Selecting a Coach

This week, I am continuing the discussion on coaching. The point about ‘sounding board’ coaching resonated with a number of clients, and this will be our jumping-off point.

The question came up that, if sounding board coaching is useful, then how do you, as a client, select a coach?

The selection of a coach is key. There has to be a fit between the client and coach. The client has to be challenged through questions, and a light must be shed upon them by the coach. There must be an affinity between the two. Trust becomes key for the coaching to work, and in addition, there is risk.

There is always risk in coaching. The risks for the customer (the manager) are:

• Will this coach steer my direct report in the wrong direction?
• Can this coach handle the complexity of our work and issues?
• Will this coach really be able to add value and help achieve our goals?

From the standpoint of the client (the person being coached) the risks are:

• Can I trust this coach to keep confidences?
• Can I connect with this coach?
• Can this coach add value and help me achieve my goals?

So, how do you mitigate the risks? Again, the key is careful coach selection.

Immediate experience is often appealing but, it can be a double-edged sword. If coaching is about change, perhaps there are better choices than being coached by someone directly involved with the business. I say this because the coaching industry is replete with examples of individuals who have hung up their skates in an organization and then come back to act as a coach. While coming from the sector and type of business helps to create a common language, in our experience, it has not been the sole source of success.

In fact, coaches with no experience in a particular field have often successfully coached clients precisely because they haven't come from that field. A coach with extensive experience in an area can often overwhelm the client with "do this" and "don't do this" coaching, which does nothing for the client's development and can stultify growth.

Where the experience is truly handy is the multi-faceted experience of different businesses and industries to provide choices of frameworks and processes. That said, sometimes consultative coaching benefits from a coach with specific experience.

A coach must have the cognitive capacity to keep up with the client. There will be details they cannot possibly know, but they have to be able to listen to what the client says, extrapolate, and take the conversation to a place where the client gets insight. I call this listening around corners – not just able to see a point around a corner but able to listen and connect the dots.

To do this, though, a coach needs tried-and-true frameworks. Their thinking needs to be legitimate, reducing the risks above. For us, at Forrest, we have two science-based approaches and our own coaching philosophy, also based on science.??

Finally, the key to reducing risk in the selection of a coach is reputation. As with hiring any talent, look to the references and reputation of the individual or the coaching firm.

The industry has too many examples of individuals who sell themselves as coaches. Not doing your homework when selecting a coach carries real risk—to the individual client, the organization, and even the organization's reputation.

So, buyer beware. Coaching is a force multiplier but not well thought through, and without a framework, it can be risky.