How to choose a good coach?
You’ve made an important decision – you’ve decide to cooperate with a Coach. Now you’re facing a dilemma which one to choose when there are so many offers on the market. This creates a great risk that you will choose an incompetent one or the one who isn’t on the same wavelength, irrelevant to problem or your profession. How to protect self against the wrong choice and which criteria to follow? Below are some tips that you can use when choosing a Coach.
Before you start searching, it is important that you gather as much information about coaching as possible. Familiarize yourself with the different types of Coaching and choose the one that suits your requirements and expectations best. Define the most important goals you want to achieve and what specific results you expect. When you know precisely what your problem is and in what sphere we want to dig, a number of Coaches is automatically reduced to specific types of Coaching and specializations.
Ask about acquired skills!
Once you have decided and thought of the issues twice and carefully, learn about three Coaches at least. During such a weighing-up, study their experience, qualifications, skills, accreditation(s) and references. Here, the number of hours worked as a coach matters a lot, number of clients teh Coach helped and within what time-period. These pieces of information illustrate the Coaches’ expertise. Accreditation formalizes their work and obliges them to act in accordance with defined standards. Such information is provided by three international organizations: ICF – International Coach Federation, ICC – International Coaching Community and IIC – International Institute of Coaching. Certificates issued by these federations assure the quality and professionalism of a Coach. If a Coach is not accredited, it is worth checking if and which course has been completed. Recommendations are often issued especially in the case of Coaching work, so you should ask for them or check if they are posted on a website or social networking site. It is also worth asking about associations, societies they are members of. At times the membership in such a group brings nothing but prestige and gives the fictitious impression that such a person is better than others. The fact is, however, that if someone is a good Coach, the certificate does not matter. Customers, their effects and recommendations determine the professionalism of the Coach. The Coaching market is young and certificates may be a very helpful indicator of initial qualifications at the beginning, but not of the experience.
“Chemistry” in Coaching
Sometimes there is a discussion about the phenomenon of “chemistry” between a Client and a Coach. If, at the first meeting, both of them feel a specific genre of bond towards each other, then it is just perfect for them. The meetings, or to be precise sessions, with another Coaches do not bother you at all, but they can only make you sure that you made the right decision. The Coach’s involvement, his or her veracity in relationships and faith in your abilities are extremely important. Therefore, a two-way match is extremely important aspect. Regardless of what tactics you take, whether you choose a Coach who has a similar approach to the world to yours or the one completely different from yourself – the person who will coach you should suit you in terms of character and temper. Coaching is based on trust, joint search for solutions and openness to feedback. Unlike training, mentoring or consulting, a Coach is not and does not have to be an expert in your field. He is an expert in the Coaching Process. The cooperation between you implies that you both are equal. You, as the person responsible for the effects achieved by you, independently determine the pace of introduced changes and verify your results. You should sense the willingness to work with this one, not the other Coach, from the very beginning.
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