Structured enough to measure. Individual enough to matter.
A defensible process the organization can review, wrapped around a confidential relationship the participant can actually use.
Insight is useful. Applied behavior change is the goal.
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Align
Clarify organizational context, goals, boundaries and success measures.
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Assess
Build self-awareness through interviews, reflection and appropriate assessment tools.
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Coach
Work on live leadership priorities through focused one-to-one or team sessions.
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Apply
Test new approaches in the realities of the participant’s role.
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Review
Evaluate progress against agreed goals and define how gains will be sustained.
Agreed at the outset, in writing, by everyone.
Coaching commissioned by an organization has three parties, not two. The contracting conversation puts the sponsor, the participant and the coach in the same room at the start so that nobody is guessing later.
- Why coaching, and what the organization needs from the role.
- The objectives, and how success will be measured.
- What will be shared with the sponsor, and what will not.
- When reviews will happen and who attends them.
- How the engagement closes, and what happens afterwards.
Where a sponsor asks for something outside those boundaries mid-engagement, the answer is to renegotiate it openly with the participant present — not to quietly extend the reporting.
Clear accountability. Protected conversations.
The sponsor and participant agree the objectives and measures of success at the outset. Progress reviews focus on those agreed goals. The content of coaching conversations remains confidential unless the participant explicitly agrees otherwise.
The sponsor can expect
- Clear objectives and success measures.
- Confirmation of engagement and agreed review points.
- Progress discussions within the contracted boundaries.
- A professional close-out process.
The participant can expect
- A confidential coaching relationship.
- Clarity about what will and will not be shared.
- No undisclosed reporting.
- A challenging but psychologically safe space.
The limits of confidentiality
Confidentiality is near-absolute but not unconditional. It would be set aside only where there is a risk of serious harm to the participant or another person, or where disclosure is required by law. Those limits are stated at the start of every engagement rather than discovered later, and wherever possible the participant would be told before any disclosure is made.
Used where it sharpens the work.
Hogan 360° feedback and the MBTI are available within engagements. Neither is applied routinely, and neither is used to select, screen or rank people. Assessment produces data; the coaching is what converts it into a small number of changes worth making.
The MBTI in particular describes preference rather than capability, and is not used to diagnose, select or predict leadership performance.
Between-session application
The change happens between the sessions, not in them. Each session ends with something specific the participant will try in the actual role before the next one — a conversation they have been avoiding, a decision they would normally take themselves, a meeting they run differently.
The next session starts with what happened. That loop is what turns insight into behavior, and it is the part that makes coaching feel like work rather than reflection.
Progress and outcome review
Reviews are scheduled at the outset, normally at the midpoint and at close. They compare progress against the objectives agreed in contracting — not against a general impression of how coaching is going.
Close-out includes a forward development plan: what the participant keeps working on, and what support, if any, the organization has agreed to provide.
What coaching is, and what it is not.
Coaching and medical boundaries
Coaching is a professional development service. It is not medical care, psychotherapy, diagnosis or treatment. Alexandra’s medical experience informs her understanding of healthcare context; she does not act as the participant’s doctor within a coaching engagement.
| Intervention | What it does | When it is the right choice |
|---|---|---|
| Coaching | Works with the leader’s own thinking to change observable behavior in the role. | The person is capable, the challenge is live, and the answer has to be theirs to own. |
| Mentoring | Shares the mentor’s own experience and career judgment. | Someone needs a path already walked, from inside the same profession. |
| Consulting | Diagnoses a problem and recommends a solution. | The organization needs expert content or an answer it does not have. |
| Therapy | Treats psychological distress or mental-health conditions. | The presenting issue is health, not leadership. Coaching is not a substitute. |
| Medical advice | Clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment. | Always with the person’s own physician, never within a coaching engagement. |
Where a coaching conversation surfaces something that belongs in one of the other columns, the right response is a referral, not an extension of scope. Alexandra practices in line with the ICF Core Competencies and Code of Ethics.
What leadership capability does your organization need next?
Share the context, the leaders involved and the change you want to see. Alexandra will respond personally to arrange a confidential introductory discussion.