Executive and Leadership Coaching

Sponsor Conditions

Thank you for considering coaching for this leader. A sponsor who simply approves the budget is not a sponsor. Sponsorship means setting the conditions in which a leader can develop, and staying committed to that development over time.

This is the first step, before we meet and before the leader begins. It asks you to set the conditions across five dimensions and to commit to them. It takes about ten minutes. What you enter here prepares us for a focused conversation about this leader, and later becomes the reference point we return to at the mid-point and at closure.

The confidentiality boundary. You are a partner in conditions and outcomes, not an observer of the coaching. What is said in session stays in session. You will see the agreed goals, broad themes, and progress against the conditions you set here. You will never see the content of the leader's reflection.

Step 1 of 7

Before We Begin

A few details so I can connect your responses to the right engagement.

Please enter your name.

Please enter your role or title.

Please enter a valid email address.

Please enter the leader's name.

Please select one.

Dimension 1 of 5

Align

Connect this coaching to what matters most for the business.

The condition you are setting. Development that is not tied to a real business priority tends to drift. Your job here is to name the priority this coaching serves.
Be concrete. Describe what would be visibly different.

Please share a short answer.

Tie it to a real business goal, not a general wish for improvement.

Please share a short answer.

Where this could lead if it works. A broader role for this leader, extending the same support to their team or to other leaders, or a result that would justify a larger investment. Naming it now gives us something concrete to build toward and to measure at the mid-point and at closure.
Not yet clearCompletely clear

Please select a rating.

Dimension 2 of 5

Decide

Clarify mandate, scope, and decision rights.

The condition you are setting. A leader cannot practice new behavior inside an unclear mandate. Ambiguity about authority is one of the most common reasons development stalls.

Please share a short answer.

Name anything you know is unclear today, even if you are not sure how to fix it.
Boundaries are the edges of the field, not limits on the leader. Leaders move faster and take smarter risks when they know exactly where the edges are. Vague boundaries produce cautious leaders. Clear ones produce confident leaders. Useful examples: budget or headcount ceilings, regulatory or safety requirements, commitments already made to the board or to clients, decisions that must route back through you, and any areas that are settled and not open for revisiting right now.
These are conditions you are choosing to create for this leader, not a checklist you are being scored against. Select only what you are genuinely prepared to hold. We return to these at the mid-point and at closure, so a short honest list serves the leader far better than a complete one.
By mandate, I mean what you described above: what this leader owns, what they can decide without checking first, and where their authority ends. Rate how clearly that is understood today, both by the leader and by the people working around them. A low rating is useful information, not a criticism of you or the leader. Mandates blur naturally as roles grow. Knowing where it stands simply tells us where to start.
Very unclearCompletely clear

Please select a rating.

Dimension 3 of 5

Engage

Commit presence and protection, not interference.

The condition you are setting. Coaching gets crowded out when the calendar wins. Your visible support also shapes how the leader reads this investment. People perform differently when they are being invested in rather than fixed.

Please share a short answer.

What the leader and those around them should understand about why this is happening.
These are conditions you are choosing to create for this leader, not a checklist you are being scored against. Select only what you are genuinely prepared to hold. Your engagement is often the strongest signal a leader reads about whether this investment in them is real.
Naming this now is more useful than discovering it in month four.
Dimension 4 of 5

Execute

Set the conditions for the work to translate into action.

The condition you are setting. Insight only becomes value when it is practiced on real work. This dimension is about giving the leader somewhere to put what they are learning.
A project, a relationship, a forum, a decision they are about to face.

Please share a short answer.

These are conditions you are choosing to create for this leader, not a checklist you are being scored against. Select only what you are genuinely prepared to hold. Each one you select gives the leader somewhere concrete to put what they are learning.
Dimension 5 of 5

Sustain

Commit to reinforcing change beyond the engagement.

The condition you are setting. The real test of coaching is whether the change holds after it ends. That outcome depends more on you than on me.

Please share a short answer.

These are conditions you are choosing to create for this leader, not a checklist you are being scored against. Select only what you are genuinely prepared to hold. These are the ones that carry the change after our work together ends.
UnlikelyVery likely

Please select a rating.

Review and Commit

These are the conditions you are setting. We will return to them at the mid-point and at closure.

Conditions summary

Your commitment

Sponsorship is a commitment, not an approval. Please confirm before submitting.

Please confirm all three commitments before submitting.

✓

Thank you. Your conditions and commitment are set.

I will review these and reach out to schedule a focused conversation with you about this leader, using what you have set here as our starting point.

From there the leader begins their own onboarding, and the three of us meet in a triad to confirm shared goals and state the confidentiality boundary out loud. Your next touchpoint after that is the mid-point check-in.

© 2026 Burns Leadership Consulting, LLC. Your responses inform the coaching goals and are shared with the leader as part of the alignment conversation.