Many coaches use formal coaching agreements with clients and sometimes people ask me what do I use.
Now whilst I do have a formal coaching agreement, it has really evolved over the years.
My coaching agreement is less a legal document that is protecting my business interest and instead it is a jumping off point for creating a powerful agreement in how the client and I will work well together and how they can get the most out of the coaching.
One of the ways that I do this is by spending a long time in our first session going through the coaching agreement and not only speaking it through but talking around the document what it means for the client and having them ask questions. This process can take up to two hours.
What I have found is this is not a waste of time. In fact, this is an incredible investment of time that makes the rest of the coaching way more impactful because it gets us on the same page. And it is the only time where I will offer the client a refund if they don’t want to continue.
I really believe that any coach who wants to be more impactful in the work they do can accomplish that by strengthening their agreements with clients. To not be afraid to ask for things, to have the client show up in a way that will have them get more out of the coaching, and to spend time going through this, so the client absolutely understands what they are agreeing to.
On the last AJC Coaching Career School, I did a number of practical webinars for coaches addressing every area of building a sustainable practice. Here’s an audio snippet from one of these webinars in which I talk about creating a strong context for the first coaching session. I highly recommend you listen to this for your next first session that you’ll have with your client.
With love and appreciation,
Ankush Jain
Coach and Author of Sweet Sharing – Rediscovering the REAL You
