How to use this guide
This is a working plan for a manager, owner or senior specialist in Davenport who suspects the job is wearing them down. It moves from noticing the problem, to protecting some time, to choosing a coach and setting up the first month. It is non-clinical. If your sleep, mood or health are seriously affected, see your own doctor alongside anything you do here.
Step 1: Write down what your week actually looks like
For one ordinary week, keep a plain log: when you start, when you stop, how many evenings you answer messages, and which meetings leave you drained. Leaders in regional offices often discover the problem is not the hours alone but the switching between local staff and distant decision-makers.
Consider the scale some Davenport employers operate at. Lee Enterprises lists its headquarters at 4600 E 53rd St in Davenport and, on its own site, describes 193 owned and managed brands across 28 states. Rock Island Arsenal, an active U.S. Army installation on a 946-acre island in the Mississippi River, employs more than 6,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel, according to the Army. In settings like these, a single manager may be pulled across many teams, rules and time zones. Name the pulls that apply to you.
Step 2: Pick one boundary to test this week
Before hiring anyone, try one small change. Turn off message alerts after a set hour, decline one recurring meeting, or block a lunch you will not give away. Notice what happens. Coaches find it easier to help when you arrive with a real experiment rather than a general sense of being overwhelmed.
Step 3: Put a reset day on the calendar
Choose a date in the next three weeks and protect it.
- A shorter option: Scott County Park, 1280 acres, sits nine miles north of Davenport off U.S. Highway 61, according to Scott County Conservation. It has nature trails, mountain bike trails, an equestrian area and picnic shelters, and admission is free. Plan on roughly 20 minutes each way by car.
- A longer option: Wildcat Den State Park, near Muscatine, has trails along sandstone bluffs and the Pine Creek Grist Mill, per the Iowa DNR. Allow about 40 minutes each way from central Davenport.
Drive times are approximate and will vary with your starting point and the roads that day. Leave the laptop at home.
Step 4: Decide what you want from a coach
Write two or three sentences. Examples: "I want to stop working every evening." "I need help talking to my director about capacity." "I want a plan for the next busy season." Clear goals keep the first sessions focused and make it easier to tell whether the coaching is useful to you.
Step 5: Contact two or three coaches
Reach out through the directory. In your first message, describe your role in a line or two and share your goals from Step 4. On the call, ask:
- How do you usually structure the first month?
- How often do we meet, and for how long?
- Do you work by video, phone, or in person?
- If my company pays, what does my employer see?
- What are your fees and cancellation terms?
Pay attention to how each coach listens. You are looking for someone who asks good questions, not someone with a ready-made program and big promises.
Step 6: Check the money and the paperwork
If your employer offers a coaching benefit, ask human resources whether you can choose your own coach and how billing works. If you are paying yourself, ask for terms in writing before the first session.
Step 7: Set up the first month
Book four sessions at times you can protect. Bring your week log and your boundary experiment from Steps 1 and 2. Agree on one or two changes to try between sessions and a simple way to note how they went.
Step 8: Review and adjust
After a month, look back at the log you started in Step 1. Are evenings quieter? Did the reset day happen? Is the boundary holding? Decide with the coach whether to continue, change focus, or stop. Then put the next reset day on the calendar, whether it is another walk at Scott County Park or a longer trip out to Wildcat Den.
About this directory
We introduce leaders to independent, non-clinical coaches. We do not check credentials or stand behind any coach. Ask direct questions and choose the person who fits how you work.