The Coaching Contract

When receiving a coaching commission it is important to obtain a clear contract, not only with the person who is to be coached but with all those involved in the commission.  This could include their manager, finance director, etc.  The reason for this is that the contract needs to be agreed with all stakeholders so that there are no difficulties later on. 

This contracting session needs to cover the following areas: 

Professional:

Ø      What are the outcomes required from the work?

§         By the commissioning agent/other stakeholds

§         By the coaching client

Ø      Are these measureable, managable and motivational?*

Ø      Your competency and areas of responsibility

Ø      Confidentiality

Ø      The coaching client’s areas of responsibility 

Psychological:

Ø      What might be any unspoken agenda?

Ø      What might you be being asked for that you might not be able/willing to deliver?

Ø      What might the coaching client be expected to achieve that is not within their role, remit or the coaching remit  

Administrative:

Ø      To whom should invoices to sent?

Ø      Frequency

Ø      Where the coaching will take place

Ø      Frequency

Ø      Cancellation/postponement/late arrival for session details 

*Measureable, manageable and motivational means that there needs to be some detail here to ensure evaluation of the coaching is possible.  For example, it may be that everyone agrees that the person being coached needs to be “more confident” when managing and leading others.  Questions here need to include:

§         How will you know and how will others know that you are “more” confident i.e. how will you measure more?  What will you being doing differently?

§         From the stakeholder’s perspective, what different behaviour would they like to see etc. 

Problems and difficulties later on down the line often occur because there has been a lack of clarity early on in the contracting process.  Take a look at the chapter on contracting in our book Working Together, Organizational Transactional Analysis and Business Performance, published by Gower in 2011.
On reflection are the contracts you make sufficiently detailed?  What will you do to improve your contracting process?

Official partners for The World Business Business and Executive Coach Summit.