Coaching Session Framework (That Works)

Today, I’m going to show you a simple framework for your coaching sessions and what to look for when you’re coaching someone.

Learning to coach can be overwhelming—especially when you’re getting started.

But with the right framework, you can have a solid direction in your sessions, which gives you more confidence in your abilities, and gives your clients more confidence in you.

The problem is that in a world full of coaching information, its easy to get lost and not know what to do, but this simple framework is something you can use for the long term to ensure your success as a coach.

Your Coaching Session is Foundational to Your Coaching Success

Your coaching session can be broken down into 3 sections:

• Agreement

• Exploration

• Closing

I like to think of this like a reconnaissance mission in the military: You’re trying to gather intelligence to help you plan the next move. The agreement is where you see where you’re going and the plan for success, the exploration is where you go an explore the area to gather information, and the closing is what the plan of attack is next.

Keep these next points handy as your guide for your next session:

Agreement — Things to Ask

This is the first 10-15 minutes of your session. You want to establish rapport by attuning with your client and see where he/she wants to go with the session, why he/she wants to go that way, and establish a clear outcome.

• What would you like to talk about today?

• Why does that matter to you?

• What would success look like at the end of our time together today?

Exploration — Things to Watch

This is the 30-minute, more intensive part of your session. Use empowering questions to explore here—give them a positive spin. You want to focus on “what” and “how” questions and avoid “why” questions as they may have the perception of right and wrong answers with the client (i.e., “why did you make that decision?” may come across as “why did you make that decision?”).

• Gremlins: Negative self-talk the client has baked into his/her mindset.

• Assumptions: Assumptions the client has—negative or positive—about his/her life, self, or situation.

• Interpretations: Unhelpful interpretations the client has about his/her life, self, or situation.

• Limiting Beliefs: Unhelpful or hindering beliefs the client has about his/her life, self, situation, or ability.

Closing — Questions to Ask

This is the last 10-15 minutes of your session. You want to recap and co-create a next step action with your client.

• What insights did you have throughout our session together?

• What are you going to do with those insights?

• What time frame do you have for doing that?

• What does accountability look like in doing that?

Hope this helps, and I left you a free printable guide to download for your next session below. I hope it serves you well.

To Your Coaching Success,

Matt

P.S. If you have any friends who are coaches who would benefit from this, please feel free to pass it on.