Before investing in a coach, ask these questions.
Introduction
Choosing a coach is a difficult thing to do. There are thousands to choose from, and many look credible from their website. Typically, the only way you’ll be able to decide whether someone is for you is through recommendation or through having a conversation. This guide helps you to ask the right questions once you make contact.
What questions should I ask before choosing a coach?
These questions will help you distinguish between professional coaches effectively, allowing you to understand how they structure their work and their coaching style. The questions are summarised below and expanded upon below:
What is a coach, and what do they do?
What are the benefits of coaching in your view?
How long have you been a coach?
What do you specialize in and why?
Do you have any clients that I can talk to?
What are your qualifications, and what did that involve?
Which coaching bodies are you accredited with?
What makes you different?
Who supervises your practice?
How would you describe your coaching style?
Do you work face-to-face or via the Internet?
How do you keep my information confidential?
Do you follow one model or adapt based on the problem you’re solving or the person you’re working with?
How many sessions would you recommend and why?
What packages do you offer?
What is your fee, and how is it structured?
What happens if I feel I no longer need coaching?
Do you offer a free taster session, and if not, why not?
How will I know if coaching is working?
What questions do you have for me?
What is a coach, and what do they do?
There are a few reasons for asking this question. First, it tests your prospective coach’s ability to explain things clearly in a way that makes sense. It also tests whether you plan to contract with the right professional for the right reason. You may need therapy, mental health support, mentoring or medical intervention.
What are the benefits of coaching in your view?
Coaching is not cheap, and you want a return on your investment. Does your prospective coach understand this, and can they explain why spending money on them is the right thing right now?
How long have you been a coach?
Every coach finds their first client; you may be the first or the thousandth. Depending on why you want to use a coach, you may be comfortable with someone you like who is starting out, or you may want someone who has seen many people and your problems play out in many ways. Beware the coach who is evasive in answering.
What do you specialize in and why?
Not every coach is a specialist; not every problem needs one. For example, if you are struggling with motivating yourself to get fit, you may want a fitness coach rather than a relationship coach. However, if you are about to become ‘empty nesters’ when your children leave home, it may be that a generalist is precisely the right person.
Do you have any clients that I can talk to?
Depending on the nature of the coach’s work, this may not be possible, but in many cases, your coach should be able to put you in touch with a happy client. You can learn more about the coach’s style and how the process feels from the coachee’s point of view.
What are your qualifications, and what did that involve?
This is an insightful question. In my professional life, I come across ‘qualification tourists’ who spend lots of time and money collecting qualifications but very little time developing the experience and practical skills that make them the professionals they seek to be.
You’re looking for someone who has spent more than a few months learning about coaching, and you need to convince yourself that the level of training they have received is appropriate. Equally, you want to avoid someone who seems to have spent more time in the classroom than in the coaching room.
Find what is a balance of continuous learning and development with constant practice.
Which coaching bodies are you credentialed with?
The coaching industry is slowly moving towards a system of regulation. It’s currently self-regulated through commercial bodies, but it’s still possible to call yourself a coach without training or oversight.
Credentialing is a “learning + practice + assessment” system where coaches submit themselves to one of the bodies, assessing whether the coach is fit to practice.
Therefore, ask about their credentials and the process they went through to get them to convince yourself that they are genuine.
What makes you different?
What’s important to you? Do you want the World’s only practitioner of transcendental meditation of the earlobe, or do you want an expert in well-researched and effective tools supported by many practitioners? Either answer is OK — it’s your problem and your choice.
You should develop a view of how specialized you want your coach to be and of how quirky is too quirky.
Who supervises your practice?
Coaching supervision is not the same as line management. All good coaches use supervision as a way of discussing cases, approaches and dilemmas. Far from being “gossiping” about you, it’s a great way to be comfortable that the coach takes their role seriously and checks in with other professionals so they keep their practice sharp.
How would you describe your coaching style?
Before parting with money, you want to know what you’re buying. That’s fair and responsible. Many different styles are available to you, and it’s not my role to recommend one over the other. My style is 1-2-3, but other coaches prefer working slowly and methodically over many months.
Listen to how your prospective coach explains how they approach problems. Is it quite scientific? Is it simple to understand? Is it practical or theoretical? Does it make bold (and incorrect) claims about the “seven different learning styles” or the “ten modes of feeling”?
Remember that if the style explanation doesn’t make sense, seems overly complicated, or is unscientific, then now is the time to back out.
Do you work face-to-face or via the Internet?
