I am regularly asked how to choose a coach. When I see the number of LinkedIn titles that say “coach,” I completely understand that the task is difficult. However, this is certainly the most important part of coaching: finding the coach who suits you. In this article, I share with you how to choose the right coach for you and/or your managers in 4 questions.
What is the difference between Coach and “coach”?
The first selection I invite you to make is to define what you need. Once you know exactly how coaching can be good for you orfor one of your managersyou can make an initial selection by differentiating between coaches who are part of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and others. Until now, the ICF is the only international body regulating the profession and practice of coaching. By choosing a coach among the ICF coaches, you ensure that you are accompanied by a professional who has followed a rigorous course and who has passed the “coach knowledge” exam. For a coach, being a member of the ICF isa guarantee of quality and excellence. Within the ICF, you will not find anyone who got up one morning and decided to proclaim themselves a coach because of their expertise or experience in a field. These people are certainly excellent mentors. However, they are not coaches. Within the ICF, there are three levels:
- ACC (Associate certified coach): these coaches have followed a 60-hour course in a coaching school and have at least 100 hours of coaching practice.
- PCC (Professional certified coach): these coaches have followed a 125-hour course in a coaching school and have at least 500 hours of coaching practice.
- MCC (Master certified coach): these coaches have had the PCC title and have followed a 200-hour course in a coaching school and have at least 2,500 hours of coaching practice.
What is your coaching theme?
Second step in choosing your coach: the subject(s) on which you wish to work. You are not going to choose the same professional if you want to work on being a more positive person than the person who wants to develop their leadership. The coaching process will be the same, of course, however some coaches are more comfortable with certain themes. It is therefore important that you define whether you rather want a life coach, a business coach, an executive coach, a management coach, a career coach. It is also important that you define whether you want this coaching to be individual or whether you want to involve your entire team or a group of colleagues. All these elements will allow you to get closer to the professional perfectly suited to your needs.
What language do you want to be coached in?
In Quebec as elsewhere with the internationalization of businesses, it is very common to work in a language that is not our mother tongue. We feel comfortable every day. However, when it comes to being coached, it is very common to prefer your mother tongue to feel more comfortable. This also allows you to spontaneously use vocabulary with more subtle and precise nuances.
At Iceberg Management, we can offer you coaching in English and French thanks to our native coaches in these two languages.
What are the characteristics that set one coach apart from another?
Each coach comes with their personality, their cultural background and their own set of tools. Knowing this background will help you know if the professional you are looking for is the right one for you.
For example, I worked for more than 10 years in international logistics in managerial positions. I have lived and worked in 7 countries on 3 continents. I am trained in neurobiology. Thanks to this, my clients particularly appreciate understanding what is hidden behind stress that is very present in their daily lives, excessive anger or zeal, a recurring loss of energy or communication issues. Due to my background, I work a lot on themes related to change and adaptation. All these elements constitute differentiating elements in which my clients find themselves, which attracts them. They know that this will impact my coaching techniques.
Let’s meet!
In any case, it is important that you choose a coach with whom you feel comfortable and comfortable communicating. At Iceberg Management, we systematically offer an initial meeting before signing the coaching service offer. This allows the coachee to validate that he is ready to work with the coach. If you would like to know more, I invite you to contact us. We will organize an initial meeting to understand your needs. At the end of this interview we will be able to share with you which coach, what type of coaching and the number of hours that we recommend.
Hope to meet you.
Author
Certified professional coach and trainer
