Why should I use Coaching Plans with my clients?

When you’re coaching your clients, you want to set goals, keep your client focused, demonstrate the power of coaching, and track progress. Using coaching plans with your clients help you to do all of these things.

1. Before the session: The Coaching Plan. By completing a coaching plan before a session, your client will be able to talk about their accomplishments and challenges since your last appointment together, and their priorities for the coming session. This lets you focus in very directly during your coaching session on the areas that need work, letting you keep your coaching sharp and to the point. Coaching plans are the best tool for keeping your coaching sessions on track, keeping the big picture in mind, and keeping your clients motivated and moving toward their goals.
2. After the session: Coaching Tools. After your session together, you can assign coaching tools for your client, to help them commit to the goals you have discussed together. This keeps them on track and motivated to succeed. Assign goals, action items, and journaling to help your client follow through on these commitments. You can also send a summary of your session together and ask your client to reflect on their greatest insight from your session. This allows them to continually see the power of coaching in their lives.

You can comment on any of your client’s responses to both the plan and follow-up to keep coaching alive, interactive and dynamic.

For online coaching, the process is similar. Your online coaching clients will submit Coaching Plans at agreed upon intervals, answering the same types of focusing questions. Since there are no coaching calls in between reports, Coaching plans are even more central to your coaching together. You can comment on your client’s answers and they can comment back, allowing for a deep online interactive presence in their lives. Gear the assignment of your other coaching tools to your client’s answers.

Rather than depending on the cumbersome process of email, the Client management area of your dashboard and your client’s Coaching Pad will make the process of submitting, reading and commenting on their Coaching plans flow seamlessly. You can of course customize the coaching plan your clients will receive on their dashboard in any way you want, according to your own coaching preferences.

If you prefer not to use Coaching Plans, it’s still very easy to keep your client on track. Just send your own Summary of the Session directly from the Sessions tab of your client’s file. This interface allows you to prepare for your session, take notes from the session, assign coaching tools, and send a session summary to your client, quickly and easily.

Note: Make sure you put Life Coach Hub on your Safe Sender email list so that you are sure to receive important emails.