The correct answer here is the answer you feel most comfortable with. I use videoconferencing and face-to-face, and both can be successful. Given the choice, I’m happiest and most effective with a whiteboard and marker, but that’s not always possible. If you ask my coachees, they love to draw their solutions and tweak them in real time, but that’s possible these days via videoconferencing.
How do you keep my information confidential?
This question is a simple test of how organized your coach is. Remember that most coaches work independently, so they will not have expensive IT teams backing their data up and keeping it secure. However, at a minimum, they need to have a secure place to record their notes — whether that’s Apple’s Notes or a coaching CRM system — to ensure that you’re confident that your journey is confidential.
Do you follow one model or adapt based on the problem you’re solving or the person you’re working with?
The obvious answer to this question is to adapt, but that has challenges. If your prospective coach works from a book of a hundred tools and they’re just trying things randomly until something sticks, that won’t work.
Equally, the one-trick coach may not have the skills to deal with your unique problem.
So, you’re looking for a credible coach who follows a method they are very comfortable with and offers different tools that work seamlessly together within that method. That way, you blend flexibility with expertise. Many coaches call this an integrative approach.
My go-to method is cognitive behavioural coaching, which complements my psychology degree well. I can explain the method and the underlying science behind the method (if you don’t get bored).
How many sessions would you recommend and why?
There are two schools of thought here. A minimalist approach might be a single session or a maximum of three, which is my preference. However, I also have long-term coachees who return frequently with new problems.
Beware of the coach recommending multiples of x sessions, with a discount if you buy ten or more. Without working through your problem, nobody knows what the correct number is. Minimalism is good, as it respects the coachee’s time and investment, but so is ‘let’s get to the root of the problem first’.
What packages do you offer?
Packages benefit the coach more than the coachee, so this is a trick question. The honest answer should be “none” unless you follow a structured problem-solving approach.
An example of a package that works is a health assessment, which includes an initial discussion, homework, analysis, a decision on what to work on, and a follow-up appointment. These three sessions, plus analysis and homework, are paid for as a single package, and although I am not qualified to provide it, I have seen it work well.
What is your fee, and how is it structured?
Fees is the most awkward question you’ll ask. A successful coach will charge a fee similar to that of a financial advisor — £75 — £300 per hour (or equivalent in your currency). This fee is to be expected and reflects both their expertise and the fact that there is work to do both before and after your session.
Structuring of the fee may be 50% before the session, 50% after, 100% before, and so on. Be sure that you are clear on the expectations to avoid any embarrassment.
What happens if I feel I no longer need coaching?
There is only one correct answer to this question. You stop. Any coach that holds you to ten sessions or whatever they’re selling is acting unethically. The beautiful thing about coaching is that the slightest insight can have a considerable impact, which means it’s time to get on with your life. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s regular enough that you need to know how to deal with that.
Often, I will have a short series of engagements and then a gap of months whilst the coachee implements their decisions. That’s a healthy approach that respects everyone’s time and energy. Sometimes, the issues that come up mean that coaching is no longer appropriate because:
Mental health issues need to be dealt with professionally
The thing(s) holding you back are deeply rooted in your past, and therapy is more appropriate
You need specialist guidance (e.g. a lawyer) to deal with the problem, not a coach
There are health issues that require intervention
Your coach needs to put you first, even if that means they lose income in doing so, and you need to trust them to do that. If you’re not convinced, don’t proceed.
Do you offer a free taster session, and if not, why not?
You might expect me to answer that it’s an essential part of contracting, but as you can solve many problems in a single session, that’s not a good business model for the coach.
So, expect a short information-gathering session for both parties to test the chemistry, approach, and whether to work together.
How will I know if coaching is working?
There are several possibilities your prospective coach should suggest:
The original problem has gone away — often to be replaced by either the real problem or a new one
You’re feeling happier, more confident or better prepared to face the World
You start to ask the questions you know your coach will ask before they ask them
Of course, there are many more signs, but in my experience, these signs are excellent indicators of progress.
What questions do you have for me?
The prospective coach should jump at the opportunity to ask, “Why coaching?” “Why now?” and “What are you looking to achieve?”.
If your questions don’t spark curiosity in the coach, then you won’t get many questions at this point, and it’s a good sign that this relationship isn’t for either of you. For a good coaching relationship, both parties must invest in it.
If you’re going to bare your soul, make sure you do it with someone you can trust and who will guide you through the decisions or understanding you need to achieve. These questions will tell you a lot about a prospective coach, but the most important objective is to get you thinking. The right coach will do that.
Good luck finding a coach that works for you. Please let me know if you use this list or discover new questions.
Last updated: July 2024
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