Executives do not fail coaching because they lack a model. They fail it because the hour keeps moving. An open-ended weekly slot looks serious in January and becomes a guilt object by March. A plan you cannot keep is a wish with a calendar invite.
I would rather meet every two to four weeks, write the end date down, and review whether the original brief still holds. That cadence is boring on purpose. In Berlin we treat boredom as a feature. Drama in the diary is not commitment.
Missed sessions are data
If the leader cancels twice in a row, the useful question is not “how do we make up the time?” It is “is this still the right door?” Sometimes the work should pause. Sometimes it should end. Pretending that a new framework will fix a diary that cannot hold an hour is theatre.
Making up time with a longer call usually rewards the cancellation. The leader arrives tired, the coach fills the extra minutes, and both people leave with the feeling that something was recovered. Nothing was recovered. The original cadence was the product. Stretching one session to cover two is how a series becomes a drop-in clinic.
I have spent enough years carrying a P&L to know that energy is finite. Do not buy more conversations than the calendar can protect, and do not sell a cadence the executive cannot honour even with goodwill.
| Cadence | What it usually means | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly, open-ended | Looks committed | Becomes a guilt object by spring |
| Every two to four weeks, dated | Can actually be kept | Requires an end date in writing |
| “When we need it” | No series | Ad hoc advice |
| Double-length make-up calls | Reward for cancellation | The original plan is already dead |
If the calendar cannot hold the hour, wait. Waiting is cheaper than a year of polite rescheduling.
Write the stretch down
Before a series starts I want three lines in writing: the change the leader named, the meeting rhythm, and the date we will stop or renew. Fees are agreed privately. If you cannot keep the calendar, do not call it a plan.
Those three lines are not a slide. They are the contract in miniature. When the brief changes, we do not quietly extend. We write a new brief or we stop. A review point on the calendar is how both people stay honest. Without it, loyalty fills the gap, and loyalty is a poor stand-in for a checkable sentence.
Models multiply. Dates do not. Put the date where both of you can see it.
What I will not do to “save” a series
I will not move the hour four times in a month and call that flexibility. I will not add a “quick call” between sessions because the board pack arrived late. I will not keep a ghost slot in the diary after two cancellations. Those moves protect the appearance of a practice, not the work.
Enquire with the role, the cadence you can keep, and when you think the stretch should stop.