4 Things You Should Look for in a Coach

Coaching is an excellent form of professional development and is particularly useful during times of significant change, but your results from coaching can vary significantly based on the coach and expectations agreed to at the beginning of your journey. Here are a few simple things to keep in mind as you consider the best coach for your needs.

#1: The Coach's Professional Development

Any great coach will tell you two things - no matter their diversity of the types of coaching they do:

1. They seek coaching themselves and they routinely set and achieve professional goals.

2. They are continuously educating themselves on best practices in coaching through study, coaching supervision and other forms of coaching-specific professional development.

And if they are really great, they do this not just to get/keep an accreditation, but because they want to continue to improve, no matter how successful they might be.

#2: The Coach's Experience

There are three aspects of this that are important:

1. How long have they been coaching - not facilitating or training, but coaching 1-to-1?

2. What types of positions have they held and/or industries have they worked in that make them a great fit for your needs?

3. What type of clients do they provide the best results for - C-suite, frontline, team leaders, emerging leaders - and why?

I am fortunate to know many coaches who are also great facilitators, but I also know some trainers assume that "coach" is a part of the same skills and I my experience has been that this is not necessarily the case.

The big thing here is to be selective and not afraid to ask for more options because of your specific needs in a coach.

#3: What's in the Coach's Toolkit?

Again, this is a multi-faceted aspect:

1. What diagnostic tools are they certified to use? I personally am not a fan of "one size fits all", so I recommend you look for someone who has a bit of a "spread" between tools for emotional intelligence, personality and/or thinking preferences and strengths and/or skills.

2. What models or baseline requirements do they have? Again, my preference is for goal-focused models specific to where the client is at and that the coaching is focused on achieving a specific goal for its duration.

3. What's in their coaching kitbag? The types of things to look for here are specific tools they use such as vision cards, values cards, links to great resources and other coaching-specific tools.

#4: Look for Coaches That Are Focused on the Right "Fit"

There are some exceptions to this rule - coaching within a specific program, using a specific tool preferred by your organisation- but all things considered, you should be able to have a short (15 - 30 minutes) chat with the coach for a small fee in order to see if you are in alignment and a good fit. "Fit" is a very subjective thing, but it can include:

1. Does the coach believe they can assist you in the specific area you want to achieve an outcome?

2. Are there any barriers to building and maintaining rapport? I once had a prospective coachee express a belief about gender diversity that I did not share, and I knew I would not be a good fit for him as it conflicted with my core values.

3. Do I feel that we are a pace/energy match?

Summary

Coaching can provide an incredible boost for your career, so it is well worth your time to spend a small bit of time to get the best coach for your needs.