Step 1: Map one ordinary week
Before you look for a coach, print or screenshot last week's calendar. Mark every meeting you led, every one you merely attended and every hour of focused work. Leaders at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which describes itself as Tennessee's flagship land-grant university, often find that committee time quietly fills the gaps where real work used to happen. People connected to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which says it is home to more than 7,500 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff, may see the same thing with project reviews. Seeing it on paper is the starting point.
Step 2: Name what is wearing you down
Write three short lists: tasks that drain you, tasks that give you energy, and tasks someone else could do. Add a line about sleep, evenings and weekends. Keep it honest and brief. You are not grading yourself; you are giving a future coach something concrete to work with. If a spouse, friend or trusted colleague has commented on your workload, note what they said too; outside observations can be more accurate than your own.
Step 3: Decide what you want from coaching
Pick one or two goals you could describe to a colleague in a sentence. Examples: "Leave the office by six on most days," "Stop answering email on Sundays," or "Hand off budget prep to my deputy by spring." Coaching is non-clinical. It deals with workload, priorities, boundaries and recovery time. If you have concerns about your health, raise them with your own doctor separately.
Step 4: Shortlist and interview coaches
Use the listings to find two or three independent coaches who serve Knoxville. In a first call, ask:
- What does a typical engagement look like, and how long does it last?
- Do you meet by video, in person or both?
- How do you handle confidentiality when an employer is involved?
- What would you want to see from me before our first full session?
Notice whether the coach asks about your actual schedule. Choose the one whose plan sounds realistic for your week rather than ideal for someone else's.
Step 5: Set a meeting rhythm you can protect
Many Knoxville leaders move between campus, the lab in Oak Ridge, client sites and home during the same week. Pick a regular slot that survives travel days, and agree in advance how rescheduling will work. A video session from a quiet room is better than a skipped in-person one.
Step 6: Book a recovery day before you need it
Choose a date in the next six weeks and block it now. Two options within a drive of the city:
House Mountain Park. Knox County's 500-acre park at 9601 Hogskin Road has 5.8 miles of natural trails, according to the county's page, ranging from easy loops to very difficult climbs up to the county's highest point at a 2,100-foot crest. A half-day here is enough for a slow climb and a phone left in the car.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The National Park Service's directions begin on I-40 in Knoxville: take Exit 386B to US-129 South toward Alcoa and Maryville, then continue through Townsend on TN-73 into the park. The Gatlinburg entrance is reached from Exit 407 at Sevierville instead.
Drive times vary with traffic, season and your starting point, so any estimate is approximate. Leave room in the day so the trip itself doesn't become one more deadline.
Step 7: Review after the first month
After four weeks, look back at the calendar you mapped in Step 1. Has anything changed? Ask your coach to review progress with you against the goals from Step 3, and adjust them if they no longer fit. Small, steady changes, such as one protected morning each week, tend to be easier to keep than a big overhaul.
Step 8: Plan for the busy seasons
Every institution has crunch periods: semester starts, fiscal year-end, proposal deadlines, review cycles. Mark yours on the calendar and agree with your coach on what you will protect during those weeks, even if it is only a single walk or an evening off. Decide in advance which meetings you will decline.
A note on this directory
Executive Burnout Pros introduces Knoxville leaders to independent coaches. We don't deliver coaching and we don't check credentials, so compare a few options before you commit.