First, your group training program should last between 3 and 5 months with one or two group sessions a month. The average coaching relationship lasts one year. Some coaching relationships are just a few sessions and others continue for several years. For internal coaching programs, in the program manual, provide parameters for the duration of the coaching commitment.
Start planning how long your group program will last. Some coaches, especially those who are less developed, assume that all coaches create dependency on long-term training commitments, but this is not necessarily the case. As you may already know, a large portion of potential clients may not have an unlimited budget, so how much they can spend on coaching will influence the structure of the coaching process. These one-off additions to a coaching session program may be subject to some type of staff loyalty agreement.
For example, you may not need to have extended coaching sessions if you interact weekly with your coaching client. The Water Cooler Forum is one of the “hidden benefits” of being a member of the School of Coaching Mastery's paid coach training programs. The following post about the length of commitments with coaching clients is inspired by a conversation held at the Water Cooler Forum, exclusively for members of the School of Coaching Mastery. Otherwise, the coach may be tempted to extend the commitment to the client to obtain an economic benefit for the coach and not for his personal development.
These sessions may be suitable for coaching relationships where behavioral issues need to be addressed to make the most of the potential of the coaching client. Every coaching situation is different, so try to adjust the length of your coaching sessions to suit your client's needs.
