Have you ever wondered if you would benefit from having a coach? Short answer – yes, likely you would. Most individuals who are top performers in their field have benefited from having a professional coach at some point in their lives to provide them guidance and support.
Professionals choose coaches for many reasons, among them, support for:
- A career change
- Expanding responsibilities
- Applying for internal openings
- Preparation to take on a leadership role
- Increasing effectiveness within the organization
Some professionals hire a coach for only a specific project – maybe to help them address a specific initiative at work such as a merger or acquisition or a change management initiative. Some professionals hire coaches for 6 or 9 months because they are in a new role and are having difficulty adjusting to new responsibilities and being effective. You may have multiple coaches over the course of your professional career.
Coaches provide you insight into yourself, enable you to understand how others perceive you, and can help you develop personally and professionally. They prepare you for that next role and increased responsibilities.
A good coach will not tell you what you want to hear all the time; he/she will tell you when you are wrong or off-track. But…a good coach will help you get back on track and guide you to making the best decision you can make in a particular situation.
How do you select a coach?
Look for the following qualities in a coach:
- Someone with experience providing coaching services
- A certified coach with a strong educational background
- Someone with leadership experience in organizations
- A credible coach – someone you trust to support you in your endeavors
- Someone who will challenge you to be the best you can be and push you beyond your comfort zone
- Someone you can relate to – someone who understands the position you are in, the challenges you face, and can provide you guidance on your journey
Interview any potential coaches. Notice I used the plural – coaches. Don’t just choose the first coach you find or who is recommended to you. Just because a coach worked well for someone you know doesn’t mean that same coach is suitable for you. Interview 2 – 3 potential coaches to find someone that you are comfortable with and who supports what you are trying to do. If you meet with a potential coach and you just don’t feel comfortable around them – they make you feel uneasy – select another. It is irrelevant how much someone else has liked that coach or how good their references are – you must be comfortable with them. If you are not comfortable with your coach, you are setting yourself, and the relationship, up for failure.
A coach should be able to provide you with accurate information and a perspective that is useful to you and unique to the coach. You don’t want to hear from the coach what you can read in any leadership journal or book. You are looking for that coach’s expertise to provide you information to make the best decision for you. You also don’t want a coach who tells you what to do – you need to decide what to do and how to do it, with the coach’s advice and insight.
Ask a potential coach the following questions:
- What kind of individuals have you coached in the past and why did they hire you as their coach?
- What is the average duration of your coaching relationships with your clients?
- What is your professional and educational background?
- Why do you think you are a good coach?
- How would you start your coaching relationship with me?
- What value or benefit do you get from coaching me?
- What benefit or value should I expect from this coaching relationship?
Don’t wait for someone to hire a coach for you. Take the bull by the horns. Hire a coach yourself to support your personal and professional goals. You need to be responsible for your success – do not rely on someone else to take on that responsibility.
Please provide your experience with coaches in the Comments field below. Thanks!
