I have a client who I charge on a per session basis for coaching about a specific project. Rather than have an extended contract as I do for my professional development coaching, she utilizes my services as needed and pays for the time accordingly.
What I have noticed is that instead of meeting every week, she is much more intentional about when we meet. If she hasn’t accomplished a task or received information she needed from others, we don’t meet. If she is on a roll and doesn’t need my assistance, we don’t meet. Consequently, when we do connect there is an agenda of things she wants to discuss and we are able to be productive with our time.
I wonder how meeting attendance would change if people in offices had to pay for every meeting they attended — whether personally or even out of their departmental budget. I believe that people would think twice before they called a meeting or showed up to one. It would mean that meetings would be held only when — and with whom — deemed truly necessary.
While I doubt your office is on the pay-per-session model, you could act as if you were. Do you believe you will receive enough value at your next meeting that you would pay to go? If not, follow the lead of my client and just cancel it. Your time is your most valuable resource and you should be more stingy with it than you are with your money.
