Coaching Agreement

Suzanne's coaching agreement:
This document sets forth the understanding and financial policy that Suzanne and her coaching clients agree upon as they begin working together. (Scroll down to see entire document.)

Welcome! I am excited about working together! It’s important to understand the coaching relationship so that it works well for you.

As your coach, I am committed to you and your best interests. I will give you my undivided attention, ask the hard questions and reflect back to you what I hear. I will challenge you and encourage you to explore new avenues. Your job, in part, is to be ready, willing and able to make changes. Finding and clarifying your truth is an essential element in the coaching relationship. Your truth is safe. That becomes the foundation on which to build. As you build and move forward, no vision is too big. I am here to encourage and facilitate your process.

At the outset, I want to make it clear that coaching is not therapy. It is not my job to evaluate, counsel or treat you for emotional problems or clinical dysfunction. I will assume that if you enter into a coaching relationship, you are ready and capable of facing the issues, making the decisions and doing the work that that entails. As we work together, if it seems to either one of us that there are significant personal problems that are preventing you from moving forward, and if counseling seems appropriate, I can refer you to a qualified therapist who can work with you on that basis—either concurrently, as we continue to work on your coaching goals, or while we take a break in our work.

My strengths in helping you are in quickly getting to the heart of an issue, creative reflection, opening up new possibilities and options, and energizing your motivation. I strive to help my clients not only achieve what they set out to do, but also increase self awareness and attain a healthy balance in life.

You set the agenda for the calls. As we move forward, I will make requests of you based on your goals and progress to date. It is your option to accept or reject those requests, or modify them to make them work for you better. While I cannot guarantee your results (they depend on circumstances beyond my control) my guarantee to you is that I will be committed to your best interests and your success. The action is up to you.

If there is a lack of clarity over any issue, question it immediately. I am straightforward, but I will always be respectful of you in making an observation. I will often ask you to explore ideas that may be beneficial, but I will not tell you what to do. I will support you in deciding your best course of action. As your coach, I am a resource, a facilitator, and one who provides accountability.

I encourage you to make a serious commitment to coaching, and provide yourself with adequate time to progress. Coaching is an investment in yourself. The benefits multiply themselves for a lifetime.

Policies & Procedures

The Client/Coach Relationship: As my client, you are on my VIP list.

If you work with me by-the-month, you are free to email or call me between scheduled appointments at no additional cost if you have a victory to share or a problem that needs immediate attention. While I am pleased to provide this extra service, I do ask that such calls be kept to five or ten minutes. You also have access to me by email or fax. I will get back to you as soon as possible, Monday through Friday.
It is very important that you communicate the truth to me in order to receive the maximum benefit from your coaching experience. It is my goal to make coaching a valuable experience for you. Everything that we discuss is confidential, within the confines of the law.
We will discuss ideas, alternatives, options and possibilities. I may offer a possible solution or a different perspective, but ALL decisions are yours!
If you feel I am pushing you too hard, or perhaps not hard enough, let me know. If I say something that doesn’t feel right, let me know that too.

Coaching Options:

Telephone Coaching (Monthly Agreement): Coaching on the phone, weekly, at a pre-scheduled time. Monthly coaching structure includes three thirty minute sessions. It is reasonable to work together for 6 months in order to see measurable results; however our agreement is open ended. It is your responsibility to call me at the pre-arranged time.
Face to Face Coaching (Monthly Agreement): For those in the greater Seattle area, person to person coaching is an option. My office is on the east side of Lake Washington, just north of Kirkland. Other than the fact that this coaching is in-person, other details are the same as telephone coaching.
Individual (Stand Alone) Sessions: One or more coaching sessions can be arranged on a stand-alone basis. This might be done, for example, when a person wants to check in occasionally for accountability or desires “spot coaching” for a particular matter while not engaged in a more regular coaching relationship. Stand-alone sessions can be done by telephone or face to face. Each session stands on its own and does not include ongoing telephone, fax or email access between sessions.

Suzanne's Coaching Fees

Monthly Agreement: Your investment of $400 per month includes three 30 minute scheduled sessions by phone or face to face, assignments, unlimited access by email between sessions, and short, interim phone calls from time to time. (Clients who want more than three sessions per month are charged proportionally.)

Prepayment discount: 3 months for $1,000 / 6 months for $1,800.
(You may cancel at any time and will be refunded the unused portion of your fee as of the end of the month in which you cancel. In this case, all completed sessions will be calculated at the regular monthly rate without the discount.)
Individual stand-alone sessions: $135 per session. (Meant to be used where an occasional session is desired without email, phone or other ongoing follow-up.)

Satisfaction Guarantee:

I believe that coaching has the potential to be of tremendous benefit to you, and want to assume some of the risk so you can see for yourself. If, after your first month of coaching with me, you do not believe that coaching is meeting your expectations or is worth significantly more to your quality of life than what your are paying, you may request a full refund. (Refunds must be requested within two weeks after completion of the first month.) We will terminate coaching at that point and the entire amount that you have paid will be cheerfully refunded.

Payment Policies:

Payment is due prior to your first coaching session and is payable monthly, in advance. If you are taking advantage of a discount by paying for more than one month at a time, payment is due before the first session of the time period.
Paying by credit or debit card proves to be the most convenient for most people. You may use the Online Payments link on the StreamTree Associates website (www.streamtree.com), which automatically brings up a PayPal window. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover are accepted. Receipts are issued on request.
If you need to reschedule your appointment, 24 hours notice is required. If you have an emergency, we’ll work with it. Otherwise, the time has been set aside for you and is charged.
If you have a strong preference to make payment by check, please allow plenty of time for the post office. Mail can cross the country anywhere from 2 to 12 days!
When it’s time to move on and discontinue continue coaching, fourteen days notice is requested.

I acknowledge that I have read, understand and agree to honor the above policies and procedures in working with my coach.

Signature of Client: __________________________ Date: ____________

w Call (425-821-3944) or email Suzanne for a free introductory coaching session or for further information.

[Coach Suzanne] [What is coaching?]