Quite frequently, coaching practitioners see contracting/establishing the agreement as a conversation limited to logistical concerns and desired outcomes. This kind of contracting leans towards the explicit and transactional. It is about:
– payment
– number of sessions over a period of time
– topics to focus on
– outcomes
You could liken this to the ‘contracting’ encountered in a retail store. You see an item, its condition, price, materials/ingredients list, warranty etc.
What is often not brought into the coaching contracting conversation is the underlying stuff the client encounters in their lives, and which they are sure to bring into the coaching work. This type of conversation leans towards the implicit and transformational.
Even retail stores do this! Branding, marketing campaigns, in-store music, friendliness of staff, efficiency, and store layout all focus on a psychological-level experience.
Of course in coaching, rapport building, safety, confidentiality, ethical and professional standards add to a positive and valuable client experience. These are however different to a conversation on the client’s styles of problem-solving, how they show up in the world, what their concerns about the coaching might be, what themes they notice playing out in their lives, and particularly what patterns and themes are emerging in the coaching work.
Borrowing from a transactional analysis framework for contracting, we are offered deeper insight into these aspects.
– Procedural aspect. Coaching frequency, duration, cost, venue/platform, session length, etc.
– Professional aspect. What is the practitioner trained/competent to do, what is their experience, what modality is most appropriate to the client’s needs (overall and in the moment), multi-party agreements, confidentiality, reporting, desired outcomes, likely outcomes, etc.
– Psychological aspect. The client’s styles of problem-solving and coping with stressors, how the client engages with themselves, others and the world, what is the correlation between themes and relational patterns emerging in the work and those the client experiences in their lives, what do both client and practitioner notice in their thinking, emotional and somatic feeling, and behaviour in relation to each other (before, during and after a session).
In my experiences as supervisor, the psychological aspect of the contract is almost exclusively what stimulates established practitioners to come to supervision.
This seems reasonable as less experienced practitioners will be paying more attention to building competence, a business and practice model, and growing confidence in application of their modality.
An appropriate supportive and developmental modality for newer practitioners is mentor coaching, which functionally has a behavioural focus.
It makes sense for coaches at any level of personal and professional development to increase the depth and breadth of their psychological frameworks, as these phenomena will impact the work regardless.
