A relationship between a coach and a coachee is essentially a business relationship. In this webtorial, we discussed the importance of establishing a mutual agreement with a coachee and how to maintain this agreement.
There are many similarities between a coaching agreement and Statement of Work in the technology consulting work that I do. In any client engagement, I would define the scope of the work that will be delivered – what is in scope and what is out of scope. In a coaching context, a coach needs to define what coaching is, and what coaching is not, so that there is no misunderstanding because different people may have different ideas what coaching is about.
In an SoW, I would document the responsibilities of each party (ie myself, my client and any third-party vendor), what each party agrees to do and provide, and their expectations. In a coaching engagement, a coach may contract directly with the client or with the client’s employer, if it is mandated by the client’s employer. Similar to an SoW, a coaching contact needs to clearly define the relationship of the coach, the coachee and any stakeholders, and the responsibilities of each contracting party.
An SoW would also document a project plan and a communication plan, ie what is the objective and duration of the project, how to track progress, the frequency of project communications and updates, how changes will be managed, and the criteria for project completion and sign off. Similarly in a coaching engagement, a coach needs to document the goals and the plan to achieve those goals.
Despite our best efforts, a coaching relationship may end prematurely (just like any relationship). Is it important that a coaching agreement includes a termination clause so that there is an orderly exit from the coaching engagement.
