Reading Real Food Fake Food by Larry Olmsted I thought that we all eat and buy food every day and hope that we pay for the right quality of it. I don't try to compare coaching with food, but the poor quality of both can hurt people. Although, there is no 100% way to protect people from fakery, I think that I can share with my readers some tips that may help them choose the right coach.
When you are looking for a coach who specializes in your area of need, perhaps the most important thing is to find someone you feel absolutely comfortable with. Remember that you are going to work closely with your coach, have a deep conversation, so right match is a key success factor in coaching process. I recommend to meet a prospective coach prior to starting a coaching engagement to check whether you have “good chemistry” with the coach.
Additionally to “good chemistry”, what are other criteria you can be informed about?
1. Clarity of the coaching process, coaching engagement’s structure, and price. Your coach should be clear and transparent about the process and terms. Don’t hesitate to ask your prospective coach as many questions about coaching and the coach as you want to.
2. Competencies. Check a prospective coach’s education, background, experience, a certification in coaching from a recognized institution, ask about supervision, mentoring, and other ways the coach uses to support and develop their coaching skill set.
3. Ability to challenge. Look for a coach who is ready to stretch you, encourage and evoke transformation providing you with a safe environment to experiment with new ways of thinking, try out new behaviors and approaches, as well as practice new skills.
4. Honesty. Look for a coach who is not afraid to be honest with you, even when this is “the hard truth”. Your coach should ask insightful, provocative questions supporting and challenging you.
5. Leveraging diversity. Your coach should be able to tailor her or his approach, goal setting, plans and experiments to you, based on your thinking, learning styles, personality traits and values, as well as cultural factors.
6. Adherence to high standards of ethical conduct. Feel free to ask what kind of ethical standards a coach adheres to.
I hope these simple tips will help you to find the right coach for you. Please feel free to ask me any questions if you feel that I can be helpful. Good luck on your journey!
*The article originally published on January 11, 2020 on LinkedIn.