What you should know about the first few sessions of coaching

Welcome to a series of pieces written by me to help those interested in coaching. Taking steps to change parts of your life can be done effectively with a helping hand – whether you’re looking for a coach, or you’ve taken an interest in this world, I hope that my words can inform, inspire, educate and better place you on your current personal development journey.

In my second piece, I wanted to take us through what the first few sessions of coaching may look and feel like. The structure of coaching will never be a one-size-fits-all type of concept, nor will it look the same across the board. However, understanding what coaching sessions might entail can help you better work out if it's right for you and your goals.

Internationally-acclaimed author Brianna Wiest wrote: “Your new life is going to cost you your old one. All you’re going to lose is what was built for a person you no longer are. Let it go.”

Coaching is a fantastic avenue if you want to overhaul a particular area of your life, create space to learn more about who you are as a person, or transform your mindset. Unsurprisingly, one question I am frequently asked is about what the coaching journey is actually like and what to expect throughout the sessions.

This question in itself not only calls on what the practicalities of coaching are, it carries emotional weight to it too. Whether the question is triggered by a fear of confronting some uncomfortable truths, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, or asked from a place of excitement with a strong desire to build a brighter future, it is important to have a clear idea of what coaching entails.

Attempting to be as straightforward as I possibly can be, I believe the answer is best described over a series of actions and feelings that are commonly done and felt no matter the type of coaching style. There are nuances, yet all coaches tend to follow a similar set of principles with many studies showing that there are best practices to heed to when coaching individuals.

So what should you know?

The practical side of coaching

• Sessions tend to be done over the space of a few months with a few weeks in between each session (at Expansion Zone Coaching we do a batch of six sessions; one every four weeks, lasting 90 minutes).?
• Coaching can be done virtually or in-person. These days many coaching sessions are done to fit in with hectic schedules. The option to have it done virtually is very popular and just as effective as an in-person session.
• Every journey is unique, and whether it is to improve professionally or otherwise, every person’s path is considered a personal one. One of the many positive effects of coaching is that whatever you take away with you from your sessions will trickle down into other aspects of your life whether you intend it to or not.
• It’s always worth mentioning that a coach will not do the work for you, nor are they there to work through situations that may have emotionally distressed you in the past. This is where a therapist or counsellor is better suited.

Putting your work into practice

• Insight and action = transformation. The weeks in between each session are there for you to hone in on and put into practice the discoveries you have made throughout coaching. This is where the real change happens.
• A coach will work with you to create goals and plans. Then, they will use questions and exercises to coax solutions and answers from you to help you progress on your personal journey. At Expansion Coaching Zone, I like to start each session by having my clients set an intention; at the end, I send a questionnaire to help them reflect on how they feel the session went and to note down their key takeaways which is then shared with me to help us both take stock of the time between sessions and shape our next meetup.

Pulse check

• Keep in mind that you already hold the answers to all of your questions. Coaching will help you frame familiar situations differently in your mind whilst opening your eyes up to new solutions.
• Go in with the expectation that you should feel challenged yet energised throughout your sessions. This will help you hold space for a new shift in your thinking and help you keep up the momentum after your sessions so that you can put your new mindset and techniques into practice.
• You may change direction in your sessions from what you originally intended to set out to do. There is no harm in this. Flexibility is great to help you explore areas of yourself that may not have been in your direct view or original thought process. If you feel as if you’re veering off course, a conversation with your coach can help you clearly reset your intentions.

If you have any further questions, I would love to hear from you and find you the answers to your coaching questions. In the meantime, I will leave you with two articles I have read over the past weeks that clearly outline the benefits and realities of transforming both the personal and professional side of your life.

• Medium: The inconvenient truth about changing your life, by Patrícia Williams.?
• Harvard Business Review (an old one, but a very good article): To improve your team, first work on yourself, by Jennifer Porter.