ABSTRACT
Coach supervisors tend to agree that a high proportion of the problems in coaching relationships occur because of a failure in the contracting process, either between coach and coachee, or between them (jointly or severally) and an organisational sponsor. Especially where a coach is motivated strongly by the need to demonstrate that they can add value by helping the coachee solve a problem, contracting can become a truncated or rote process. We have noticed that coaches, who we would regard as masterly, tend to spend a lot more time in the contracting stage than those with less experience and wisdom.
