For solo coaches, coaching practices, and career centers
The client arrives having already done the thinking. You get a written brief covering their history, motivations, stated goals, and recommended paths. Session one starts from something rather than nothing.
Read a sample briefA composite example. Same structure as a real brief.
What is in the brief
It does not assess the client, diagnose anything, or tell them what to become. It does not touch your method or replace your intake.
Client brief, what it covers
History, motivations, stated goals, and recommended paths. Not a personality label. Not a score. The thinking, already done, in writing.
The cold start
A client books. You send the intake form. It comes back with three lines in the goals box and a job title you could have read on LinkedIn.
So the first hour goes to questions. Where they've been, what they liked, what they're running from. Good questions, and the client could have answered every one of them without you in the room.
By the time you have something to work with, the hour they were most excited about is over.
How it works
Send your client a private link before their first session. No setup on your end beyond that.
A guided process walks them through their history and what they actually want next, including what's working and what isn't. Answered at their own pace, a few minutes at a time if they want. Most people spread it across a couple of sessions rather than sitting down for an hour.
You receive a written summary of their history and direction before session one. You open with clarity instead of a cold start.
Where you fit
Same brief. Three different reasons to want it.
Solo coach
One report, when you need it.
A client books, and you need them to arrive having already done the thinking, so session one starts from a written brief rather than a blank hour.
You're the whole practice. Discovery time is time you can't bill for anything else, and the intake form isn't doing that work for you.
You read the brief the night before. Session one opens on what they actually want next. Your method stays yours.
Practice or boutique firm
Shared across the team.
Work arrives faster than you can take it yourself, and every coach needs a written starting point before they meet, so quality doesn't depend on who got assigned.
Your most experienced coach has instincts your newest one hasn't built yet, and handoffs lose context.
Everyone starts from the same brief. What they do with it in the room is still their method. Credits sit in one account, and adding coaches costs nothing.
Career center or outplacement provider
Scoped with you, including the systems work.
You're accountable for a cohort and a few advisors, and everyone needs to arrive with direction already articulated, so advisor hours go where they're needed.
The ratio doesn't work. Hundreds of people, a few advisors, and no read on who is genuinely stuck. Procurement wants answers about data first.
Everyone works through the same process and your advisors get briefs. Single sign-on, a security review, a signed data processing agreement, and your SIS or LMS connection get scoped with you.
A look inside
What your client works through, and the written brief that lands before session one.
Questions coaches ask
Where this stands
Foundpath doesn't publish results that aren't real. When coaches are willing to put their name to it, their names go here. Until then you have your own read of the first brief.
A composite example, same structure as what lands in your inbox. Talk comes after you've seen it.
Read a sample brief