The Prepare—Engage—Act Coaching Cycle

The three-phase cycle that is the foundation for successful coaching sessions.

Written By Robert E Logan

Christian Coaching Pioneer, Strategic Ministry Catalyst, Resource Developer, Empowering Consultant : Logan Leadership

Having coached people for over 35 years, I’ve learned that much of coaching really boils down to three things: prepare, act, engage. Preparing for the session in advance, interacting during the session, then determining next steps at the end of the session. If you build your coaching practice on this cycle—and continue using it consistently with each client—you’ll be building on a solid foundation… a foundation that works.

The Prepare—Engage—Act Cycle

3 phase cycle for successful coaching sessions

Prepare

When people come into the coaching session prepared with a clear idea of what they want to talk about, the conversation flows much more effectively and saves time. Prep questions particularly make a big difference in how the session time is used. Without them, clients can take up to 45 minutes to figure out what they really want to focus on in the hour. With them, you can take 15 minutes at the beginning for catching up and confirming the focus, leaving 45 minutes to get down to business.

Prepare templates of questions ahead of time. Adapt them for each client, and send them to the client in advance to help them pre-think their session. Here’s a sample set of prep questions I adapt:

What can we celebrate?
What challenges are you facing?
What are you learning?
What do you want to discuss with me?
How can I be praying for you?

Engage

Entering the coaching session itself, you can create a system for taking notes and saving them. By this practice, you create a record that you can review before the next session. Take time to earmark insights you want to come back to later and explore further. When clients feel they aren’t making progress, it can be helpful to review your notes for the last 6 to 12 months. You will have a record of milestones accomplished that you can point to and celebrate with them.

Act

Before you close each session, create action items. You and your client can determine the next steps to be taken and determine a timeline for them to be completed. These action items inform the preparation questions and follow up agenda for the next coaching conversation.

Try it and see for yourself! The Prepare – Engage – Act cycle can help you maximize the time during your sessions and double or even triple your effectiveness.

Resources

Christian Coaching Essentials*- You can learn more about the benefits of the Prepare – Engage – Act Cycle in this resource. “A great book on the basics of coaching. It served as a refresher for me. The authors has a lot of tools, resources, examples, and stories to help the reader to see coaching in action.”—Amazon review

Photo by Michiel

*Amazon affiliate link

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