What’s it like being coached by you (the coach)?

You need to know something of what it will be like, comfortable or challenging, supportive or stretching?

We can develop skills and abilities that serve us well and then something changes, and they don’t work so well. The job of a coach is to help you work out what has changed, and how you need to grow to meet the new challenges and opportunities. This is not a smooth or totally comfortable process, and you will need to build trust with your coach to explore how you can make progress.

What are your experiences, qualifications and approach? How do you use them in coaching?

You may look for someone who has been there, seen it, done it who can share their experience. However, this alone would be mentoring and not coaching.

The work of any coach will be informed by certain core beliefs, which they may well have explored and honed during their qualifications. You will want to know how they impact their style of coaching and how, in turn, this might help you.

Coaching is about something that needs to change. You will want your coach to explain how they will support you in achieving a change, otherwise things may just stay the same.

What is the format of a coaching session?

The coaching relationship is a partnership, led by what you bring to the space. In each session you will have an opportunity to share and direct the focus of the work, whilst the coach will be supporting and challenging you to look at different perspectives and connect to your overall objectives. The coach will be listening for patterns or assumptions that could be getting in your way and may highlight them to you, by asking questions or offering a reflection.

But make no mistake, you will be doing most of the work, much of the talking in the session and the majority of the reflection and application between sessions.

How will you know if the coach is doing a good job?

In each session you can bring new topics, and the coach may remind you of your objectives, but your own reflection and feedback will decide the value for you.

If the coaching is not working, then you should feel you can raise this and discuss it with your coach, as the basis for progress is an open and honest relationship.

How do I know if the coach is developing and stretching themselves to become a better coach?

When you look for a coach, you will also want someone who is exploring and developing themselves, who is striving to be more aware of their own drivers, assumptions and barriers, and challenging their practice through supervision (a process where a coach gets supported and challenged on their coaching by another professional)

Conclusion

The critical point to note about these five questions is that it is more about having the right conversation than finding the right answers. Your discussion will give you an idea about the coach and their style as well as a taster of what it could be like to collaborate with them.

Trust your gut, if you see a connection and find some new or surprising perspectives you are on the right track. You could ask for a taster session.

If you would like to start exploring then get in touch with Madeline for a free 30 min taster session – or peruse the wide range of Executive Coaches on the Trusted Coach Directory.

Madeline Cranfield is a highly experience Executive coach. She has worked internationally for complex organisations across sectors as diverse as finance and engineering, FMCG and technology. She combines strong business skills in strategy implementation with an ability to engage and motivate people to deliver more of their potential utilising a behavioural approach.

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