In this guide, I want to outline what you can expect from one on one coaching sessions.
This is based not only on my years of experience as a life coach, but also my studies of other coaching models.
Throughout this guide, please remember that most good life coaches will be flexible enough to alter the structure of their coaching sessions based on a client’s needs.
Let’s dive right into it.
#1 What Does A Life Coach Help You With?
A life coach can be a fantastic investment when you’re feeling stuck in life.
That’s a broad term, so let me elaborate.
Perhaps you’re feeling lost, as if you don’t know what steps to take in life to make you happy.
Maybe you know exactly what steps you’d like to take, but feel unable to take them.
A life coach can be a great sounding board for expressing these problems. They can also help when you’re struggling with your career, family or personal relationships.
If you’re overwhelmed with stress, being unorganised or feelings of not being enough, a coach may also prove of great use.
It’s important to mention that a life coach will not tell you what to do, or even necessarily offer advice.
Instead, they will help you to understand your own thought patterns and guide you towards your own conclusions for the best steps to take. They will also recommend exercises and processes that make it easy for you to reach your goals.
Often, people are limited only by their own psychology. A life coach can help to make people aware of their own self-limitations and develop a new perspective.
With a new mindset and fresh positive attitude towards the future, a life coaching client is much better prepared to propel themselves into an exciting and fulfilling future.
#2 What Makes A Good Coaching Session Agenda?
A good life coaching agenda will be based entirely on what the client needs.
Any coach worth their salt will take the time to understand who the client is at their core, what they want and why.
From there, they will have the knowledge to structure a coaching session to move the clients towards these goals as soon as possible.
In many cases, a client may not know exactly what their goals for the future are, in which case a coaching session could be structured around exploring what they might be.
Ultimately, it should be the client who decides what is best to focus on in a coaching session. However, the coach will be able to guide them towards deciding this for themselves.
Coaching Session Topics
There are various topics, which are commonly covered in life coaching sessions.
These include:
- career;
- leadership;
- empowerment;
- sex, dating and relationships;
- overcoming trauma.
A lot of coaches will decide to specialise and focus on a singular topic. By developing an expertise in a specific area of coaching, they allow themselves to stand out from the competition.
If a potential client was only looking for guidance on becoming a stronger leader, a ‘leadership coach’ may appeal more than a generic life coach.
On the other hand, if they were feeling generally lost, they may prefer to discuss a broad range of topics with a non-specialist.
#3 How Do You Structure A Coaching Session?
Here is an example of how a typical one-on-one coaching session may be structured.
- Evaluating the challenge. What challenge would be most effective for the client to tackle in this meeting?
- Goal-setting. What is the desired goal for this meeting?
- Exploration. How does the client currently feel about the challenge?
- A Deeper Psychological Dive. Why does the client feel this way? Could there be a better way of thinking about it?
- Suggestions. The coach and the client will work together to craft a new strategy for overcoming the challenge.
- Evaluation. Were the goals of the session met? Is the client aware of the changes they will attempt to implement moving forward?
This is a basic structure and will differ depending on the coach and the needs of the client. Nevertheless, it has been found to be extremely effective at helping a client to move towards a more satisfying and fulfilling future.
#4 How Long Should A Coaching Session Be?
A typical life coaching session lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.
It is widely agreed that a shorter session wouldn’t give the coach enough time to adequately explore the client’s inner thought patterns.
A longer session may give the client too much to focus on at one time. This can be overwhelming and often leads to the client failing to adequately focus on anything.
#5 One On One Coaching Benefits
The core benefits of one-on-one coaching sessions are internal.
You can expect to gain an improved self-knowledge.
By understanding your unconscious processes more clearly, you put yourself in a better position to change them.
This commonly leads to higher levels of self-esteem, fulfillment and success in all areas of life.
#6 Cost Of A Coaching Session
A life coach is a self-employed individual. As such, they are free to set their own rates and will do so according to public demand for their services.
A study by Noomii – the world’s largest directory of coaches – suggests that you can expect to pay anywhere between $75 and $200 an hour for life coaching sessions.
You’re likely to pay a fee towards the lower end of this scale for coaching sessions from an inexperienced coach.
Many coaches will lower their hourly rates if you book several coaching sessions in bulk. Virtual coaching or email coaching may often come at a cheaper rate than in-person coaching.
#7 One On One vs Group Sessions
The main advantage of one-on-one coaching sessions is that they are more time-efficient. All of the time you spend within these sessions will be put to good use. You’ll focus on your challenges and no-one else’s. Most likely, you’ll build a closer relationship with your coach too.
The main advantage of group coaching sessions is that they are cheaper for the individual. However, clients will have to put up with the coach’s time being divided among multiple people. They will also not be able to access the privacy and confidentiality available in one-on-one coaching sessions.
Group sessions are commonplace among coaching for companies, although traditional life coaching is widely agreed to be more effective when you invest in a one-on-one meeting.
#8 One On One Coaching – Virtual vs In Person
When you consider the quality of modern communications technology, it is difficult to offer a tangible advantage of in-person coaching compared to virtual coaching.
Nevertheless, it is still offered because many clients still want to work face-to-face with a life coach. Many of them value a more personal experience.
A key advantage of virtual coaching is that you have a wider choice of coaches to choose from. In fact, you can potentially choose to work with a coach from any country in the world (as long as they agree to provide virtual coaching).
Another advantage of virtual coaching is saved time, as you don’t have to travel to meet your coach.
A final advantage to mention is that it’s often easier to find cheaper virtual coaching services. Affordable online counselling is easier to find, because many coaches offering virtual sessions don’t have to worry about office overheads.
Also, the increased competition in the virtual coaching market will force some coaches to lower their prices.
#9 Which Certification Should A Coach Have?
Life coaching is an unregulated industry. This means it’s possible for unqualified individuals to set up a coaching company.
It’s up to the client to screen for a coach’s credentials, otherwise they may end up paying for help from someone who has no idea how to provide a professional coaching experience.
A life coaching certification is proof that an individual has studied the best coaching practices.
It’s highly recommended to work with a coach who has gained a certification accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). After all, the ICF is widely regarded as the best company for accrediting coach training courses.
If you’re an aspiring life coach who needs help choosing a training course, you may find it useful to check out my list of the 6 best ICF-accredited life coaching certifications.
One On One Coaching Questions
Hopefully this guide provided an adequate preview of how one-on-one coaching works.
If you still have questions about the life coaching experience, feel free to ask them in the comments.
It would be great to hear from you.
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