Let’s say you have some coaching skills, but you want something to help you put those skills together—a way to be intentional, systematic, and consistent in your approach to coaching. For those who aren’t naturally organized, the best thing out there is having a structure to hang your skills on. With this kind of organizing principle, you can develop a rhythm that helps keep you on track during your coaching sessions.
Below is a general flow for any given coaching session, along with some basic process questions that can help you organize your thinking. You’ll have to make adaptations of course, but this structure can provide a general outline for most of your coaching sessions. I call them the 5 Rs.
Relate
- How are you?
- What can we celebrate?
Reflect
- What progress has been made?
- What challenges are you facing?
- Where are you now?
- Where do you sense God wanting you to go?
Refocus
- What would be different?
- What are some possible next steps to getting there?
- Which ones seem most helpful for giving you traction to move forward?
- What will you do?
Resource
- Who can come alongside you to help?
- What else do you need?
Review
- What are the next steps you can take between now and our next session?
- What was helpful to you in this conversation?