Choosing your Life Coach: some suggestions

 

Things to Consider:

1. Figure out what you would like to get out of your Life Coaching experience

It is very difficult to know when you have arrived if you have
no idea where you are going. Most coaches will spend part of the
first meeting assisting you to sort out your priorities and your
goals so that both of you are on the same page when it comes to
knowing what you would like to get out of the coaching
experience. For some people, they have specific problem areas.
Others, just want to be able to fine tune their abilities to
handle their world around them on a weekly basis. Both types of
agendas are legitimate as long as there is a clear understanding
about them.

Another good reason for being clear about your needs for Life
Coaching is to insure that your Life Coach has the ability to
address them. It is very O.K. to ask questions about background
and experience in the areas of your concerns. I will answer all
questions and will tell you if it might be better to find
someone with more expertise for your particular needs, if I
think that will better serve you.

 

2. Make sure that the Life Coach is someone who is in the
business of coaching.

There are a lot of well meaning people who have taken a course
and are supplementing their day job with some coaching on the
side. When choosing a Life Coach, I would look for someone who
is dedicated to the field, who is accessable and who has a track
record of providing coaching services.

3. Look for membership in the International Coaching Federation.

If your coach is a member of the International Coaching
Federation (ICF) it will give you an indication that at the
least he subscribes to their code of ethics. To me, this code is
one of the organizations finest achievements. It puts, up front,
a high standard that clients can, and should, hold their coaches
to.

4. Look at the kind to training that the coach has received.

Most coaches who have joined the field in the last eight years
or so have usually been through IFC sanctioned courses. Some of
the old timers in the field, like me, have gotten their skills
on-the-job (we had to invent the wheel that they are teaching
now) and through related trainings. For me, I am also a
certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner and
certified Hypnotherapist. In fact, I was using the term "Life
Coach" to describe my private practice way back in the 1980s.

5. What part of the coaching field is he most comfortable
working in?

It's real good to ask exactly what kinds of coaching your
potential coach has been doing. If he is mainly experienced in
coaching high powered executives and you are looking for a
personal Life Coach, you probably are going to need to look
elsewhere.

6. Personally, who is he?

It is quite legitimate to ask about the non-coaching parts of
the coach's life and how he views at the universe around him.
The Life Coaching process is a very intimate one that requires a
bit of trust, especially on your part. It is important to know
where he is coming from on issues that are of importance to you.
Some examples: if you are gay, it would probably be cruciall to
know if he was comfortable with that; if you are an
ultra-conservative person, you would not be very comfortable
with a very progressive Life Coach.

7. Is he a winner in his own life?

How successful was your prospective coach in his own life, in
the areas in which you are going to need his assistance? If you
need someone who can assist you to overcome stage fright, your
coach ought not to have the same problem himself. That would be
a great example of the blind leading the blind and you can get
that kind of assistance without paying for it.

8. Is he forthcoming about his own life and life experiences?

By now, I hope you have gotten the idea that you need to know a
lot about this person who you are going to invite (hire) to join
you in your quest for a more successful and joyous life.
Everything about his past is relevent. I would have problems
trusting anyone who is hesitant to or refuses to talk about his
life before and since becoming a Life Coach.

9. Does he ask thought provoking questions?

If I was looking for a Life Coach, I would want to find someone
who would be questioning my assumptions and views and ways of
doing things. If all those things were functioning exquisitly, I
probably would not be in the market for a Life Coach. Hiring a
yes man might flatter your ego, but it certainly won't assist
you to grow in your life. Most people look at their experience
of life through emotional filters that are colored by their past
experiences. What a good Life Coach will do is to assist you to
challenge those assumptions (the filters) that you live by and
that get in the way of your growth.

10. If there are any testimonials?

Check out any testimonials he might have and ask if there are
any former or current clients who might be willing to talk about
his coaching. I would caution that this is a bonus suggestion.
Most people who engage a coach do not wish that world to know
that they are doing so. I have many success stories that can't
be told because my clients prefer to be very private about their
lives. I have often described myself as successful people's
secret weapon.

11. Don't put too much weight on his fees.

I had a friend who used to say that his competitors knew the
value of their services and products and priced them
accordingly. The cheapest rate is not always the best value.
Life Coaches are not all of equal skill and competence,
therefore comparing their rates needs to have much less weight
in your deliberations on who to hire than who can assist you the
best. Sure, you need to be looking for Life Coaches that are in
your price range. It is my experience that in the long run,
competence trumps low price because competence will probably get
you to your goals more effectively and quicker and that is a
much better investment for your life.

12. What is your gut level feeling about him and his being your
Life Coach?

As it states in the IFC Philosphy of Coaching, I believe that
the client is the expert in his/her life and work and I believe
that every client is creative, resourceful and whole. It matters
not how many credentials, skills, levels of experience, past
background, or lofty levels of success your potential Life Coach
has. In my way of thinking, the bottom line in your decision
making has to be, "Is this Life Coach a person that I feel (and
this is all about your feelings) that I can rely on, trust, and
am very comfortable talking to?" This means that if you have
either good or bad feelings about the suitability of the
potential coach, you are probably right! Trust those feelings.