Step 1: Write down what a normal week looks like
Before you contact anyone, spend a week keeping rough notes. Jot down when you start and stop working, how many evenings you answer messages, which meetings drain you and which ones you leave with energy. You don't need a spreadsheet. A few lines at the end of each day are enough.
The point is to bring something concrete to a first conversation. "I'm exhausted" is true but hard to work with. "I have four standing meetings that could be one, and I answer email until ten most nights" gives a coach somewhere to start.
Step 2: Decide what you want to change
Pick two or three goals you'd like coaching to address. Common ones for senior people include:
- handing off work you've held onto too long;
- setting limits on after-hours contact;
- preparing for a hard conversation with a board, owner or manager;
- planning a role change or a sabbatical;
- rebuilding a routine that includes real rest.
Keep the list short. You can add to it later.
Step 3: Know where coaching stops
Burnout coaching is non-clinical. A coach helps with how you work and recover; they don't assess your health. If you're dealing with something heavier than work strain, see a qualified health professional first, or alongside coaching. If you need help right now, use the crisis line shown on this page.
Step 4: Think about your workplace context
Chattanooga has a concentrated corporate core. Unum Group's corporate headquarters sits downtown, and the company says its teams there span operations, technology, customer experience and finance. If you work in a setting like that, or in a firm that does business with one, you may want a coach who has spent time around large organizations, matrix reporting and quarterly cycles. If you run your own company, look for someone who understands owners who can't hand the problem to anyone else.
Step 5: Build a shortlist
Use the Chattanooga listings in this directory to pick three coaches. Read how each describes the people they work with and the format they offer. Note whether they meet in person, by video, or both.
Step 6: Hold short introductory calls
Ask each coach the same questions so you can compare them fairly:
1. What kind of leaders do you usually work with? 2. How long is a typical engagement, and how often do we meet? 3. What happens between sessions? 4. How do you handle confidentiality, especially if my employer pays? 5. What does it cost, and what's the cancellation policy?
Pay attention to how you feel at the end of each call. You'll be talking with this person about pressure you may not share with colleagues, so comfort matters.
Step 7: Schedule recovery time, not just sessions
Coaching tends to stall if nothing in your calendar changes. Decide on one recovery habit to try in the first month and put it on the calendar like a meeting.
Chattanooga makes this easier than many cities. The National Park Service's Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park includes sites on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and at Orchard Knob, some a short drive from downtown offices. A standing early walk there before work is a simple start.
For a full day or an overnight reset, Cloudland Canyon State Park is on the western edge of Lookout Mountain in Georgia, roughly 35 to 45 minutes away by car. The state park agency lists canyons, cliffs, waterfalls and 64 miles of hiking trails, plus cottages and yurts. All drive times here are approximate and depend on traffic and your route.
Step 8: Review after six sessions
After a handful of meetings, look back at your notes from Step 1. Are your evenings different? Have you handed anything off? Do you feel clearer about the next decision? If not, raise it with your coach directly. A good working relationship can handle that conversation, and if it can't, that tells you something too.
Step 9: Decide what comes next
Some people stop after a set number of sessions; others move to a monthly check-in. Choose based on what you need, not on what you've already paid for.
About this directory
Executive Burnout Pros introduces Chattanooga leaders to independent coaches. We don't deliver coaching and we don't check credentials, so make your own judgment after talking with a few people.