What You Need to Know About Hiring an Executive Coach

So, you want to unlock your potential as a leader or develop the capabilities of the leaders in your organization. How do you know if you need a consultant or a coach? How do you go about finding a professional who’s the right fit? And what can you expect from the process of working with an executive coach?

Today on the podcast, we discuss the value in working with a certified coach and the transformative nature of the certification process, explaining why a coach can only take you as deep as they’re willing to go themselves. We also make the distinction between a coach and a consultant and offer insight into the reasons why leaders might hire an executive coach and the ways coaching can benefit the organization as a whole.

We go on to walk you through the coaching process, describing who’s involved and what makes an individual coachable. Listen in for ideas around what questions to ask prospective coaches and learn how to choose an ICF-accredited executive coach who’s the right fit for you and your circumstances!

LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST

Themes explored in this week’s episode

• The value in working with a certified coach accredited by the ICF and the transformative nature of the robust certification process
• The distinction between coaches and consultants in terms of who asks the questions
• The top reasons why leaders hire coaches
• How a good executive coach addresses the whole person
• How executive coaching benefits an organization with regard to productivity, profitability and retention of leaders
• How a coach can facilitate conflict resolution among team members
• What makes an individual coachable
• Who’s involved in the coaching process
• What a coach can and cannot share with stakeholders who represent the organization
• The steps involved in the coaching process and the role of the coaching action plan in defining measurable goals
• How to select a coach who’s the right fit for you and your circumstances + what questions to ask in the interview process

Resources from this episode

• Read Bright Arrow’s No Fail Guide to Selecting an Executive Coach
• Read the Harvard Business Review research on executive coaching
• Read Team Awesome’s Coaching: A Key Ingredient to the Modern Leadership Model
• Learn more about ICF-accredited coaching programs
• Understand how coaching, consulting and therapy differ with the bicycle comparison
• Get familiar with the Energy Leadership Index