A coaching brief is three answers written down. If you cannot keep them, you do not yet have a brief — you have a mood.
I will not start a series on a vague wish to “be a better leader.” That sentence can mean anything and therefore means nothing I can contract. Chief Executives is a booking agency. Fit is agreed in writing. A vague brief produces a vague engagement, and then someone asks for a scorecard to prove the fee was real.
The definition of the work is in what executive coaching is — and is not. This note is the contracting standard I use when someone is ready to enquire.
Three answers, in the executive’s words
- What they want to be able to do that they cannot do now — a conversation, a stop, a first no, a paper, a week that matches the speech.
- How often they can actually meet, and for how long the series runs.
- What stays off the record, including what a chair may be told.
If any of those is missing, wait. I want a brief that fits on one page and can be read at the start of session four without embarrassment. If we cannot reread it, we were never contracted. We were chatting.
This is the same standard I used on the operating side: if a country manager could not say the priority in one sentence, we did not have a priority. Coaching is not a holiday from that standard. The published facts behind that judgment are on the about page.
Draft sentences that fail, and ones I can keep
“I want presence” is unobservable. “I will run the ELT without reading from the pack” is a sentence I can contract.
“We should meet when useful” is not a cadence. “Every three weeks until March, then a review” is a cadence the diary can hold — or cannot. If it cannot, the work is the calendar, not a series you will cancel.
“Keep the chair informed” is not a confidentiality rule. “The chair gets dates and scope. Not content.” is a rule. Write it before the chair asks, or they will write it for you — when the chair asks how coaching is going.
The brief is also a first no
A brief that cannot name what you will not do is a mood with a start date. Incoming seats need this most. If the first no is not in the brief, the organisation will write your job in the corridor — the first no in a new C-suite seat.
How coaching is offered is a menu of conversations, not a set of packages with invented prices. The brief decides which conversation you are booking. Fees and fit stay in writing.
A takeaway you can keep
| Draft sentence | Why it fails | A sentence I can contract |
|---|---|---|
| “I want presence” | Unobservable | “I will run the ELT without reading from the pack.” |
| “We should meet when useful” | Not a cadence | “Every three weeks until March, then a review.” |
| “Keep the chair informed” | Not a confidentiality rule | “The chair gets dates and scope. Not content.” |
| “Help me be a better leader” | A mood | “I will make the stop decision on X by a named date.” |
If you can write those three answers, look at who is available to book and enquire to book a coach. If you cannot, write them first. I would rather wait than invent a package around a mood.