The context is business; the subject is human.

The first encounter matters

A chemistry session is often the first real encounter between coach and potential client. It is the point at which both people begin to sense whether useful work may be possible: the client experiences something of the coach’s way of listening and coaching presence, while the coach begins to meet the person, their context, their way of thinking and reflections, along with a broad shape of what they may want to explore.

Hold the briefing lightly.

In corporate coaching, the meeting rarely starts from a blank page. I may already have received a CV, an HR briefing, a sponsor’s view or a manager’s concern. That information matters because it illuminates the client’s organisational context. But I need to hold it carefully. The first discipline of the chemistry session is to treat what I know in advance as data, not as the person.

The risk is that the briefing becomes a silent diagnosis before the client has even spoken.  Staying open to being surprised by the human being who arrives in the room is important.

The context is business; the subject is human.

Executive coaching takes place inside business systems: structures, hierarchies, transitions, strategies, stakeholder maps and organisational politics. That context matters. Yet the subject of coaching is always human. Even when the issue sounds functional or technical, it often carries a relational centre: the client’s relationship with themselves, with others or with the wider system.

This distinction matters to me. If the issue were purely technical, the client might need advice, training or consultancy. Coaching becomes powerful when the question has a human centre: what the client is avoiding, what they are assuming, what they find hard to say, or how they relate to others.

Chemistry is not just a vibe.

We often speak about chemistry as a click, a feeling or a vibe. There is truth in that, but it is not enough. Chemistry can also be shaped by familiarity, commonality, status, cultural fluency, professional background, communication style and unconscious bias. I therefore do not want to treat chemistry as purely instinctive.

In the chapter I wrote with Anne Scoular for the second edition of the Financial Times Guide to Business Coaching, we explored the idea of difference and assumption. One simple way I put it is: when coach and client are very similar, there may be a risk of shared bias; when coach and client are very different, there may be a risk of shared assumption. Both positions can distort the coaching unless the coach stays alert and aware of the social dynamics at play.

Structure keeps me honest.

That is why structure helps. Like every other human being, the coach brings bias, preference and reaction into the room. The issue is not whether that happens; it will. The question is whether I notice it quickly enough, and whether I have practices that protect the client and the work from my first impression.

I often use three questions as handrails:

1. Can you tell me your story, focusing on the key things I need to know to be a great coach for you?
2. What is the most powerful question you have ever been asked, and why was it powerful?
3. What do you need to know about me for me to be the most effective coach to you?

They are not a script. They give the conversation enough shape to be fair and consistent, while leaving room for the person and the relationship to emerge.

The client must experience the space.

A chemistry session is not only an exchange of information. It should feel different from the environment the client has come from and the environment they will return to. Ideally, the client experiences a space that is safe enough to be more fully human: to express doubt, frustration, ambition, uncertainty or the things they may not be able to say comfortably at work.

For me, the space needs warmth and edge. Challenge can be present, but it must serve the client’s agenda. The client should feel positively regarded, not judged; held, but not indulged. This cannot simply be announced. It has to be experienced in how the coach listens, responds and stays present.

Further reflections after the fishbowl.

Know yourself well enough to choose. The chemistry session is also a moment for the coach to ask: can I help this person, and am I willing to work with them? Fit is mutual and ethical. Nothing is worse, for coach or client, than dreading the next conversation, so it matters to know your own red lines, preferences and limits.

Allow emotion to happen. You are offering a space where the client can open up about things happening at work that touch emotional issues. Sometimes the relief of sharing may itself bring an emotional response. If that happens in the chemistry meeting, it may mean you have created an environment in which the person feels safe enough. There is no need to rush past it, rescue them from it, or self-disclose in order to match their vulnerability.

Listen beyond the CV. The CV gives useful context, but I am less interested in the client as a CV than in the person in front of me. I am listening for their motivations, fears, relationship to agency, and ability to describe their inner thoughts. These are the things we need to be able to access if we are really going to think through what may be showing up for them as challenges at work.

What makes the engagement more likely to succeed

A good chemistry session begins by creating the conditions for a working alliance: connection, trust, agreement about the purpose of the work, and confidence in the way of working. It needs to create enough clarity and mutual fit for both people to know whether meaningful work can start.

So, for me, a chemistry session is not a sales conversation, nor a full coaching session, nor simply a pleasant introduction. It is a live, relational inquiry into whether this coach, this client, this issue and this moment can become the beginning of useful work.

ABOUT SHELDON DANIEL

A powerful communicator, Sheldon Daniel brings a “different voice” to coaching with his 20 years’ experience of operating with energy multi-national companies on communications, external affairs and reputation management.

A Meyler Campbell Faculty member since 2022, Sheldon is a proud ‘product’ of the Caribbean – with an understanding of corporate UK – bringing a diverse, intellectually curious and multi-disciplinary viewpoint delivered in a flexible style that can be direct, humorous and creative. An interesting fact about Sheldon, was that he only recently was exposed to the Shakespeare – specifically Hamlet – and last year listened to 182 episodes of a podcast that went through the play line by line with commentary.