In this article, I am going to share with you my thoughts and experiences of creating coaching programmes that help people to become more influential. Along the way I will give you detailed examples, including a template structure which I call the Executive Service. This is a detailed outline of typical coaching sessions I propose to prospective clients. You’ll also see how I go about documenting my coaching programmes.
As mentioned in the previous article on principles, I prefer to adopt a structured approach to coaching. This starts with building a clear understanding of the needs and also the parameters I have to operate within.
You will have your own way of approaching this stage. Here is how I do it (in most cases).
Chemistry / Introduction Session
Clients appear either directly to my inbox or via a referral from an HR person. That gives me the initial impression of what needs to be done. An initial call is scheduled to speak with the client. I introduce the purpose of it as:
- To give you an opportunity to get to know me and vice-versa. Do we both feel we can work together?
- To help me to understand your objectives. What would you like to achieve working with me? Or, what do you want to change in your performance?
- To give me enough information to decide if I can help you to meet your objectives and how I will go about it.
I also mention that after the call I will summarise our conversation and propose a plan of action that they can use to decide if they wish to proceed.
These initial calls last between 30 minutes and an hour. I never charge for these initial sessions.
On the actual call (and for me they are usually telephone calls), I will propose an agenda:
- I’ll tell you a little about me and what I do.
- You tell me more about yourself and your role.
- Then you can share with me the situation you are in and what you want to achieve.
- Finally, we’ll agree next steps and timelines.
Most of the time they have no problem with this, so we just get started.
In another article, I will share an alternative that you can use which will involve a thorough exploration of their influencing skills. I tend to use this with clients who have already agreed that they want me to coach them and especially those who have low levels of self-awareness of their skills.
Here are some additional thoughts on this: Important Points about Introduction Sessions.
Designing the programme
During the call, I am pulling together my ideas of the topics we need to work on in order to help them become more influential. At the beginning of your practice as an influence coach, you will probably do this afterwards. With time, you will notice a huge amount of commonality from client to client. Allowing programme design to unfold in this manner makes every client feel unique.
Here is an example of a typical coaching programme of six sessions — the Executive Service. This is worded in a way that I usually document it for the client in a proposal. This is my template, and I add/subtract sessions based on our discussions. It is also important to put these into a logical order based on the client needs.
Incidentally, there are seven sessions listed on the Executive Service. The first one is usually split between the introductory session and the first actual coaching session after the agreement to proceed.
Common additions include:
- Building Trust
- Handling Office Politics
- Managing Conflicting Agendas
- Developing Confidence/Gravitas
- Influencing Skills Review
To improve your knowledge of what could happen here, and other things you could do for your clients as an influence coach, invest some time in browsing through the How To Guides.
Once I have decided what will work for the client (and that I want to work with this client!), I then send them a coaching proposal. Here is an online example of what I usually place in a PDF’d word document: Example Influence Coaching Proposal.
Documentation
Once we have decided to work together, the final piece of the jigsaw is a working document to record the progress of the programme. This is usually an outcome from the first actual coaching session.
This document serves several purposes:
- Records expectations (on both sides).
- Keeps HR/line managers in the loop.
- Monitors progress and forms a base to deviate from (which you will).
- Makes coaching supervision easier.
- Quantifies the results and demonstrates ROI.
For me, it provides an extremely useful device to remind me of what we have done. This is invaluable when I am working concurrently with many clients. To look further into this, take a look at the Influence Coaching Documentation where you will find examples I have used and a template that you can work from if you wish.
A few final points
- If HR or line managers are involved, my confidentiality agreement always means I get the green light from the client before this document gets shared.
- This document will get updated as coaching proceeds, and it is useful to retain the original copy. At the end, the document gets shared again along with my feedback on what has been achieved (again agreed, or at least run by the client before sharing).
- At the end of a coaching programme, I am careful to manage the possibility that I may need to share things with the HR representative that the client may not like. Even so, I still give the client an opportunity to “influence” me or at least be prepared for a difficult conversation with the HR person.
- I often password protect these documents and at the very least, check with the client who else has access to the emails (click “Save As”; “Tools”, “General Options”).
- Keep it short and simple.
My experience is that documenting in this manner is a shrewd investment and helps everyone – and HR buyers love them!
Adopting this approach (taking this level of care), has helped me a great deal over the years and has enabled my clients to get some amazing results. As with all of the articles in this series, your job now is to consider it critically as it applies to you and your practice.
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