Step 1: Map the year you are actually working
Start with a calendar, not a feeling. Helena College's report, cited below, notes that the State of Montana is the area's largest employer and that Boeing Montana, Pioneer Aerostructures, Carroll College and the Helena Public Schools are also major employers. Each of those settings has its own peak months. Mark yours: session months and budget deadlines if you are in state government, production milestones if you are in manufacturing, term starts and ends if you lead in education.
Then mark the last time you took more than two days fully away from work. The gap between those marks is a useful starting point for a coach.
Step 2: Write down what is wearing you out
Spend fifteen minutes listing specifics. Too many direct reports? A role that grew without new staff? Constant evening messages? Decisions that stall for weeks? Keep it concrete. This list becomes your first agenda.
Step 3: Decide what you want from coaching
Pick one or two goals for the next three to six months, for example:
- protect two evenings a week from work email
- hand off a standing meeting to a deputy
- prepare for a leadership transition
- decide whether to stay in your current role
Coaching is non-clinical. If you have a health concern, see a qualified health professional separately.
Step 4: Build a short list
Use the listings on this page to find two or three independent coaches who work with Helena leaders. Note whether each meets in person, by video or both, and whether their background matches your sector.
Step 5: Hold short introductory calls
Ask each coach the same questions:
1. How do you structure the first month? 2. How do you protect confidentiality in a small capital where people know each other? 3. What kind of work do you ask for between sessions? 4. What are your fees, and how is billing handled? 5. How do we decide when we are done?
Notice whether you could be candid with this person. That matters more than a polished pitch. If you supervise people who might also be clients, or you sit on a board with the coach, raise it now. A short, direct conversation about overlap at the start is far easier than an awkward one halfway through.
Step 6: Schedule sessions around your peaks
Once you choose a coach, book the first few sessions before your next busy stretch, not in the middle of it. If a legislative session, a production push or the start of a school term is coming, use coaching to plan how you will get through it, then meet again just after it ends.
Step 7: Add a weekly recovery block close to home
Pick one short, repeatable break. Spring Meadow Lake State Park, on the western edge of Helena, is a day-use park open all year from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. according to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, with a 0.8-mile self-guided trail around the lake. A loop before work or at lunch is enough. Put it on your calendar the way you would a meeting.
Step 8: Plan one longer day out each season
Choose a day each season with no laptop. The Forest Service's Hunters Gulch Trailhead, reached by driving about 16 miles east on Highway 280 to York and about 8 more miles north to Nelson, gives access to the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. Expect a drive of roughly 45 minutes or more each way. There is no potable water at the trailhead, only vault toilets, so pack accordingly. Drive times in this guide are approximate and change with weather and road conditions.
Step 9: Review with your coach every few weeks
Bring your Step 2 list back out. What has moved? What hasn't? Adjust your goals, your session pace and your recovery blocks. If your role changes, revisit Step 1. It is normal for the first plan to need rework; a goal that looked simple in a quiet month can feel very different once your busiest season arrives.
Step 10: Decide what comes next
At the end of the engagement, agree with your coach on the habits you will keep, and how you will notice if the old pattern returns.
About this directory
This directory introduces you to independent coaches. It doesn't run coaching programs or check credentials; confirm details directly with each coach.