How to Choose an Executive Coach

These days everyone seems to be adding ‘Executive Coaching’ to their portfolio of skills and services. When you’re asked to find an executive coach or a selection of executive coaches to work with your senior people, how do you go about making the best possible selection?

Here we look at the key points to consider when finding executive coaches:

Account Management

This is very important when you are looking for executive coaches to work with a team. Look for a coaching organisation which has processes in place for managing your business. On smaller coaching assignments it is possible to work with coaches who work independently, but when you are organising coaching for more than three to four people, it can become difficult and time-consuming to have to manually track who has taken their coaching sessions and when they are due to have their next one. Unless looking after the coaching process is part of your full-time role, it’s better to work with a company that can do all of this for you. Also, think about what would happen if the coaching isn’t going as well as you hoped it would. A well organised coaching company should be able to tell you who to speak to and how any issues will be resolved.

Credibility

If you are going to ‘sell’ the idea of coaching within your organisation, you need to be sure that the coaches you put in front of your senior have the credibility factor. Are they used to coaching at an executive level? Do they understand the language that will be used? Are the people having the coaching likely to take them seriously? In the case of particularly feisty coachees, can the coach be assertive and manage the relationship in a respectful way without either party losing face? You can usually tell this just from speaking to one of the directors/partners in the coaching company and trusting your gut.

Cultural Fit

The people you choose as executive coaches should be able to quickly understand the culture of your organisation and adapt their style accordingly.

Relevant experience

This is an interesting one because of course you would expect executive coaches to have experience, but what makes experience relevant to the individuals being coached? Despite what you might think, it is not absolutely vital for the coach to have held the same position as the person being coached. What is important however is that the coach has experience of the kinds of challenges that the coachee is facing and knows how to handle them. Ideally, look for coaches who have themselves held senior positions within organisations and can demonstrate success with similar clients.

References

A professional executive coach should be more than happy to put you in touch with other clients who you can contact for a reference. When you follow up on the reference find out about the aims and objectives of the coaching programme they were engaged in – did they achieve the outcomes they were looking for? What was it like to be coached by them?

Chemistry or 'Fit'

The chemistry between the executive coach and their coachee needs to be right to have an effective coaching relationship. Ask the coaching company whether they are willing to meet or talk with the individuals being coached to make sure it’s right before the programme starts.

With the right partners, the Executive Coaching process can be an incredibly effective way of developing the skills of your senior people.

Copyright Hannah McNamara HRM Coaching Ltd

Hannah McNamara is the Managing Director of HRM Coaching Ltd an Executive Coaching company based in London, UK with clients all over the world. They have a team of Executive Coaches available to choose from and will manage the coaching programme for you from start to finish. for more information call +44 20 7939 9910 or visit www.hrmcoaching.com.