In this segment of the ICF Competency #3 mini‑series, Susan Britton MCC explains how clear, co‑created agreements between coach and client influence the brain’s stress response and cognitive functioning. She describes how uncertainty triggers excess adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol, while well‑set agreements foster trust, shared power, and a reduction in stress hormones. This shift allows the prefrontal cortex to engage, supporting strategic thinking, memory, decision‑making, and deeper connection. Britton emphasizes that establishing agreements is not a one‑time event; coaches should regularly revisit and reshape agreements mid‑conversation using specific, client‑centered questions. By doing so, coaches satisfy the ICF competency of establishing and maintaining agreements while employing a brain‑friendly approach that enhances client engagement and outcomes.
Chapters
So as we said a minute ago, when you've got uncertainty in place, there's going to be all that excess adrenaline, norepinephrine, cortisol sort of floating through this, through the system. However, when that— those agreements are set well and people are really understanding how we're going to work together, it's a much different perspective. And so all of a sudden, at this point now, you have a level of trust because there's a greater understanding of where we're going, and importantly, a sense of shared power. So what I mean by that shared power is that the coach has power in the conversation because there's a confidence in knowing that the coach approach works, knowing the coaching competencies, knowing how to connect with people, knowing how to really use each and every one of those competencies. So there's my sense of power as the coach, but for the person that I'm coaching, or the person you're coaching or the person you're speaking with, there's a sense of power for them as well. And when there's that greater sense of power, there's not going to be as much cortisol and adrenaline. And the power for them is knowing that I have a say in how this conversation is going to unfold. I know that this is going to be relevant for me. I know this is going to be important for me. I know this is going to be a meaningful conversation for me. And with that, now there's a greater sense of power on the part of the person that you're coaching. And that all comes as a result of having those agreements set. So now the brain can start devoting more resources back to the prefrontal cortex, where it's going to be able to think strategically, remember, decide, understand, do all of the things, plan, do all of the things that the prefrontal cortex is good at doing. And then on top of that, prefrontal cortex also is going to allow us to have greater connection and co-creation together with the client in that process. And it's safe as well to be able to revisit agreements, and that's an important piece of the establishing and maintaining agreements competency. It's not just establishing an agreement at the beginning of the conversation, there's also a revisiting of that agreement midway through. And so if the coach doesn't, or even a leader doesn't, check in on that agenda with questions like, how's this conversation going for you? What's your sense about where you want to take this conversation now? Or let's revisit what you originally were hoping to achieve in our conversation today. How is that unfolding? How is that shaping up? And if you see that something new is coming into the conversation that wasn't originally agreed upon, then having the ability to co-create and reshape that by asking, you know, it sounds like something new is is sort of entering the picture here that's got a lot of energy around it. What would you like to do with that? Where would you like to take the conversation? So that's the reshaping of the agreement, maintaining it, reconnecting and reagreeing on that. So there's a couple of ideas then for you around what happens in the brain when we don't have agreements, what happens in the brain when we do have agreements, and how to satisfy then not only the ICF competency of establishes and maintains agreements, but also do it from a brain-friendly approach.
