Coaching can help you bridge the gap between your desires and the action needed to achieve your goals. You will know you’re ready for coaching when you feel driven to take action. You might feel stuck with a brilliant idea that you can’t figure out how to implement. Or you may feel overwhelmed and burnt out by your workload. Or you might want to make a big move in your career or life, but you need someone to keep you accountable to make this change. It’s time to seek coaching.

Before you begin the process of hiring a coach, you should reflect on your objectives for the coaching engagement. Being clear on your goals during the hiring process enables you to find the coach best suited to help you reach them. By investing in coaching, you are investing in yourself. And the positive impact will ripple out to your team and other individuals in your life. Before we examine the time and financial investments of coaching, consider the following questions:

• What do I want to get from a coaching engagement? Determining this can help you decide whether coaching is a worthwhile investment for you.

• Is there a cost to you in not focusing in and achieving your goals? Are your goals expendable to you? What will that cost you in your career and/or your life?

• What is your readiness to commit to making real change? Consider the time and energy you would be willing to put towards realizing your goals.

By getting clear on what you want, you will have a better idea on what you’re willing to invest.

As you consider how you might benefit by working with a coach and what you’d like to focus on during the engagement, think about the following:

• What are your goals for the next six to 24 months of your life? These goals could be professional or personal.

• Is there a lifelong dream you’d like to pursue?

• Do you feel stuck in any aspect of your professional or personal life?

• Are you transitioning to a new stage in life — professionally or personally?

A coach will help you discover, clarify and align with what you want to achieve. This is accomplished by co-creating a safe, non-judgmental space where the coach encourages you to examine your goals while they listen and remain curious about what you are saying.

During your time together, the coach may use powerful questions and tools, including personality assessments, to help you explore different possibilities that you can then use to create your own solutions and strategies.

A coach may also give you “homework,” like journaling, between sessions to help you keep the momentum of your discovery and progress. You can expect your coach to keep you accountable for your goals.

The coaching conversation offers a unique way to listen, explore, raise awareness, make choices—take risks—and continually build on what was learned to inform the next choice, the next step, and the next learning opportunity.

Leadership development is the top reason why organizations leverage coaching. A growing number of organizations recognize the value that coaching offers — both for employees and the organizations.

For example, organizations with strong coaching cultures have better retention of high performers, higher employee engagement survey scores, and better senior leadership bench strength. Average coaching fees are really dependent upon what type of coaching is being sought and who is paying for coaching. You may pay for coaching yourself, but increasingly, organizations are investing in coaching for their executives and senior leaders — and whatever you discuss with your coach remains confidential.

The length of your sessions and engagement is really up to you. On average, a coaching engagement typically lasts four to six months, and each coaching session is one to two hours long, according to data from the 2020 ICF Global Coaching Study (GCS).

In addition to the sessions with your coach, you should also plan to spend some time between sessions completing homework, reflecting on past sessions and preparing for upcoming sessions.

I will help develop a schedule that will work best for you, taking into account what your goals are, your ability to implement new skills, and the time you can dedicate to the coaching process. This is something you can discuss and agree upon during the initial contracting phase of your engagement.

• Improved communication skills (42%)

• Increased self-esteem/self-confidence (41%)

• Improved work/life balance (38%)

• Increased productivity (38%)

• Increased well-being (35%)

Source: 2022 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study Final Report

Our relationship is completely confidential. I will not be telling anyone you are my client, and I will not reveal the content of our coaching sessions to anyone. This is sacred. I sign a non-disclosure agreement.

You are free to share whatever you choose from our sessions with anyone.