What to Expect and How to Prepare for a Coaching Session

Have you ever felt like your mind is full of distracting noise similar to the static on an untuned radio station?

Working with a coach can help you tune in to the right frequency, allowing you to focus on the insights and actions that truly matter.

In coaching, finding that clarity requires both preparation and an openness to the process. Whether you’re new to coaching or looking for coaching session tips, this article highlights what you can expect and provides actionable strategies to prepare, enabling you to maximize your experience.

Understanding the Role of a Coaching Session

An effective coaching session is a structured conversation intended to help you gain clarity. It may take place in person, over the phone, or through a video call, whatever you and your coach decide works best.  

Coaching sessions are a collaborative process. Your coach will ask you to identify struggles and set goals for the time spent together. By asking powerful questions, they will guide you to discover solutions and identify actionable insights. They will also hold you accountable for progress between sessions and support you in determining how to measure your growth. 

All coaching engagements follow a similar structure. However, there are many types of coaching to choose from. Understanding the purpose of various types of coaching enables you to select the right coach to help you achieve your goals. Many coaches offer multiple types of related coaching, but most choose to specialize in two or three areas.

Common Types of Coaches:

• Executive coaching is designed to support CEOs, C-suite leaders, and high-level leaders in focusing on leadership development, decision-making, communication, and strategic thinking. 
• Leadership coaching shares similar outcomes with executive coaching but is not exclusive to executives, instead encompassing managers and emerging leaders. 
• Life vision and enhancement coaching focuses on personal development, work-life balance, relationships, and achieving personal goals. This type of coaching helps clients gain clarity, overcome self-limiting beliefs, and create a more fulfilling life. 
• Relationship coaching focuses on building communication skills and emotional intelligence to help individuals strengthen personal and professional relationships. 
• Career coaching supports individuals navigating career transitions from new positions to advancement. 
• Business coaching is tailored to help business owners improve operations and leadership skills, enabling them to scale up and make informed decisions.  
• Sales coaching focuses on improving each stage of the sales process, from prospecting to negotiating and closing a deal. 
• Team coaching brings together workplace teams for greater cohesion and collaboration while resolving conflict. 
• Performance coaching focuses on optimizing skills and performance. 
• Health and wellness coaching seeks to support clients in creating healthier lifestyles.

What to Expect During a Coaching Session

Just like you know what type of music you’ll hear once you turn the radio dial to the correct frequency, coaching sessions follow a standard “program,” so you know what to expect in each session.

How Coaches Structure Each Section

Typically, coaching sessions last between 30 minutes and one hour. Your coach may begin the session with questions like:

• What work have you accomplished on the last session’s goals?
• What would you like to focus on?
• What’s on your mind today?
• What would you like to achieve today?

Once you define what success looks like for the session, the coach will ask open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no response.

Examples of questions you might hear:

• What’s the cost to you if nothing changes?
• What could be possible through change?
• What are you tolerating?
• What about this is important to you?
• How does this align (or conflict) with your values?
• What else?

Coaches also use various strategies and tools to help you reframe your perspective and dig below surface-level responses.

For example, a coach may ask you to:

• Create a love and loathe list.
• Quantify a response. For example, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much is X impacting your ability to achieve Y?
• Identify your core values.
• Envision what the future looks like with the identified change in place.
• Complete an assessment to understand your natural leadership and communication style.

The coach’s role is to guide, support, and challenge you to reach your full potential. They’ll do this by providing accountability, helping you identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement through self-discovery. By asking thought-provoking questions, they’ll push you to discover new insights and solutions.

