Our coaching process echoes our customer value philosophy. We value the long-term partnership with our clients, which requires immense detail and convincing results.

Our coaching process is consisted of the following 7 steps:

Step 1: Needs Understanding

Our consultant will meet with the client's HR or the line manager of the coachee to understand the needs in proper depth. This includes:

• The profile of the coachee, her roles and responsibilities, her employment history, her work relationships, her track record, her performance and behavior issues, her strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of her line manager of the coachee and HR, and her 360 feedback results if any.
• The purpose and objectives of the coaching assignment and its broader background.
• How the coachee and her manager want to get out of the coaching engagement, the ethical code, the intensity of the intervention and the coaching process.

Once the needs are defined, we will work with the boss of the coachee and HR to determine the readiness of the coachee. If the coachee is not open to feedback or influence, or fails to demonstrate a strong desire for action-based improvement, the coaching relationship will not be productive no matter how experienced our coach is. We intend not to risk our reputation and client relationship working with a coachee who is deemed NOT ready. We can recommend a process in determining the readiness of the coachee. Our experience is that about 30% of coachees are unteachable, for these leaders, coaching may not be one of the most effective intervention.

Step 2: Recommending and Selection of the Coach

This process involves 2 recommendations:

1.   Based on the expressed needs and the preferences of the client, we will recommend a group of coaches that we believe likely to meet the client expectations.

2.   Based on the MindSpan recommendations, the client will review the profiles of the coaches internally and recommend those who look like the best fit with the coachee.

This process may also involve interviews or phone calls between the client HR and the recommended coaches so that the former can gather more information before making the formal recommendations of coaches to the coachee.

The coachee then is encouraged to have a chemistry meeting with the chosen one or few coaches to formulate the necessary first-impression in selecting the coach. The coachee, not the manager of the coachee or HR, makes the decision which coach to engage.

Step 3: Contracting

With the help of HR, the coachee and coach then discuss the coaching engagement and define the strategic business context in which the coaching relationship exists. Successful coaching relationships require trust, safety, honesty, support, challenge and high-quality feedback. These open dialogues set the stage for a solid coaching process and program.

Once all key parties (client, coachee, coach) are ready to move forward, these contracting objectives including clearly defined processes, roles, responsibilities and expectations are typically formalized into several documents including a Coaching Agreement and Confidentiality Agreement.

Step 4: Assessment and Debriefing

Appropriate business and organizational information is first gathered and reviewed by the coach. Typical information includes personnel file, organizational values and principles, mission and vision, ethical statements, organization charts, annual reports, policies and procedures, internal correspondence, operating plans, product literature, analyst's reports, and public files.

Assessments are frequently employed to determine the strengths and development gaps of the coachee. Among the various assessments our coaches use are Extended DISC, Lominger, Hogan, MBTI, Profile, DISC and EQ-i. However, one of the most popular tool is 360 feedback report which involves in-depth structured interviews custom designed with key stakeholders to specifically target the coachee's business issues.

Our coaches can also leverage the assessments our clients use in their organizations. The coach and coachee will discuss what type of assessments is appropriate given their particular goals and objectives.

Generally assessments will include the coachee's interpersonal, communication and leadership styles, emotional and attitude management and physical comportment.

Following each assessment, the coachee will receive verbal, written and/or audio feedback. A discussion will establish the purpose of each assessment, and when and how feedback is to be delivered before each assessment is conducted.

Step 5: Planning and Active Coaching Phase

Equipped with powerful baseline data from these assessments, the coach and coachee can now diagnose intelligently what needs to be done next - at least in broadest terms - to work towards the establishment of significant goals and an action-results development plan.

With goals established and development plans agreed upon, the coachee and the coach can decide the duration and frequency of the coaching sessions, and how many of them will be by face-to-face meetings and how many by phone calls. Face-to-face meetings are generally more effective than phone calls even though phone calls are also used a lot thanks to the flexibility they provide.

Step 6: Final Evaluation

Towards the end of the coaching program, the coach and the coachee identify suitable evaluation processes (such as 360 feedback interviews with key stakeholders) to provide a final measure of the extent to which the goals have been met and what impact the accomplishment of these goals has had on the coachee and the business or organization. An evaluation of the coach and the program is also conducted.

Formalized feedback is provided to the executive leadership only if this is applicable and was agreed upon during the contracting phase of the coaching program.

Step 7: Follow-on Coaching Stage

In the final session, the coach and coachee discuss next steps. Follow-on coaching is often suitable to further support and reinforce the learning and new behaviors that have been established.

Alternatively, the coach may work with the coachee to create a game plan that the coachee implements on his or her own with the assistance of other business or organizational partners to help ensure permanent positive behavioral change and sustained success.

Below please find the 7-step MindSpan coaching process at a glimpse: