Choose the best coach for you

I’ve been a professional coach since 2007 (and in the careers industry since 2001) and here are a few of my personal perspectives on what I, personally, would look for in choosing the right professional coach for me. I share these here in the hope that this might be helpful for you too.

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5 Key Considerations:

1. Professionally recognised coaching credentials

Does the coach hold a current credential with a recognised body such as the ICF International Coaching Federation? While the credential is not sufficient (for me) to guarantee a quality coach, it does indicate the coach’s commitment to their craft and that’s important.

There are thousands of ‘coaches’ out there, including many with no qualifications, who may be brilliant people, but are they really a ‘coach’?

The credential simplifies my search process. At a minimum, I know they will be aware of ethical codes and fundamentals of coaching.

2. Focus areas

I want to choose a coach who focuses on the areas of most interest to me. Some coaches have such a wide broad brand it’s hard to know where their interests lie. I’d like to pick someone with interests/passions/talents/depth/wisdom in the areas I want to work on.

I would also be curious about how the coach sees themselves - how clear are they about their service offering, the clients they support best, or do they say they can coach anyone on anything? If that’s the case, I would not choose them for myself because I prefer to choose a coach who is clear about their special offering.

For example, I specialise in areas of careers, personal development, highly sensitive persons (HSP), vertical development, deep inner work, emotional wellbeing, and self-discovery, and I have a very wide array of tools to support each of these.

3. Coach maturity

This addresses the question of experience, depth, wisdom. David Clutterbuck has considerable research into “Coach Maturity: An Emerging Concept” which means a coach isn’t just adhering to the models and processes taught through their coach training. A mature coach is one with a very wide array of approaches and tools. They are calm, and although they have a huge net of tools, they actually don’t use them much. They experiment, they take a holistic view and they develop a mature relaxed relationship with clients. All of these things create a space in which insight and transformation may more likely occur.

David Clutterbuck’s research found no correlation at all between coaching credentials and quality of coaching. Fascinating! This doesn’t mean that a quality coach won’t have credentials too. I am looking for both.

I would be curious about how they see themselves on a coach maturity journey and what kinds of ways they invest in their own coach development. If they struggle to answer, I probably would not choose that person for me.

4. Psychological safety and honesty

While this is part of ‘coach maturity’, it feels so important to warrant special mention. Quality coaching is about creating space for awareness, reflection, discomfort and insight. If we don’t feel psychologically safe, we won’t open up to ourselves, freely, creatively and honestly explore our thoughts, emotions, realities and possibilities.

When I was a new coach, I chose an experienced PCC credentialed coach (was soon to be an MCC coach), who had been recommended. A good person but not, as it turned out, a good match for me. Price is not a proxy for quality of the match. They were process and tools focused and applied a standard coaching model to our conversations. I didn’t feel sufficiently safe or acknowledged to honestly and openly explore my thinking. Instead, I felt some pressure to get on with it and make tangible progress. At session 10 I decided to pull out, forfeiting the already paid for final two sessions. I take responsibility for not raising my concerns with them, and neither did they with me.

Practical aspects may also be relevant here - such as geographical, professional, and cultural alignment. How well could this coach understand my context? In the example above, this coach I think was probably very aligned to a certain client group (e.g. SME owners) who may respond to better to the approach.

5. Practical and logistical issues

Part of my decision is also based on practical matters, such as session logistics (online/place, time, frequency), fees, flexibility, methods of communication and perhaps their overall stye/approach to such matters.

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Lastly, a note about sales pitches. I have come across coaches who are slick at selling their message but lack authentic substance and coaching maturity. For example, I’ve recently heard a coach pitching how he makes clients uncomfortable because that’s what you need to grow. While I agree in many ways, being uncomfortable, without adequate support, can also lead to feeling diminished and fearful. I personally would prefer to pick a coach who meets my criteria above.

I hope this helps? The bottom line perhaps is to say that not all coaches are equal in terms of quality, nor in terms of effectiveness for you, and it pays to be considered in how you choose.