Whether you are political, business or a community leader, being one comes with many responsibilities. To keep up with the challenges that leaders face in this ever-evolving and competitive world, a little hand-holding goes a long way. A leadership coach helps you understand your strength and competencies, empowers and motivates you, and leads you towards your professional goals. Choosing and evaluating the ideal coach depends on debunking some popular myths and following a result-oriented selection process.

Misconceptions and myths

A coach is not hired to provide instant solutions at work or help in your career growth. His/her job is to hone your leadership skills so that you can do justice to your position by taking constructive decisions. Many people mistake a coach for a therapist who can solve all personal problems or correct behavioral issues. Some even treat a coach as just an advisor and nothing more. It is pertinent to note here that a coach’s duty includes helping you identify your professional hurdles and overcoming them and not solving them on your behalf. Other notable trends are treating a coaching engagement as a mere HR exercise, not paying attention during a session or skipping it altogether.

Importance of credentials

Taking example of ICF (International Coaching Federation) which is the most recognized global organization to define coaching industry in the world, there are credentials and standards defined to ensure a rigorous learning journey for professionals pursuing the coaching career. For example ICF has three proficiency levels ACC (Associate Certified Coach), PCC (Professional Certified Coach), MCC (Master Certified Coach), these are called credentials. Following are the learning requirements of each:

ACC is required to complete min 60 hours of ICF approved coach training + 10 hours of Mentoring from ICF coach

+100 hours of coaching practice (75 being paid hours)

PCC is required to complete min 125 hours of ICF approved coach training + 10 hours of Mentoring from ICF coach

+500 hours of coaching practice (450 being paid hours)

MCC is required to complete min 200 hours of ICF approved coach training + 10 hours of Mentoring from ICF coach

+ 2500 hours of coaching practice (2200 being paid hours)

When you are hiring a coach, it is important that Coaches hold credential with competence, one without the other is incomplete.

One can naturally possess the skill for a particular profession, but relevant degrees and credentials add credibility. Credentials are the means that bridge the gap between skills and maximising their effect through proper grooming. Just like how a professional degree from a business school plays a vital role in the making of a leader, a certified coach is equipped to understand the needs of his/her coachee to help them reach their goals.

Making the right choice

The following checklist can help you in identifying the most suitable coach:

• Experience: Be clear what are you hiring the coach for? Coaches are experience in creating non-linear thinking which can get your leaders to think in ways they themselves are not able to. Define what exactly you need the coach for? Do you want the coach to boost business thinking, cognitive thinking, relationship thinking etc. Based on what exactly you would like the leader to work on, hiring the coach with that strength.
• Myth about experience: Since we come from a culture of mentoring, advising and hierarchy, we hold sub- conscious biases about the age and experience. Coaches’ primary role is NOT TO GIVE ADVICE and get leaders to find their answers through difficult questions. The moment you select a coach from similar background and experience, know that you have hired a mentor not the coach because the person knows a lot and it’s humanly hard to hold back if you know what work/help others can.

Look for Coaches who are opposites e.g if you are looking for your leader who has low presence and you are looking at enhancing the presence for them, hire a coach who has a strong presence, if you are looking for your leader to be more assertive, look at the coach who is assertive, if you are looking at building courage, look at a coach who has made several transitions in their own lives. The real-life experiences reveal the character of the coach. For a Coach to start serving others it is important that they have made difficult choices in their own lives.

The competencies and education become highly impactful when blended with real life experiences. However, knowing what exactly you are trying to address is the starting point, a lot of coaching failure happens due to lack of clarity at the sponsor’s side.

Understanding the strengths, limitations and roles at each side can help make a better decision, it’s exactly like match making where the success is not depended on one variable, there are several moving parts.

• Credentials: Knowledge of what he/she is doing and relevant certifications to back it up are vital. This ensures coaches are responsible and committed to the ethical boundaries of the profession. ICF code of ethics clearly creates accountability through their code and training.
• Coaching procedure: A masterful coach doesn’t follow any one particular approach. They have worked through several learning experiences, frameworks and tools that they are agile in their approach and intuitively know what can support my client. Be aware of coaches who position themselves behind definite process steps and frameworks.
• Feedback and evaluation: What others say about us is more important than what we say about ourselves, look for client testimonies to see the kind of results the coach has created for others. Given the nature of coaching, it’s hard to out things and black and white and hence the impact the recipient can articulate is a great way to establish trust in the potential coach.
• Coaching Mindset: It’s the foundation of coaching effectiveness. Knowing the coaching philosophy of the coach can provide insight about their thinking and mindset. Few questions that can be tested there could be “If we give you a poor potential employee, would you like to work with them?” A coaching mindset would like to experiment and not give promises and a reverse may just decline the offer. This is just a small example, if you put some difficult real situations in front of coach, you will get to know the mindset which can help you determine if you would like to go ahead or not. You can also ask them for some of the mistakes they have made in past, a mature and vulnerable coach would be very upfront in admitting it versus trying to look good.

Dwelling deep

• A good listener makes for a great coach. Mastering the art of listening well, following a deep-dive approach to identify the problem areas, and then asking for deeper questions for client to find their answers, make up the foundation of a successful coach. One who motivates the coachee and channelizes his/her potential to achieve professional milestones is worth investing in.
• It is essential to identify why you seek leadership coaching and evaluate the possible outcomes before choosing a coach. If a coaching engagement ends with affirmative changes in the outlook of the employee/s and has a positive impact on the organizational ecosystem, the coach can safely be evaluated as a successful one.

Few points on the side

Several studies have shown that coaches are comprised of introverts and female not necessarily the combination and a lot of coaches are not comfortable positioning themselves confidently as per their competence. For example, they may not come across very forthcoming in giving you a lot of success stories or examples on the point however their clients might tell you a very different story about the impact they create, while hiring coaches it is important to be aware that coaching capabilities and marketing capabilities may not be present in the same person. Majority of the coaches are uncomfortable marketing themselves and that has less to do with their coaching competence.