Coaching as Part of Your Learning Program
What it is, and whether it’s for you
If you’re participating in a Soji Learning Program, you may have the option to add one-on-one coaching to your experience. This post explains what that means in practice and how to know whether it’s right for you right now.
What is Soji coaching?
Coaching is a series of confidential, one-on-one development conversations between you and a Soji coach. You won’t be handed answers or told what to do. It’s time set aside to think properly about what you’re working toward, what’s getting in the way, and what you’ve got that you’re not yet using.
We start with what’s already working. Your strengths, your values, what matters to you. Then we build from there, focusing on where you want to go rather than what went wrong. And because no one works in a vacuum, we pay attention to the context around you too: your relationships, your team, your organisation.
Who is it for?
Coaching works best when something is moving. A new role, a change underway, a challenge you keep circling back to.
It tends to be a good fit if you’re:
- Stepping into a new role or leading a new team
- Working through change or complexity
- Trying to turn something you’ve learned into how you actually work
- Facing a specific challenge, like conflict, feedback, or a tricky stakeholder relationship
- Capable but stretched thin, and wanting clearer focus
- Ready to go deeper than a group program allows
You don’t need to have it figured out before you start. Coaching usually does its best work when things are still a bit unresolved.
What does it actually involve?
Getting clear on what you want. The early sessions are about direction. We explore your strengths, work out what success looks like for you, and set the goals that will shape the work.
Regular one-on-one sessions. Face-to-face or online, whatever suits. Each session starts from where you are right now: what you’re noticing, what you’re working on, what’s in the way.
The bit between sessions. This is where a lot of the value sits. You’ll leave each session with something to think about, try, or act on. What happens next often matters more than the conversation itself.
Checking progress. We look at what’s shifting, and not just the task list. How you’re thinking, how you’re showing up, and what’s changing around you all count.
Most engagements span a set number of sessions over a few months, tailored to your goals and context.
What’s expected of you?
Coaching only works if you work. You’ll get the most from it when you:
- Come with something to focus on, even if it’s half-formed
- Stay open to looking underneath the obvious answer
- Reflect honestly between sessions
- Try things, rather than just talking about them
- Tell your coach what’s working and what isn’t
Coaching asks something of you. That’s what makes it worth doing.
Everything is confidential
What you talk about in coaching stays between you and your coach. Nothing goes back to your organisation, your manager, or anyone else unless you agree to it. Soji coaches work under the ICF Code of Ethics, and we hold confidentiality seriously.
If your organisation is sponsoring your coaching, they may want high-level progress check-ins. What gets shared and how is agreed with you before anything happens.
Why bother? What’s the actual benefit?
A learning program gives you frameworks, perspectives, and people to learn alongside. Coaching gives you something different: time to work out what it all means for you.
People who add coaching to a learning program often find they:
- Cut through the noise and commit to what matters
- Trust their own decisions more
- Shift thinking or habits that have been getting in their way
- Build stronger relationships with the people around them
- Feel more settled and purposeful in their role
The change isn’t usually dramatic. Coaching works gradually, a shift in perspective here, a different conversation there, and over time those shifts add up.
One participant put it this way: “My biggest realisation from coaching was the immeasurable benefit it has on an individual’s wellbeing and how much can be gained. I am forever grateful to Emma for helping me find ‘me’ again.”
Another described it as: “Just the right mix of safe space, leadership depth, and accountability to support you in reaching your goals.”
Is this the right time for you?
Coaching is opt-in, and it isn’t right for everyone at every point. The question worth sitting with is: is there something I’m working through right now that would be easier with a regular, confidential thinking partner?
If the answer is yes, or even a hesitant maybe, it’s worth a conversation.
You can find out more here, or get in touch to talk through whether coaching makes sense for you at this stage of the program.
What next?
Soji Learning and Change works with leaders, teams and organisations across Australia. Emma and Jarrod are ICF-credentialed coaches with IECL Level 2 qualifications, and they bring structure, experience, and genuine care to every engagement.
Photo by Aleksey Cherenkevich on Unsplash
