July flash sale
A coaching conversation can fail before the first question. The coach thinks the goal is team ownership, the manager expects a performance fix, and the person being coached believes the discussion is confidential. All three may behave reasonably inside three different agreements. Contracting makes the agreement visible before trust is spent.
Contracting is a practical part of the capability developed through ICP-ACC Agile Coaching training. It is not a legal document for every conversation. It is the habit of clarifying who the work serves, what is being requested, which boundaries apply and how people will know whether the coaching is useful.
Begin with the three-corner contract
| Party | Question that needs an answer | Risk if it stays hidden |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsor | Why is coaching being funded or requested? | Coaching becomes covert performance management |
| Client | What does the person or team want from the work? | The coach serves somebody else's agenda |
| Coach | What can I competently and ethically offer? | The coach overpromises or works outside scope |
In team settings, the client may be a whole team while a leader is the sponsor. Agree what progress information can be shared. A useful pattern is to share themes, goals and attendance while protecting personal disclosures, unless safety, law or an explicitly agreed escalation boundary requires otherwise.
A seven-part working agreement
- Purpose: the outcome or capability the coaching is intended to support.
- Roles: sponsor, client, coach and any decision owner.
- Choice: how participants consent, decline or renegotiate coaching.
- Confidentiality: what stays private, what can be shared and the exceptions.
- Method: coaching, observation, facilitation, mentoring or a deliberate combination.
- Evidence: signs that the work is useful without turning private reflection into surveillance.
- Review and exit: when the agreement will be revisited, completed, referred or stopped.
Contract again inside a single conversation
Even with a larger agreement, ask what would make today's conversation useful. Clarify the available time. If advice might help, ask permission to switch from coaching to mentoring. When a manager must make a decision, say so instead of performing curiosity around a closed outcome.
A short opening you can adapt
“We have 30 minutes. What would you like to leave clearer about? I can coach your thinking, share experience if you ask for it, or help structure the decision. I will keep the conversation private within the boundaries we agreed. Does that still work for you?”
When contracting exposes a problem that coaching cannot solve
A team may be asked to own a choice it does not have authority to make. A leader may want the coach to persuade people toward a predetermined reorganisation. An employee may need mental-health, legal or HR support beyond the coach's competence. A good contract does not make those situations coachable; it makes the boundary clear enough to choose another response.
Practise with a real but safe case
Write a one-page agreement for a current engagement. Remove names and confidential detail. Ask a peer to play the sponsor and challenge it: What will you report? Who can end the work? What happens if the team rejects the goal? What authority does the coach have? Revise the agreement until the answers can be spoken plainly.
This practice connects with the Agile coach self-management guide because coaches often avoid contracting when they want to appear helpful. It also prepares learners for the role distinctions covered in coaching, mentoring, teaching and facilitation.
