ASK JUDY THE COACH Part 2:
What Qualifications should I look for in a coach?
Previously, in Part 1 of this 5-part series, we explored: ‘What IS Coaching?’
In today’s post, Part 2, we explore the question:
What qualifications should I look for in a coach?
A friend and colleague said to me recently:
“No offense, but it just seems like everyone and their mama is a coach these days! Everywhere I turn it seems someone is claiming to be some kind of coach of this or that! Of course I don’t include you in that group because I know how long you trained, your credentials, and the effectiveness of the work you do. But for these other folks … I just don’t know who they are!”
While I appreciated her acknowledgment, differentiating me from what we in coaching are all too familiar with: ‘the shingle coaches’ – hang a shingle and call yourself a coach, her comment still stung. No professional coach committed to her profession, its value, and the reputation of the field, can feel good about such statements – no matter the truth they might hold.
Yes, coaching is a relatively new field. And yes, as an unregulated profession (unlike teaching, social work, medicine, law, finance, etc.) there is nothing, legally, to keep someone from calling themselves a coach.
So how can a prospective client do their due diligence to ensure the coach they are considering is qualified to do what they say they do?
Is it simply a case of buyer beware?
Fortunately, the answer is no! There is much you can do to determine the qualifications of a potential coach and it is relatively easy to accomplish. While it may be true that anyone can call themselves a coach, it is just as true, if not more so, that not everyone who calls themselves a coach is:
**a trained coach;
**formally educated in the globally recognized standards for coaching skills, techniques, tools, and practice from a reputable coach training institution;
**certified in their coaching skills by that institution; and/or
**credentialed by an international coach credentialing body and professional association, post-coach training and certification.
To be fair, there are coaches out there who do not possess the above, especially those who began coaching in the early days of the profession’s organization, standardization, and structuring, who are phenomenally skilled, effective, and powerful coaches. But, with these distinctions at your disposal, as a prospective client today, you can more easily differentiate between the perceived ‘everybody and their mama’ coaches, and the professional/skilled/trained coach you are seeking to work with.
So, in determining the qualifications for a coach you might want to work with, here are some questions you can use to guide your due diligence:
What coach specific training have you had?
What was the nature of that training?
How long did it take for you to complete your training?
What coach training institution did you study with?
Describe the history and reputation f your coach training institution?
Did you receive certification through that institution?
How long have you been coaching?
Describe the nature and content of your coaching practice?
Do you maintain a professional credential with a national or international coach credentialing body and professional association?
REMEMBER: Any professional coach under your consideration should easily be able to provide you with specific and concrete answers to these questions, either directly from their website and/or through your initial consultation. And while answers to these questions are not the only things that should determine the right coach for you, indeed they are a great start!
In PART 3 of this series, I will offer my thoughts on the question:
What is a Coach’s unique offering (a.k.a., ‘a Coach’s niche’)?
What are the qualifications that would make a coach the ideal coach for you?
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