Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

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What Is the Client’s Role?
You, the HR professional, play a pivotal role in the coaching
story. We assume you would like to learn more about the
client’s role and what the client might be experiencing during
the coaching process. You can be instrumental in helping the client
understand more about his or her role, so in this chapter we examine
the client’s role in helping to ensure the success of the coaching
relationship.
Coaching puts the client in a very active role. Nothing much of
importance will happen as a result of coaching unless the client
wants it to happen. All the other participants in the story are supporting
characters. It is really all about the client and what the
client wants to do.
This active role starts at the very beginning, when the first discussion
is held about coaching. The client should have made an
active decision to be a coaching client. Perhaps you, the HR professional,
or perhaps the boss initiated the idea. Similarly, you may
have been actively involved with the choice of who the coach
would be and on what improvement areas the coaching will focus.
However, ideally the client should enter this relationship with positive
energy and curiosity.
The client should be comfortable about doing the coaching at
this time. By “this time” we mean that the flow of the client’s work
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