Who this guide is for
You lead people in Rochester or elsewhere in Olmsted County, and work has started to crowd out everything else. Maybe you are inside the county's largest employer, maybe you run a school or a tech team, maybe you own a small company. This guide lays out a sequence you can follow over a few weeks to find a coach and make room for recovery.
Step 1: Write down where your hours go
For one ordinary week, note when you start, when you stop, and what fills the gaps. Mark meetings you lead, meetings you attend, after-hours messages, and time you spend covering for open positions. Don't judge it yet; just collect it. This record will be the most useful thing you bring to a first coaching conversation.
Step 2: Name the pressures that come from Rochester itself
Some load is specific to working here. The county board chair's remarks, cited below, say over 42,000 people are in Olmsted County because they work for one employer, while the next largest, Rochester Public Schools, IBM and Olmsted County, each employ under 3,000. Ask yourself:
- Is my schedule set by a much larger organization's calendar?
- Am I short-staffed because the same candidates are being hired elsewhere in town?
- Does my business depend on one or two big clients?
Write a sentence for each that applies. These are the patterns a coach can help you work with.
Step 3: Decide what you want from coaching
Pick one or two outcomes you would recognize in your own week, such as leaving by a set time three days out of five, handing off a recurring task, or having one evening without email. Keep them small and observable. Coaching is about work habits and decisions; if you are concerned about your health, talk to your own doctor too.
Step 4: Shortlist two or three coaches
Use the listings on this site. Read how each coach describes their approach and the kinds of leaders they work with. Favor people who explain how sessions run over people who make broad promises.
Step 5: Interview them
Ask each the same questions:
- How many sessions do you usually plan, and how often do they meet?
- Can we meet by video, in person in Rochester, or outdoors?
- How do you work around on-call weeks or board cycles?
- What do I leave each session with?
- How do we decide when to stop?
Take notes so you can compare later. Choose the coach whose questions are sharpest about your situation.
It is fine to say no after a first call. A short introductory conversation is a chance for both of you to see whether the fit is right, and a coach who understands that will not pressure you to sign up on the spot. If none of your first three feel right, go back to the listings and try again before settling.
Step 6: Put rest on the calendar before you need it
Recovery time works better scheduled than hoped for. Two county parks make this practical:
- Chester Woods Park, on the headwaters of Bear Creek near Eyota, has about 16 miles of hiking trails, a swimming beach and picnic areas. It is roughly a 20-minute drive east of central Rochester.
- Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo in Byron offers trails, camping and Zumbro River access, about a 20-minute drive west.
These drive times are approximate and depend on where you leave from and the weather. Block a half day each month for one of them and guard it like a meeting you cannot move.
Step 7: Review after six weeks
Look back at the week you logged in Step 1 and log another one. Compare them. Bring both to your coach and decide together what to keep, what to drop, and whether to continue.
Step 8: Share what you learn with your team
If a change helped you, consider whether it could help the people who report to you. Fewer late messages from you often means fewer from them. You might also talk with your own manager or board about what you have changed and why, so that the new boundaries are understood rather than quietly worked around.
About this directory
We list independent coaches so you can compare them. We do not run programs and we do not check coaches' credentials. The choice of coach, and of how you spend your recovery time, is yours.