by Henna Inam
Republished from Forbes, March 25, 2017
As an executive coach during my first meeting with potential clients, I have found that most leaders don’t quite know the right questions to ask me. When evaluating fit, many people make the mistake of choosing someone that they feel most comfortable with. While chemistry and ease of connection is absolutely necessary, it is not a sufficient factor in selecting a coach. You want to get results in your coaching process. So, ask the right questions. Use the list of questions below to assess fit.
How do you handle confidentiality? Trust between the leader being coached and the coach is the foundation of a good coaching process. Confidentiality is part of the code of ethics of the profession, but be sure to ask the coach how confidentiality will be handled. This is especially tricky if your coach will be involving stakeholders from your organization in the coaching process. You want to make sure that they discuss with you what they plan to share and get your consent before sharing anything specific.
What credentials do you have? You want to make sure that the coach is certified through a certification body such as the International Coaches Federation (ICF). This certification ensures that your coach has the right skills. Besides their coaching credentials, you may also want to know whether they have experience in your context (e.g. function, level in the hierarchy, industry). In my view, coaching skills are more important than context. Depending on your goals, both skills and context may be important to you.
What’s your coaching experience and success rate with leaders like me? You want to know how long they have been coaching and what kind of success track record have they had with leaders like you. I recommend you share your coaching goals and ask them about their experience in coaching someone with similar goals. You want to listen for confidence but also humility, because no coach can guarantee results. Results depend significantly on your commitment as the leader.
How do you define and measure success in a coaching engagement? This will help you understand how the coach will help you to measure success. In my view, success should be measured in terms of skills and behavior change (e.g. better listening) and the impact of that (e.g. better peer relationships and greater influence in the organization, as demonstrated by getting buy-in to Program X). Success should be assessed not just by the individual being coached but by key stakeholders they want to impact.