When a chair or an HR sponsor pays for coaching, they are entitled to know that the work exists. They are not entitled to the contents of the hour. Process, not content. Write that rule before anyone is tempted, not after a board wants “colour.”
I say it in the first meeting, in front of both people if both are in the room. The sponsor gets process: we are meeting, we have an end date, the leader has not disappeared. The leader keeps the substance unless they choose otherwise. In Berlin this is the product, not a mood.
Write it before anyone is tempted
Confidentiality that lives only as a vibe will fail the first time a board wants colour. Put the rule on paper. Name the rare exceptions (harm, crime) so nobody is surprised. Then keep the rule. A rule that cannot be repeated in front of the sponsor is a hope.
This is why names stay in the room. If you need a reference, ask for one privately after we have worked. That is slower. It is also the only version that does not spend the executive’s hour in public.
Sponsors sometimes want a middle path: “just themes, not quotes.” Themes become quotes the first time someone is under pressure. If the executive has not agreed the sentence, it does not travel. A file dressed as a theme is still a file.
| Audience | Entitled to | Not entitled to |
|---|---|---|
| The executive | The hour, the notes they asked for | Nothing the sponsor smuggles in later |
| The sponsor | Process: meetings, end date, that work exists | Content, grades, a file on the leader |
| A later board | What the executive chooses to say | Colour from the coach |
Hanover Executive is not an intervention team. One person, one leader, a written stretch. If a sponsor needs a personnel verdict, that is a management action. Call it that. Do not rent a coach to deliver it.
What I will not do for a sponsor
I will not write a file on the executive. I will not grade them. I will not smuggle performance management into a coaching brief. If that is what is wanted, say so early and I will decline. A verbal no gets rewritten as “he was busy.” A short written decline protects everyone.
The hour is expensive because it is unused by anyone else. That is the product. Dilute it and you are buying something else under a nicer name. I have been the CEO in the room when a well-meant “update” from a coach arrived. It taught me nothing I could use and it taught the leader that the room was not theirs. I will not recreate that from the other chair.
If you are the leader, bring the chair into the first meeting if they are paying. If you are the chair, come prepared to hear that you will not get the file.
Briefing without turning it into a file
A useful sponsor brief names the seat, the stretch, and why the leader asked for the work. It does not attach last year’s review. It does not ask the coach to “have a look at X.” If the executive has not asked, it is not coaching. It may still be legitimate. It is not this door.
When you write from the contact form, include your role and whether a sponsor exists. Do not attach the pack. Confidentiality starts before the first session.