Welcome to Your
Coaching Journey
This onboarding experience is designed to orient you, establish the foundation of our work together, and help you arrive at your first session clear, focused, and ready. Work through each section at your own pace.
Welcome. I am glad you are here, and I do not say that as a formality. The decision to engage a coach takes something. It requires an honest acknowledgment that you want more — more clarity, more effectiveness, more alignment between who you are and how you lead. That kind of honesty is not common. It is where good work begins.
My name is Dan Burns. I have spent more than 20 years in leadership roles at companies like 3M, Cray Research, and IDEXX Laboratories. I know what it feels like to carry a team, manage up, and navigate the tension between performance and the people who make performance possible. For the past 15 years I have been doing this work as a faculty member, organizational development consultant, and now as an executive coach. I have worked with hundreds of leaders across industries, and I bring all of that experience into every coaching relationship I enter.
I am a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation, and I hold the CPCC credential through the Co-Active Training Institute. I take those credentials seriously. They represent a commitment to doing this work with rigor, ethics, and genuine care for the people I serve.
But here is what matters more than my resume: I believe this work is a calling. Every leader I coach is someone whose team will be affected by whether this work lands. That is not abstract to me. It is personal.
So here is my commitment to you. I will show up fully prepared, genuinely curious, and completely in your corner. I will challenge you when challenge is what you need, and I will hold space when that is what serves you better. I will not tell you what to do. But I will help you think more clearly, act with more intention, and lead in a way that creates real results for the people around you.
This onboarding process takes about 30 to 40 minutes to complete. Each section builds on the last. When you are finished, you will have done more preparation for this coaching engagement than most leaders do — and that preparation will pay off starting in our very first session.
Let us get started.
Burns Leadership Consulting
Here is what you can expect from the structure and rhythm of our coaching engagement. Knowing how this works before we begin will help you get more out of every session.
What Coaching Sessions Look Like
Each session begins with a check-in: what is most present for you, and what do you want to focus on today. The agenda belongs to you. I do not come with a curriculum or a plan. I come prepared to listen, ask, challenge, and support wherever you are.
We will move between reflection and action. Some sessions feel like breakthroughs. Others feel more like steady forward movement. Both are valuable. The work compounds over time when you show up consistently and follow through on what you commit to between sessions.
I will occasionally offer observations, share frameworks, or suggest resources when they serve what you are working on. But my primary role is to help you think more clearly and act more deliberately. The insight is yours. The work is yours. I am here to make both more effective.
What Is Not Coaching
Coaching is not consulting. I will not tell you what decisions to make, though I will help you make better ones. It is not mentoring, where I pass down my own experience as the answer. It is not therapy, and it does not address clinical mental health needs. If something comes up that falls outside the scope of coaching, I will say so and help you find the right resource.
A coaching relationship works best when both parties are clear on how we will work together. The agreements below are not legal fine print. They are the operating principles that create the conditions for this work to be effective.
Confidentiality
- Everything you share in our coaching sessions is held in strict confidence.
- I will not share your information with any third party — including a sponsor or employer — without your explicit consent and prior agreement on what will be shared.
- The only exceptions are situations involving imminent risk of harm, which are governed by ethical and legal obligations.
Roles and Responsibilities
- You are the expert on your own life and work. I honor that fully.
- My role is to ask, listen, reflect, and challenge — not to direct or advise unless you specifically ask for input.
- Your role is to bring honesty, follow through on commitments, and do the work between sessions.
- We both share responsibility for the quality of this relationship. If something is not working, say so. I will do the same.
Coaching vs. Other Disciplines
- Coaching is distinct from therapy, counseling, consulting, and mentoring.
- If issues arise that are better addressed by another professional, I will say so directly and support you in finding the right resource.
- This coaching relationship does not create a therapeutic relationship or any form of clinical care.
ICF Ethical Standards
- This engagement is conducted in accordance with the ICF Code of Ethics.
- I hold the ICF PCC credential and am bound by its standards of professional conduct.
- You have the right to raise any ethical concern directly with me or with the ICF.
Your Commitment
- Coaching produces results in proportion to the energy you bring to it.
- Showing up on time, being honest, and following through on what you commit to between sessions are the behaviors that matter most.
- If your circumstances change or your goals shift, bring it to a session. We will adapt.
Rate yourself honestly in each domain below. Use a scale of 1 to 10. This is not a test. It is a starting point — a snapshot of how you see yourself as a leader right now. We will use this in our first session to orient where to focus.
1 = significant gap or struggle 10 = consistently strong
Direction
How clearly do you articulate where your team or organization is headed and why it matters?
Alignment
How well do people on your team understand priorities, roles, and how their work connects to what matters most?
Engagement
How well do you build trust, develop people, and create conditions where others can do their best work?
Execution
How well does your team translate plans into results? How effectively do you hold people accountable?
Sustainability
How well do you maintain your own energy, adapt to change, and build a team culture that lasts?
Values are not aspirations. They are the operating principles that actually drive your behavior — often below the level of conscious awareness. Most leadership challenges, when examined closely, involve a values conflict: between what matters to you and what the role demands, between your values and someone else's, or between two things you both hold as important.
Select up to five values that feel most essential to who you are as a leader. Then answer the reflection questions below.
Select up to 5 values
These questions form the foundation of your coaching profile. Your responses will be sent directly to Dan before your first session and kept strictly confidential. Take your time. The depth you bring here directly shapes the quality of the work ahead.
Where You Are Right Now
How Your Coach Can Best Support You
Coaching Goals
Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3 (optional)
Your Commitment
Schedule Your First Session
Use the link below to select a time that works for you. Sessions are 60 minutes via video or phone. Please schedule your first session within the next two weeks.
Schedule Your First Session →
Quick Reference
Email: danielburns@burnsleadership.com — I respond within 24 business hours.
Cancellations: Please give at least 24 hours notice. Late cancellations may count as a session used.
Between sessions: You can reach out anytime with a brief reflection, question, or update. I welcome that.
If something urgent comes up: Do not wait for our next session. Send an email and we will find time.
You do not need to prepare a presentation or an agenda. What matters is that you have thought intentionally about what is most present for you. These three questions will carry you into a strong first session. Take your time with them.
Onboarding Complete
Your responses have been sent to Dan Burns and saved to your coaching record. You will hear from Dan before your first session. The work ahead starts now — and you have already done something most leaders never do. You showed up fully before the first conversation even began.