Coaching Session Template: Build a Four-Week Program

A coaching session template is a reusable outline for a meeting that records its purpose, discussion, practice and next action. You can connect several sessions into a coaching program, with preparation and assignments between meetings. The original templates below show how to organize that work in a Softbook course for a group.

Key takeaways: – Define an observable action for each session before choosing materials. – Give participants preparation, a meeting outline and a follow-up assignment. – Use the original templates as editable starting points for your own teaching. – Set up course enrollment separately from group membership. – Use a group schedule to open lessons on the dates you choose.

What should a coaching session template contain?

A session template needs a goal, a short review of previous work, a practice activity and an agreed next step. Record what the participant will bring back, giving the next meeting something concrete to begin with before either of you starts a new exercise.

For example, a new team leader might want to prepare a clearer request for a colleague. Their session goal could be to write a request containing the task, its expected result and the agreed deadline. Examine that draft together. You can point to the words on the page and discuss what the colleague would need to know before starting the task.

Keep the outline editable. Someone may arrive with a failed attempt that deserves more time than the exercise you prepared, so leave room for that discussion and record what changed. The template should help you resume the work next time.

Store the participant-facing outline with the relevant lesson, keeping your private preparation notes in your own working document so students only see the instructions intended for them. If you are building the course space for the first time, the guide to creating an online course explains how lessons and materials fit together.

How can you use a 45-minute session outline?

Use the first few minutes to agree on today’s task, reserve most of the meeting for practice and finish by choosing a specific follow-up action. The table below is an original editorial template. Its timings are teaching choices you can change, not platform requirements or a tested client outcome.

Copy the column headings into your own document and replace the example with your subject. For a language coach, the output could be a short spoken introduction that the participant records again after discussing the parts a listener found unclear. Keep the output small enough to discuss during the time available.

Before ending, read the agreed action back. “Try delegation” leaves the participant to invent another task after the call. “Rewrite one request for Thursday’s team meeting and note the question your colleague asks” gives both of you a useful starting point for the next session.

Leave a blank field for obstacles. A participant might lack the information needed to set a deadline, for example, and discovering that can change the assignment. Record the missing information and who will check it instead of marking the entire exercise finished.

How do you turn individual sessions into a coaching program?

Build the program around a sequence of practice tasks, with each session using something the participant attempted between meetings. The following four-week group coaching program is a fictional teaching scenario for first-time team leaders in the United States. It is an editable plan, not a report about a Softbook customer.

The coach prepares a lesson for each week with the prompt and assignment, giving participants one place to find the preparation before the meeting and the task afterward. Four weeks fits this example. For a skill that takes longer to practice, leave a wider gap between meetings and use the assignment responses to decide when to introduce the next exercise.

Notice the dependency in week two. If someone could not try the first request, you need an alternative example for the deadline exercise. Prepare that example in advance so they can still take part while you work out what blocked their attempt.

Allow for individual responses when planning a group meeting, since six participants each speaking for five minutes use half an hour before you have introduced an exercise. Choose the group size and meeting length together, then state how much individual feedback the program includes. The guide to building an online tutoring business covers related decisions about teaching formats and organizing paid lessons.

How do you set up the program in Softbook?

Create the course materials, add a group and enroll its members in the course, then configure the lesson schedule for that group. This walkthrough uses the four-week example above. Softbook’s course tools hold the preparation and assignments, while your meeting arrangements remain part of the program you organize.

Softbook is a platform for online schools: courses, sales, CRM, email and Telegram campaigns, and a website builder in one place. You can add unlimited students, and the platform takes no commission on your sales.

1. Prepare the course structure. Create a course for the program and add a lesson for each weekly task. Use modules if you need to group several lessons around one stage. Name lessons after the task. “Write a clear request” works here.
2. Add the participant materials. In the lesson editor, add text with the preparation instructions and your session outline. You can attach your own file or include audio where that helps the exercise. Save the lesson before moving on.
3. Set up an assignment. Enable homework, explain what to submit and decide whether participants may skip it. Configure automatic acceptance separately, leaving it off when you need to review each submission yourself. Automatic acceptance acknowledges a submission according to its settings. It does not provide your coaching judgment.
4. Create a group. Open the student groups section. Give the group a recognizable name, then add the students who will follow this version of the program together. Check their course enrollment separately, because belonging to a group does not itself mean they have access to this course.
5. Prepare the release dates. In schedules, create a fixed-date schedule and select the course and group. Set the opening date and time for the lessons, then save. You can prepare this for an empty group, leaving the schedule switched off.
6. Enroll and activate. Once the students are in the group and enrolled in the course, activate the prepared schedule. Check the first lesson from the student side, including the assignment and any attached file.

A course schedule controls lesson availability. Write the meeting date, time zone and joining instructions separately so nobody mistakes the lesson opening time for an appointment booking. If a participant joins from another US time zone, test the wording with their local time in mind.

The online course platform and course creation tools give you the space for this structure. Check the pricing page for current feature availability when choosing your account setup.

How should you handle work between coaching sessions?

Place the submission task beside the lesson materials and say when you will respond, giving participants instructions they can return to after the meeting without searching a chat history.

In the team-leader example, week one’s assignment asks for the revised request and a brief note about the response it received. The coach can then comment on a specific sentence or ask the participant to clarify the expected result. If you want spoken reflection, Softbook homework settings can allow voice answers. Choose that format because it fits the task.

Publish your feedback arrangement before enrollment, including the days when you plan to review submissions so participants know when to look for your reply. Those are your working hours, not an automated service promise. Check whether the workload fits them by estimating how many submissions you will read and how long a useful reply takes.

For group discussion, offer an anonymized sample that everyone can examine. Keep an individual’s work out of the shared discussion unless you have agreed how it will be used. You can also prepare a separate example when someone has nothing suitable to share.

Record the next action after giving feedback, identifying the sentence to revisit if the participant needs to revise the request before trying it with a colleague. They should be able to open the lesson several days later and understand what you are asking them to do.

What should you check before inviting participants?

Check the entire route from course access to the final assignment, including the group, lesson dates and instructions for each meeting. A useful final review uses a student view and a copy of your program outline side by side.

Start with week one. Can the participant find the preparation without asking you for another link? Read the assignment without your planning notes. Add anything missing before sending invitations.

Then check the later weeks. Compare the release dates with the overall course access period, checking that every lesson opens while participants can still enter the course and complete its assignment. Look at the gap between meetings as well, leaving enough time for the practice task you assigned.

Finally, review the commitments in your program description against what you have built. Count the sessions, check the feedback arrangement and make sure the final task matches the skill you introduced. If you are still choosing the workspace, use the guide to choosing an LMS to compare the functions you need for this particular program.

Build the first lesson with your own session outline, then test it with the group and schedule you intend to use. Try Softbook free for 30 days, no card required.