Preparation for Coaching

Introduction

The following questionnaire is intended to help you gain a better understanding of the Conexus approach to coaching. The questions that follow have been carefully selected and are wide-ranging. Our intention is to understand the fuller context in which your coaching will take place.

We trust that, when approached with a sense of openness and curiosity, these questions will help you to clarify what you would like to focus on during our sessions together. Some of the questions may be challenging to answer, but I ask you to sit with them for a while and allow the answers to emerge over time. Even if you cannot answer all of these questions, the very act of engaging with them deeply and reflecting on them honestly will give us a solid foundation upon which we can build our coaching sessions.

Key Elements of Coaching

1. You have the answers

Coaching is different to mentoring, counselling and consulting. In those relationships the client will often look for answers from the experts. As a coach, my expertise is in building meaningful coaching relationships. You are the expert on yourself and part of my role is to ask you questions and provide feedback that will help you to discover the answers that make the most sense to you.

2. You set the agenda

You will decide what issues we discuss during our coaching sessions. I will help you to track different issues over time and prioritise issues in a given conversation. At times I may raise certain issues but the agenda for our sessions is ultimately your responsibility.

3. Equal partnership

A coaching relationship is an equal partnership. A coach is neither an authority figure nor a subordinate. We will work together as equal partners in this process and share responsibility for its success. If either of us ever feels that we are not acting as partners, we will say so.

Characteristics of the Coaching Relationship

1. Confidentiality

As per our coaching contract, I will not disclose your identity as a coaching client, any information that would identify you as a client or any details of our work together without your permission. I would encourage you to tell people you trust that you are working with a coach and to share what we are working on. Clients who invite colleagues, family and friends into these conversations often receive a lot more from the coaching process.

2. Accountability

You are ultimately accountable to yourself and my role is to help you to fulfil any commitments that you make to yourself. However, it also important that we honour the commitments we make to each other, such as agreeing to be on time and to being prepared for each coaching session.

3. Honesty

It is important that we can be honest with each other within a caring and appreciative coaching environment. I will seek to always speak to you with the utmost level of professionalism and respect and will at times speak candidly in order to be as helpful as possible. I hope that, as our coaching relationship develops, you will feel the freedom to be similarly candid with me.

Coaching Questionnaire

Name

First Name

Last Name

Today's date

YYYY

1. Introduction

i. What words would you use to describe yourself?

ii. If you could change one aspect of your life, on either a professional or a personal level, what would you change?

iii. Why do you work at your current job?

2. Recent events

i. What event(s) made you feel most ‘alive’ over the past year or two? Describe the affect this had on you.

ii. Were there any other noteworthy events or achievements that brought a sense of purpose to your life in the past year or two?

iii. What event(s) took from your sense of purpose or detracted from your sense of ‘aliveness’ over the past year or two? Describe the affect this had on you.

iv. What activities currently take up most of your time, thoughts and emotional energy?

3. Coaching Sessions

i. How do you learn best? (e.g. reflect alone, discuss with others, read a book/article, watch a video etc.)

ii. What specific areas of focus would you like to have during our coaching sessions? (The ‘Process’ of coaching)

iii. What outcomes do you want as a result of our coaching sessions? (The ‘Outcome’ of coaching)

iv. How can we measure progress towards any outcomes you desire to achieve over the course of our coaching sessions together?

vi. What are the challenges for you in reaching this outcome(s)?

vii. How can you create the best personal conditions to achieve this outcome?

4. Your Company as a stakeholder

i. Why have your company offered you this coaching?

ii. What results or changes do you think they are hoping to see?

iii. What information do they want from you regarding the progress and potential outcomes of our coaching sessions?

iv. Who do you need to keep updated on how the coaching process is going?

5. Conclusion

i. Is there anything else you think would be important for me to know?