Your Role as the Coaching Client

Your role as a coaching client is to actively engage in the process with openness, curiosity, and a commitment to change. While the coach acts as your guide, you’re responsible for doing the work. To make your experience the most successful, you should:

• Be open to new perspectives, receiving feedback, and challenging your assumptions.
• Accept responsibility for doing the work and answering the hard questions rather than expecting the coach to provide all the answers.
• Set clear goals about what success looks like.
• Be vulnerable when answering questions designed to help you uncover challenges, work through fears, and identify aspirations.
• Take action and implement lessons and strategies.
• Reflect and evaluate your growth and goals in between sessions and adjust objectives if needed.
• Commit to the process by consistently meeting with your coach, being honest in answering questions, and working on goals in between sessions.

How to Prepare for a Coaching Session

Plan to spend at least 10-15 minutes ahead of a meeting with your coach to mentally prepare.

Setting an Agenda

Before the session:

• Reflect on your goals: What do you want to achieve in the short and long term?
• Identify challenges or areas of focus: What’s currently holding you back?
• Review progress since the last session (if applicable).
• Give yourself grace. You might not know your goals. That’s okay! A coach can ask thought-provoking questions that can help you identify desired outcomes.

At some point, you may want to address personal issues, or challenges may arise. If you’re worried about how to talk to your coach about this, these suggestions can help you start the conversation:

• “I’m feeling overwhelmed by my work and family responsibilities and it’s impacting my focus.”
• “I’ve been struggling with something personal that’s affecting how I show up at work, and I’d like to talk through it.”

Because each session is limited to a specific amount of time, it’s important to create an agenda to maximize your meeting. Spend a few minutes jotting down topics or questions you’d like to discuss.

Ask yourself:

• What’s on my mind right now?
• What am I finding most challenging?
• What obstacle is keeping me from growth?
• What wins can I celebrate since the last session?

If you have a long list, prioritize the issues that are most pressing or impactful.

Mindset Preparation

How you approach your coaching session influences the benefits you experience after each session and at the end of the agreement. Just like the music on your playlist sets the tone for a workout, gathering, or party, your mindset impacts each coaching session.

Going in with an open mind — even if you’re feeling big emotions (frustration, anger, burnout) allows you to reframe the situation and explore new perspectives. Do a quick self-assessment shortly before the session starts.

Consider:

• Is my mind racing in a thousand directions? If so, pause and take a deep breath.
• Am I feeling resistant or defensive? If so, perhaps that is a topic to consider for your session.
• Am I fully present? Turn off the alerts on all your devices — including your watch — so you can fully focus on the conversation.

Remember, every coaching session is about discovery. Be curious and willing to explore rather than expecting to identify a perfect solution.

Practical Preparations

Remember, each coaching session lasts just 30–60 minutes. Maximize the time you have with your coach by scheduling a session at a time when you can be fully present and engaged.

For instance, if you know your session will bump up against a high-stakes work meeting, choose a different timeframe so your focus isn’t scattered. Or, if you know you’re more energized in the morning or afternoon, try to schedule your session when you’re feeling your best.

Find a quiet and distraction-free environment. If you work on-site but don’t have a private office, is there a meeting room available for your coaching call? If you’re calling in from home while pets or family are around, is there a room in your house that provides a quiet setting for the coaching call?

Be prepared with any helpful materials, such as a notebook for jotting down ‘a-ha’ moments or recommended resources. Make sure you have ready access to any previous action plans.

Tips for Maximizing Value from Coaching Sessions

Coaching is an investment; be sure you make the most of every session. These four tips can help you optimize your return on investment:

• Be proactive: Update your coach on progress and ask for clarification when needed.
• Embrace vulnerability: Be honest about your thoughts and the challenges you face.
• Take action: Follow through on agreed-upon steps between sessions.
• Provide feedback: Share what’s working and what could improve.

Final Thoughts

When you know what to expect from a coaching session and how to prepare, you’ll have an experience that will guide you through professional and personal transformation. Just as tuning a radio to the right frequency helps you receive the right signal, setting an intention and reflecting on your goals helps you tune into the insights and breakthroughs that matter most. Perhaps most important, approaching each coaching session with curiosity and commitment sets the foundation for meaningful growth.

Ready for coaching? Find a coach using the Credentialed Coach Finder.