How to select an Executive Coach

You are contemplating hiring an executive coach for yourself or for your staff members. What should you consider before hiring a coach?

The first consideration is what is your goal?

1) Is it the development of the "whole" person?
2) Is it to develop a specific skill set?
3) Is it to correct specific problems?

Each of these three will have different approaches. The longest, most fulfilling and far reaching is the development of the whole person. This can also result in an on-going coaching relationship. Coaching to develop a specific skill or to work on a problem is typically a time limited approach.

The second consideration is the appropriate match between the coach and the coaching candidate. This will involve analysis of:

1) existing corporate culture,
2) personality complement between coach and candidate,
3) skills of the coach,
4) experience of the coach (by the way, executives in transition sometimes believe that coaching is easy and as a result will experiment on coaching candidates. This is negligence in practice.)
5) and cost of the coaching service (any coach that insists on extended timeframes is thinking of their cashflow and not the coaching candidate).

The selection of a coach is an important decision. Interview, check references, and match the appropriate coach for the appropriate candidate and circumstance.

Copyright 2009 - Jim Lindell