Executive coach discovery form for serious engagements

What is an executive coach discovery form?

An executive coach discovery form is a structured intake that covers role, responsibilities, sponsor expectations, and desired outcomes for a coaching engagement.

Pain points

• Stepping into an engagement without clarity on sponsor goals
• Unclear boundaries between coaching and performance management
• Leaders who are not fully bought into the process

How Intakly helps

• Clarify expectations from both the leader and the organization
• Surface potential conflicts before the work begins
• Decide whether the engagement is a good fit for your practice

Who this is for

• Executive Coaches
• Leadership Development Firms
• HR Business Partners

FAQ

• Can I share parts of this form with sponsors? You can agree on which sections are private and which can be summarized for sponsors.
• Does this work for team or group executive coaching? Yes. You can adapt it to assess multiple leaders at once while keeping each intake confidential.
• Is this form too formal for smaller companies? You can simplify language and shorten sections while keeping the same basic structure.

Details

Setting the tone for executive coaching

This use case is for executive coaches who want a serious, structured entry point into new engagements. The discovery form makes expectations explicit and gives leaders a chance to describe their own view of the situation before formal coaching begins.

Often, you hear one version of the story from a sponsor and a different version from the leader. A good discovery form lets both share their perspective in writing, without the time pressure of a meeting.

How AI Intake Forms compares perspectives

AI compares what the leader says with stated organizational goals, when those are provided. It pulls out where there is alignment and where there might be tension. It also highlights risks such as unrealistic timelines or unclear decision rights around promotions and scope.

You see where language matches and where it diverges, which is often where the real work will sit.

Sample prompts for leaders and sponsors

• For leaders: What are the three situations at work that currently drain most of your energy?
• For leaders: When you imagine yourself eighteen months from now, what would you like to be doing differently?
• For sponsors: Why is this coaching engagement important for the business right now?
• For sponsors: What would make you confident that this engagement was successful?

These prompts move beyond generic “strengths and weaknesses” questions and into concrete behavior and expectations.

Key benefits for high-stakes engagements

• Qualify engagements before committing your time and reputation
• Align expectations between sponsors and coachees
• Identify sensitive topics and constraints early
• Decide where coaching ends and performance management begins

How the discovery process can run

1. A company reaches out about executive coaching for one or more leaders.
2. You send this discovery form to the leader and, optionally, a shorter version to the sponsor.
3. Both parties share their view of the goals and current challenges.
4. AI prepares a comparison that shows where they agree and where they do not.
5. You use that insight to propose a coaching plan or, if needed, decline the engagement.

Call to action

Treat executive coaching like the strategic engagement it is. Use an executive coach discovery form in Intakly that protects your time and sets every engagement up with clear, honest expectations.