Boats, Trains and The Coaching Agreement

Nothing seems to frustrate coaches more than the coaching agreement. This essential ICF Core Competency is what differentiates coaching from any other conversation. It gives the session a framework, a destination, and a way to measure progress.
 

Without it sessions can lean too far into the client’s story. And we could miss the subtle cues that tell us what idea, belief, or perspective is getting in the way of what the client wants.

An agreement allows the coach to pause the conversation and invite the client to reflect on what they really want vs what they thought they wanted when they came to the session.

I ask my coaches to imagine you are in a boat in the middle of a lake. You can’t see the shores, but you know they’re there. In this analogy the boat in the coaching session and the shore is the agreement – what the client was to achieve in the session. This allows freely row along with the client while mindful of that we are heading to the shore.

Don’t like that analogy. I have another one.

Imaging boarding a train expecting to get somewhere but you have no idea if the train you’re on is heading in the direction you want and you’re not sure of where you want to go. So, you ride forever getting nowhere. The similarities are obvious. The agreement allows us to ride freely because we know where the client wants to go. And if that changes, we can stop and re-route the session.

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