Choosing a Coach in a Saturated Market
It seems that almost everyone knows at least one person who calls themselves a coach. In fact, life coaching alone is the second-fastest growing industry in the United States, and search for ‘coaches’ on LinkedIn brought in over 6.28 million results in 2020, according to Paperbell.
As more people demand coaching, people who want to coach are hopping on the coaching boom, getting their certifications, and becoming life coaches, career coaches, and more.
With so many options, how do you pick a coach?
If you’re looking to hire a coach for yourself or for your employees, you may be feeling like you don’t know what you don’t know. When you start the search for a coach, you’ll want to set clear expectations for yourself, ask the right questions, and be on the lookout for red flags.
Why you're going
If you seek out a doctor, you usually have a specific reason for going, and this helps you narrow down specialty. Finding a coach is similar – you should know whether you are seeking life coaching, career coaching, leadership coaching, or even something outside of coaching altogether. For example, some people search for a coach when a counselor would be better suited to meet their teams, and vice versa. In general, a coach may touch on personal challenges, motivations, and aspirations when coaching you, but will usually recommend you to a counselor if they feel you need therapeutic personal counseling.
You should also determine whether this coach will be dealing with you one-on-one, your employees, your leadership team, your business partner, or another party altogether. This will help you seek out the coach that works with and has experience with similar cases.
What you want to get out of coaching
You should go into coaching knowing what results you want. While this may evolve over the course of the coaching, you should have concrete goals you want to achieve once during and at the conclusion of the coaching. Do you want to switch industries? Treat your employees better? Find a new job? Get promoted? Start your own business? Make more connections at work? Have more work-life balance?
Whatever it is that you want, you should have some sense of it before you seek out a coach to avoid working with someone who won’t be able to get you want you want.
What kind of person you want to work with
Because you will be working with your coach on a regular basis, you should make it a priority to find a coach you think you will get along well with. You must be comfortable enough with your coach to share honestly with them and question them when you disagree with a recommendation they give. You want to look forward to coaching, not dread it, and so you should pick someone you like.
This doesn’t mean you will always agree with your coach or that they’ll tell you everything you want to hear, but it does mean you’ll have a strong relationship with them that edifies you professionally.
You should also make sure their industry specialty, expertise, experience, and certifications match up with why you are getting a coach and what you want to get out of it. It wouldn’t make sense to talk to a coach who works primarily with architects if you’re trying to build culture at your biotech startup. Or maybe it would, depending on your unique needs.
How much you want to spend
You should have a pre-determined budget in mind before you seek out a coach. It’s beneficial to do some research on how much it typically costs to hire a coach and then adjust your budget from there. There are also coaches who may help you at a reduced cost or even for free if they are just starting out or still getting their certifications.
The last thing you want to do is fall in love with a professional who is out of your budget! It’s like trying on a wedding dress you love but can’t afford. Coaching is important, but it shouldn’t break the bank.
Asking the right questions
Before interviewing any potential coaches, you should have a list of questions that help you determine whether they are a fit or not. We’ve outlined some essential ones below, but feel free to customize your list.
How would you describe your coaching style?
What should I expect from our work together (communication, meetings, assessments, goals, results, etc.)?
What are your fees?
Can you share some results you are proud of or success stories?
How many similar cases to mine have you worked with?
What are some of the measurable benefits of coaching that you have helped your clients achieve?
How do you push people out of their comfort zone?
How do you provide actionable feedback and ensure honesty?
How will we be tracking my progress throughout the coaching?
What tools, exercises, methodologies, and assessments do you use in practice?
Will you recommend ideas, roles, solutions, etc. that I have not considered?
Red flags
If you witness any of the following before you hire a coach, you should question whether you want to go forward.
A coach who doesn’t practice what they preach – they promise they will teach you how to be a good leader but then treat their employees poorly, for example.
Outdated advice or reliance on cliches – this likely means they aren’t constantly educating themselves on new methods and research.
They don’t have a system – if they are disorganized running their own business, they will likely be disorganized with your progress.
No or few testimonials – if a coach doesn’t have anyone to vouch for them, they are either just starting out or their customers may not be pleased with them. Either way, they should have some presence or way or verifying their experience, such as a LinkedIn or a website.
The “buy now” button – These coaches want to sell a product, not customize a coaching program for you.
Your emotions are an inconvenience – While a coach won’t help you deal with your deepest emotions, a good coach knows that emotions are an inevitable part of coaching sessions and should be prepared to validate and help you manage your emotions.
They exclusively talk about themselves – A coach shouldn’t insert their own experiences and biases into the conversation.
One-and-done-coaching – If they promise to give you solutions within one session, they are likely oversimplifying your needs.
No credentials – While credentials aren’t everything, coaches should have at least some certifications that show they have been trained. In general, International Coaching Federation (IFC) certifications are regarded as the most standard.
Their proposal lacks depth – If they cannot clearly state your problem and what their plan is to solve it, then you should find someone else.
No coach is perfect, but if you do your research and pay attention, you can come close.
Warmly,
Anne Stamer
President and CEO
Stamer Coaching & Consulting