Breakthrough results. The term itself is intriguing… and maybe a little intimidating. How do you, as a coach, help a leader achieve a breakthrough in their leadership journey? Especially if they come from an industry completely outside your experience or hold a more senior role than you’ve ever had? These questions might feel daunting at first, but they’re also what make coaching both challenging and incredibly rewarding.

To guide a client toward breakthrough results, it helps to understand the arc of a coaching engagement. Like many journeys, it unfolds in three stages: a beginning, middle, and end. But how does this structure apply to coaching? And how do we leverage this framework to empower meaningful transformation?

The Coaching Engagement: An Overview

At its core, a coaching engagement (the macro level) is made up of several individual coaching sessions (the micro level). The engagement’s duration depends on the agreement between coach and client—it might span weeks, months, or a set number of sessions. Both engagements and individual sessions follow the coaching arc, moving from foundation-building to discovery to closure.

The primary aim? To foster the client’s growth and learning.  This is achieved by establishing a solid relationship, and clear agreements (the beginning), then working to uncover true values, believe, motivations, blind spots, helping to evoke deeper awareness (the middle) with a focus on their future, then, as the engagement comes to a close, celebrating the growth of the clients as well as helping to establish mechanisms and practices to help the client sustain his/her growth as the engagement comes to a close. While coaching sessions echo this structure, this post will zoom in on the coaching engagement—as coaching sessions deserve a deep dive in another journey post!

Coaching engagements revolve around the eight core competencies, as defined by the ICF (International Coaching Federation): ethical practice, embodying a coaching mindset, establishing agreements, cultivating trust, maintaining presence, active listening, evoking awareness, and facilitating growth. These serve as the pillars for each phase.

The Arc of a Coaching Engagement

1. The Beginning: Building Relationships and Agreements

The engagement starts with laying the groundwork: relationship-building and setting clear agreements. These initial steps are crucial to ensure mutual understanding and alignment of expectations. This involves crafting the coaching agreement, deciding on session cadence, and defining how communication will flow.

The trust and rapport developed here are often the keel of a successful engagement. Many of the ICF competencies—like cultivating trust and maintaining presence—are only possible when this solid foundation is in place.

2. The Middle: Exploration and Development

The middle phase is all about exploration—this is where the magic happens and the wind starts to fill the sails. Together, coach and client embark on a journey guided by the client’s vision and goals. Whether it’s asking powerful questions or engaging in reflective activities, the aim is to uncover blind spots, clarify values, and align beliefs with aspirations.

By being fully present, listening intently, and tapping into human dynamics, a coach helps the client gain clarity and begin to chart their course. This is the helm of client development, where the compass of discovery often points to transformative insights, guiding both coach and client through uncharted waters.

3. The End: Action and Accountability

What good is discovery without action? The closing phase focuses on helping the client maintain the trajectory they’ve established during the engagement. Coaches assist clients in identifying tools and techniques to sustain progress, ensuring they have concrete next steps to carry their growth forward.

A thoughtful closure helps clients avoid slipping back into old patterns. It also arms them with a heightened awareness of their journey and the accountability structures needed to stay on track.

A Dynamic Process for Lasting Growth

Throughout an engagement, coaching conversations should consider the past, while understanding the present, with the aim of achieving growth towards an improved future. This dynamic interplay grounds the client in their reality, sheds light on their aspirations, and maps out the development needed to navigate from present to their desired future. By continuously tracking progress and adjusting course, coaches ensure sustained growth and meaningful results.

Coaching for breakthrough results may seem overwhelming at first, but with structure and intention, it becomes a deeply impactful experience—for both coach and client. The journey is as valuable as the destination, and each session builds on the last, proving that true transformation happens step by step.

Stay true.