Making Coaching Count: A Guide for People Leaders to Share with Coachees
This resource is designed for HR teams and line managers to share with employees who are about to begin coaching. It offers simple tips to help individuals feel prepared, confident, and ready to get the most from each session. Feel free to send it ahead of a first meeting or include it as part of your internal coaching offer.
Making the Most of Your Coaching Session
Whether you’re returning from parental leave, adapting to life as a working parent, or simply feeling the pull in all directions, coaching can help you pause, reset, and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
Here are five simple ways to make the most of your coaching sessions.
1. Come With a Focus in Mind
Each session is an opportunity to talk about what feels most present for you—whether that’s rebalancing home and work life, adjusting to a new role, feeling more confident in your decisions, or simply making time for yourself again.
You don’t need to arrive with everything figured out—but having a starting point can help the session feel more purposeful. What’s been sitting in the back of your mind lately? What do you keep circling back to?
Try this prompt: “If I could leave today’s session with one small shift in thinking or clarity, what would I want it to be?”
2. Keep a Few Notes Between Sessions
Between sessions, life can feel like a blur. If something stands out, a moment that felt especially stressful, a decision you were proud of, or a time when you felt overwhelmed, jot it down. These moments can be useful to bring into your next session.
You don’t need to keep a detailed journal. A few bullet points in your phone or notebook can go a long way in helping you reflect.
Try this prompt: “What’s something that’s taken up space in my head or heart this week?”
3. Be Honest—Even If You’re Not Sure Where to Start
You don’t need to worry about coming to the coaching session with neatly packaged goals. Coaching is a confidential space where you can show up as you are, tired, unsure, a bit frazzled.
Your coach is there to listen without judgement and help you gently untangle the noise. The more open you can be, the more meaningful your sessions will feel.
Try this mindset: “I don’t need to have it all together. I just need to show up.”
4. Be Open to a New Perspective
Coaching isn’t about being told what to do, it’s about being asked thoughtful questions that might challenge how you see things or invite a new perspective. That might feel unfamiliar at first, but it’s part of what makes coaching so valuable.
Your coach is there to support you, but also to stretch you, just enough to help you grow.
Try this mindset: “What got you here won’t get you there.” — Marshall Goldsmith
5. Expect Gentle Change
Coaching often creates momentum in quiet ways, a mindset shift, a braver conversation, a new boundary, or simply remembering that you matter too.
Change doesn’t need to be dramatic to be real. Sometimes, it’s just the decision to leave on time, say no, or ask for support. These small steps are signs of growth.
Try this reflection: “What’s one thing I could do differently this week to feel more like myself?”
No one else needs anything from you in this session. It’s not a meeting to prepare for, or a to-do list to tick off. It’s time for you to press pause, reflect and reconnect with what matters.
You’ve already done the hard part by showing up. The rest is about being kind to yourself, and trusting that even small insights can lead to big shifts over time.
A downloadable version of this guide is available below.
