Coach – Establishes and Maintains Agreement

Have a Coaching practice is similar to any other business in the way that required clear understanding of of roles, accountability and boundaries. Maintaining agreements within a Coaching context ensure that both the Coach and Coachee rights are protected and taken into consideration.

The ICF’s definition of Establishes and Maintains Agreements is ” Partners with the client and relevant stakeholders to create clear agreements about the coaching relationship, process, plans and goals. Establishes agreements for the overall coaching engagement as well as those for each coaching session.”

This was further discussed in our session around the 11 sub points that support us in setting a clear agreement.

It is important to note that it is the Coach’s role and responsibility to set the clarity up front with the full agreement of the stakeholder/coachee. Establishing and Maintaining the agreement needs to be considered in different phases. The way this resonates for me is similar to project management. It has a timeline that considers the pre-contract, the actual start, while we are in progress/session and an end with an output. It is also important to consider a review process within each of the phases for all parties to agree on and certain milestones pauses that give all parties an opportunity to reflect before moving forward. It is however the skill and experience that the Coach brings which has influence over the process.

The subpoints to this competency as mentioned previously are : The Coach needs to explain what Coaching is not and describe the process to the client and relevant stakeholders. There could be multiple stakeholders involved, especially when dealing with corporate coaching clients, and it is important to acknowledge all stakeholders for transparency of the process and services available.

Reaches agreement about what is and is not appropriate in the relationship, what is and is not being offered and the responsibility of the client and relevant stakeholders. These allow for clear expectations from the partnering process and each partner understands their contribution towards ensuring a successful partnership.

Reaches an agreement about the guidelines and specific parameters of the coaching relationship. This will usually include fees, the duration of sessions, frequency, place at which sessions will be carried out. It should also look at the ethical guidelines around confidentiality and termination period for each partner. The agreement is just as much for the Coach as it is for the Client/stakeholder.

Partners with the client and relevant stakeholders to establish overall coaching plan and goals. This is also an opportunity for the Coach to share their experience and guidance with the client/stakeholder around the importance of being agile and allow for flexibility and changes with originally set plans or goals. There will however always be a plan and goal to work from and towards.

Partners with the client to determine client -coach compatibility. There is always a possibility that the Coachee does not want to be there. It is important to establish this upfront. There might be other consideration that a coach would need to consider in collaboration with the client/ stakeholder.

Partners with the client to identify or reconfirm what they want to accomplish in the session. As a coach we cannot conclude on the clients behalf or assume what might be best for them. They need to go on a discover process with the coach to identify or reconfirm their need.

Partners with the client to define or reconfirm measures of success, again it is what the client wants to accomplish in the coaching engagements or individual sessions. These are outcomes that will impact the coaching sessions and if not clearly understood from the clients perspective, it could go in a different direction to where the client wants to go.

Partners with the client to manage the time and focus of the session. It is important that the Coach is able to bring the client back on track towards the agreement of measures set. This is where we breath as coaches. Not all can always go according to plan, however there is an agreement in place and we always room for agility where there is partnering involved and the foundation of trust and respect has been established. Hence we have the next sub point below.

Continues coaching in the direction of the client’s desired outcome unless the client indicates otherwise.

Last but not least, Partners with the client to end the coaching relationship in a way that honors the experience.