Selecting an Executive Coach

When executive coaching is successful, you will increase your leadership capability by creating greater self-leadership, team leadership and organizational alignment. All this is possible by selecting the right executive coach.

Finding the right coach is essential to assist you in
reaching your full potential.

Here are the five questions you should ask when choosing your coach:

1. What is your coaching philosophy?

Executive coaches should have a clear philosophy, methodology, and approach. They should be able to clearly explain what their philosophy is, why they have adopted the philosophy, and how the philosophy is effective at increasing leadership effectiveness.

2. What is your leadership and coaching pedigree?

Make sure you look into the leadership pedigree of the executive coach.

First, does the coach have leadership experience? An executive coach that has been certified as an executive coach yet lacks leadership experience is not the best choice. Select a coach that has true leadership experience; one who has faced challenges as a leader – business challenges and people challenges. The depth and breadth of leadership experience will aid in their coaching.

Similarly, make sure that the executive coach actually knows how to coach and is not merely an executive coach because they have been an "executive". This may qualify them as a consultant, but not an executive coach. What qualifies them as an executive coach? Investigate their qualifications and skills as a coach. This is a highly specialized skill-set. There is a vast difference between "advising" and "coaching".

3. What specific experience do you have in coaching executives?

The experience that an executive coach brings to the table is another factor that adds to an executive coach’s value. What industries and levels of leadership have they coached? What specific issues have they addressed in helping executives increase their effectiveness?

4. What can I expect when being coached by you?

The answer to this will reveal how the executive coach approaches coaching. Select a coach who is intentional in driving you forward; one who will deliberately challenge you to grow. If the coach is unstructured in their approach, this will not achieve the results you need to achieve leadership agility.

 5. What sets you apart from other executive coaches?

What is unique about the executive coach? What innovation has the executive coach developed and implemented? What has been the result? How does the coach determine and measure success?

Your executive coach is a critical success factor in your ability to grow as a leader. Take time to interview potential executive coaches. Knowing the answers to these questions will help you select the best coach to help you thrive as a leader.

Pivot At Work understands how critical the right coach is to truly attain breakthrough results. Our coaching matching process ensures that the right coach is aligned with each candidate.