its purpose, and the date by which you intend to try it.
4. Review & adapt
Discuss what happened, what you learned, and what blocked progress. Revisit the goal periodically and agree whether to continue, change focus, or close the engagement.
Progress should be observable
Coaching does not guarantee revenue or personal transformation. Choose evidence that relates to the agreed development goal.
- Delegation: which decisions can the team now make within agreed limits?
- Communication: are expectations and follow-up actions clearer after meetings?
- Execution: are commitments completed, renegotiated, or repeatedly deferred?
- Leadership time: is more time going to the priorities you chose?
- Feedback: where appropriate and agreed, what do relevant colleagues observe?
Agree confidentiality and boundaries
Before starting, clarify what information is recorded, who can access it, and what may be shared. Do not assume that a sponsor receives the contents of individual sessions.
- Agree confidentiality terms, their limits, record handling, and any permitted reporting with all relevant parties.
- Decide whether progress updates share attendance, goals, or actions, and obtain agreement before sharing personal discussion.
- Business coaching focuses on work and leadership. It does not replace clinical mental-health care or specialist legal, tax, or regulated financial advice.
- Raise conflicts of interest and situations outside the agreed scope. Discuss referral or a different type of support when needed.
