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When the coaching has to stop!

At what stage in the coaching process is it appropriate to stop? Who should decide this and what are the indicators that a coach, coachee or sponsor should look out for?

One simple answer is to say when the coachee has achieved their goal and or the goal set for them by their organisation and sponsor. Another basic answer is when the contracted number of coaching sessions has been completed. A business which is funding the coaching support will usually recognise when their goal has been achieved or when they perceive that no more value can be derived from the coaching process. Equally the coachee themselves who is the ultimate customer and subject of the coaching should have a key input to any decision about when the goal has been achieved to their satisfaction. After all it is their job, career and life that we have been talking about and not that of the sponsor. There are times when the sponsor feels that their goal for the coachee has been achieved and that it is time to end the coaching but the coachee still feels the need and value to continue. In this circumstance it is up to them to see if they can persuade someone in their organisation to continue to support and fund this work. I have had occasions when the coachee has felt so strongly that they are getting a key benefit from continuing with the coaching when their client sponsor is not prepared to continue to fund it that they will decide to pay for it themselves.
There are situations where the coachee and client sponsor is one and the same person and then they can decide for themselves how long to continue for. This is analogous to the life coaching work that many people undertake where they are funding this coaching for themselves right from the start. It certainly focuses the mind on getting a value and benefit from this coaching process if a person is paying for it out of their own resources.

There are also situations where as a coach I fell that it is time to stop the coaching even when the coachee is willing to continue. We will look at this aspect and the indicators to consider as the coach in my next article.