DO I HAVE A CLIENT?

Frequently in organizations, a manager or HR personnel may ask you to coach someone. Great! You’ve got a client. But do you? Let’s slow this down and find out if you actually have a client. The harsh fact is this: Unless the person, who they are wanting you to coach wants to be coached, you do not have a client. You only have a coaching client if a person wants to be coached to some outcome. So that’s what you have to find out. Welcome, the three-way meeting.

The three-way meeting is between sponsor, client, and coach. The sponsor is the person in the organization who wants “the client” to be coached. She may be a manager, senior manage, or someone from HR. The client is anyone employed by the organization. The coach is either an external coach brought in from the outside or an internal coach. The meeting is a meeting designed to assess the situation to see if there is the possibility of coaching or a coaching contract.