After having an initial meeting with a coach here are 3 questions you should ask yourself as part of the decision-making process as to whether you feel they are the right fit for you.
In my last article, I covered 10 questions that you should ask a coach as part of the initial engagement process. Here are 3 questions that you should ask yourself after any meeting with a coach to make that final decision on whether they are the right fit for you or your organisation.
1: Does the coach take the time to understand my organisational culture?
During your initial discussion has the coach asked enough questions of you to both understand the challenges that you currently face but also to understand your organisation and/or team culture. It will be critical that they understand more about the environment that you operate in to be able to support you in working through the challenges that you have and help identify appropriate actions to move forward.
If the coach fails to understand the culture that you operate in, they are failing to understand the environment that could be influencing some of the challenges that you face.
As John Maxwell says ‘Leaders drive culture and culture drives results’ – a business or executive coach needs to spend some time understanding both the individual they are coaching and the culture within which they operate or create!!!!
2: Out of the coaches I engaged, who best aligns with my needs for this engagement?
I’d suggest that you speak to a minimum of three coaches to gain a good understanding of the different skills and experience that each one can bring. Also, those initial conversations will provide you with an idea of who you best connect with in terms of personality and communication style. For example, you may get the best out of relationships where someone is very direct and creates accountability to achieve goals. You should look for these traits in your coach.
3: Am I choosing a coach that has been adequately vetted?
You should have asked them about their qualifications and training in the meeting that you had with them, but you may wish to do some more research to ensure you are making the right decisions. Here are a few other ways you can vet a coach:
- Ask for references – speak to some of their previous clients to understand how they were helped by the coach and question any doubts you have in your mind
- Look at their website – A good coach is going to have an informative website with plenty of supporting documentation
- Search for articles and blogs they have written – What value and thought leadership are they providing in their niche or in the field of coaching?
- LinkedIn – This day and age social media such as LinkedIn can provide you with great insight into an individual through their activity and posts
Ultimately from any engagement, you are going to get a feeling and sense of connection which is why it’s so important you meet and talk with several coaches to provide you with comparisons and ensure you can pick the best coach for your needs.
If hiring for a new role in your business, you would interview a number of candidates and do due diligence as part of making an offer and it should be no different when hiring a coach. Getting it wrong can be a costly mistake but getting it right can set you up for ongoing success.
If you would like to know more around any of the above or are seeking a coach then feel free to reach out to me at .
Chris Ellis is a qualified Executive Coach who works with executives and senior leaders in fast-growing & scaling SMEs to help them identify the systems, frameworks, and processes they need to put in place to scale for success.
With over 20 year’s senior executive experience in both the UK and Australia, within financial services and fast-growing technology businesses.
www.ellivateconsulting.com focuses on helping businesses in the field of sales operations and sales enablement and can support with training, consulting or coaching for leaders and teams.
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