How to find a good coach

Coaching supports change. You might want to bring your career to the next level or you are in need of a decision. Whenever you aspire change, coaching is a helpful tool to support you in the journey. The techniques used will always bring in different perspectives while you keep your freedom of choice without feeling judged.

You can think of a coaching session as a think tank where you can throw your ideas on a white canvas and by looking at it from all angles, get new insight and inspiration.

The role of the coach is to adjust the light, turn the picture and move your head around by asking thought-provoking questions. Once you have experienced it, you will love to be challenged in your thinking.

But how to actually find that coach?

[1] Take a certified coach

While the term ‘coach’ is unprotected, there are several coaching bodies around the world who certify coaches. They offer different levels and you can trust the quality that comes with these certificates.

The biggest coaching federation is ICF – international coaching federation – offering accredited, ACC, PCC and MCC levels. You can either search the web or social media, e.g. LinkedIn, for these accreditations or you directly check out the webpage of ICF.

Keep in mind that a higher education, will costs you a bit more. The invest is worthwhile as you get a person who is trained in staying non-judgmental and who can listen on a deeper level.

[2] Take a free consultation talk

Meet with your coach – in person or virtually – and let him/her explain what his/her understanding of coaching is. While talking to a person, you will know whether you will get along.

Usually, coaches bring in their personality while leaving out their opinion within the coaching process. Therefore you need to find someone whose personality you like.

[3] Take someone you don’t know – and potentially never meet again

During your coaching journey, you will need to speak your mind, assumptions and self-believes. Some of them might be so intimidating to yourself that you have a hard time admitting to yourself that you actually think that way. Therefore you need a coach who can listen to you, challenge you and call out assumptions even if you might feel shame, insecurity or fear. This is part of getting out of your comfort zone – and if you are at that point, you will love to know that you don’t need to meet that person again.

Although this might sound drastic, keep it in your mind when choosing a coach. Nevertheless, from experience I know that the result of the coaching process is so cool that you actually want to celebrate with your coach!

[4] Have an understanding what you want

Before starting your coaching journey, think about what will actually help you. Basically, there are two major roads you can take: one topic over a longer period of time, e.g. 4-6 months, or a new topic every session.

This determination depends on where you are in your life. If you have one major issue you want to work on, it probably makes sense to focus on that topic for several sessions and even let your coach know that you want to keep the focus there. This will help your coach to keep you focussed during the session when you tend to shift topics quickly.

If you want to keep the journey more open, you can address one topic on session 1 and another topic in session 2. Usually, these topics will connect over time anyways.

If you have no idea, how to start, let your coach know. Usually, he/she has an intro technique with which you dig deep quickly.

If you are looking for a coach, feel free to check my webpage, too. https://mgmtcnsltng.org/home/