How to hire a coach?
The coach! That one objective person you need in your life! No bullshit or nonsense!
I discussed in the past about the difference between a coach and a consultant. Now that we have more clarity around what both roles should be helping you with and guiding you towards, we can dive into the topic of how to hire one.
If you established that a COACH is what you need, the first thing you need to do is clarity the reason for which you need one. It might be you need to get out of a bad relationship or make a career more, or simply feel better about yourself.
Whichever it is, your personal reason will define which coach you should be looking for. While most coaches can guide you irrespective of your agenda, some coaches will specialise in a particular topic and prefer to coach people only from that niche. Also, based on your location, you might want a coach that offers face-to-face sessions or online ones.
My suggestion is to have at least 3-4 sample sessions with different coaches as we are all different with different training and using various techniques. Also you need to feel a connection with your coach as you this would be your go-to person for a while so being on the same page is very important.
Secondly, ideally, you will want to go with someone who if professionally trained. There are so many people out there that brand themselves as coaches, and that’s great. Unfortunately, the coaching industry is not regulated so anyone can call themselves a coach. However, going through a certified programme will ensure they have been monitored by a certified mentor coach, they might be accredited by the ICF (International Coach Federation) or have completed an accredited course such the ones through CTA (Coach Training Alliance) and most importantly they know professional techniques to coach you. Remember you are looking for a session with a COACH not a coffee with a FRIEND!
Once you meet you prospective coach, ask them about their coaching technique. They might use the simple coaching model or various other ones such as the journaling system, NLP or meditation.
Ask how much it will cost you and what you would be getting for that money. Coaching sessions are not cheap but they are worth every penny! Prices will vary from £50/hour to £200/hour. Some coaches will offer you 45 min sessions, others 50 min ones. Some will offer one session every week and others will do two sessions a month.
Some coaches will be flexible. In my coaching programme, I personally have a set price for the package of 8 sessions, but I am also flexible as to how the client receives these sessions, based on their own needs and schedule. It is our role, the coaches, to allow that flexibility and adjust to the client’s programme.
Some coaches will not be accessible between sessions and others will allow you one email between sessions. I offer, outside of sessions support by text and email availability. So this would be something to keep in mind in case you are someone who needs to be held accountable.
Ultimately it is your connection with the coach that should sway your decision. Because if we don’t feel it from our side, it is the ethical thing to point you towards someone else, therefore, we would expect the same from your side.
Getting a coach is not an easy decision. Just acknowledging that you need one, puts you in a much stronger position and you should congratulate yourself for that. From here it can only do onwards and upwards!
Good luck!