Day in the life of a leadership coach

As a leadership/executive coach, my job is to help people lean into their strengths, navigate professional challenges, and notice the mindsets that get in the way of their leadership success. Organizations hire me to work with individuals and teams. A bit of background, for over two decades I worked my way through the ranks to become a Human Resources Executive then pivoted in 2018 to start my own coaching and consulting business after attending Georgetown University’s Executive Coaching program. So what does a day in the life of a leadership coach look like?

7 am

I try to not to use alarms (I despise the jarring effect) so I naturally wake up between 6:45 am - 7:00 am. I start my morning with meditation using Insight Timer App followed by prayers and reading a contemplative text (poetry, Stocism). As a coach, you are constantly taking in people’s challenges and triumphs so it is critical for me to ground myself and connect to my purpose each morning.

After my contemplative practice, I walk the dog for about 20 minutes listening to a podcast. I continue with the contemplative mood and listen to grounding podcasts such as On Being, Humans Outside, Oprah’s Super Soul or Practical Stoicism

8 am

I hit the pavement. I run in my neighborhood. Some days I do a strength workout on my peloton after my run. Other days I might catch a hot yoga class but my day always starts with movement. Full stop. No waffling here. Movement is Life. Breakfast happens immediately after my movement practice.

9:30 am

Showered, dressed and work day begins. Some days I have a coaching call first thing in the morning. Other days, I have a call with my business partner and our small team (admin assistant and project manager) or I do research or put together training materials for an upcoming leadership training we are facilitating. On the days, I am working on a deck, my playlist of jazz/French cafe music plays in the background.

Mid-morning to Lunch

I am in flow with back to back coaching sessions which are held mostly on Zoom. I coach clients in law firms, tech firms, nonprofits, health, and media companies. My clients are very diverse and based in the US and abroad. Most of them identify as women and are mid to senior level executives. I enjoy the rigor of coaching leaders at this stage of their careers. They are most likely doing strategic level work and managing mid to large teams. Prior to jumping on my coaching session, I review brief notes from my last session with the individual. At the beginning of each call, I check on leadership practices they experimented with since our last meeting and inquire about their coaching topic of the day. We dive right in. Each coaching session is different but sample coaching topics are: promotion goals, team dynamics issues, managing polarities, conflict with team members/managers, personal vision, team vision, work/life balance etc. After each call, I do a quick breathing exercise to center myself for the next call so I can be more present and engaged with my next client.

Lunch

Quick homemade lunch. I love a good homemade lunch on the couch. I usually take the dog out for a quick walk, call my besties, see what messages I missed in our family group chat (mostly memes:) or look at news blogs or other favorite online reads to clear my head.

Mid-Day to Dinner

I coach 3-5 people a day and facilitate about 1 to 2 leadership trainings a week. When I facilitate a training, I review the slides with my co-facilitator/business partner. I assign slides, prep any poll activities in the slide deck, work with our graphic designer on any last minute edits and jump on the call early to review tech issues. We conduct trainings on a number of topics such as communicating with impact, executive presence, leading new teams or navigating change. Our trainings usually last 90 minutes, we train from 12 to 200 people at a time. We typically debrief at the end of each training. We discuss what went well and any changes to make for the next training.

Dinner - Late Evening

Most days I make dinner for my family and we sit together at the table. Sometimes, I have late evening coaching calls to accommodate clients on pacific time and international clients.

8 pm - 10 pm

I veg on the couch. Scroll the required 15 minutes on Netflix to settle on a movie or give up. I move on to scrolling on my phone or chatting with my family. I also review my schedule for the following day.

10:30 pm

In bed, listening to an Insight Timer App bedtime meditation to clear my mind or read a few pages of my current read. I swear by one of these to give me a sound night’s sleep.