In theory the first sign should be a qualification. ICF, EMCC, ILM and the Association for Coaching are the main accrediting bodies for leadership coaches. They all exist to uphold a certain standard of coaching, and require that coaches exhibit self-awareness and relational skills, and learn accepted models, techniques and ethics, but two coaches with the same accrediting body can still have very different approaches to coaching.<\/p>\n
For instance, we offer ICF, ILM and EMCC accredited courses to the coaches we train. But our method is interactive, as much about personal self-development as learning skills to teach others. Our approach produces a very different kind of coach to lecture-based courses with the same accreditation. So if qualifications aren\u2019t the clearest indicator of an effective coach, what should you look for?<\/p>\n
There really isn\u2019t a substitute for this. The wisest person in business can be teaching you, but it isn\u2019t effective coaching unless it deals specifically with the individual. Inspirational talks and large group sessions are valuable. But they do not allow a person to grapple with their underlying issues: their dualities, doubts and fears. A face-to-face approach creates space for such things to come to the surface so they can be addressed.<\/p>\n
If a coach is secure, they don\u2019t need to prove they are an expert. Beware of coaches that are overly-quick to diagnose or to give their opinion. They are likely to be afraid of dealing with the unknown or with nuances. Maybe they are even more worried about losing their reputation as the one who knows everything. But coaches shouldn\u2019t know everything. In fact, they should be very comfortable with the fact that they know very little. Any \u2018answers\u2019 will come with time and probably not from a coach\u2019s external perspective.<\/p>\n
Remaining curious allows a coach to keep asking questions instead of arriving at a premature conclusion. Every coach will come to a situation with a narrative of what they suspect is going on. It is their job to ignore that narrative, to recognise their own judgements as partially or totally false, and to stay open-minded. When a coach has this capacity, dialogue can progress to a place where new perspective can be gained by both coach and coachee.<\/p>\n
There are so many principles that can be taught, so many behavioural tendencies to find and correct. But the overall effect of this kind of coaching is to pile additional weight on an already-fractured back. Unless underlying beliefs are given far more attention than symptomatic behaviour, any \u2018progress\u2019 made through a coaching session will likely be short-lived and shallow.<\/p>\n
Every coach needs to be coached. On an ongoing basis. If a coach feels they have outgrown their need for coaching, empathy will come less easily to them and they may have forgotten what it feels like to be in the hot seat. Coaches can also only take you as far as they have gone themselves. It\u2019s not worth having a coach who hasn\u2019t gone far and it is worse still if a coach feels they have \u2018arrived\u2019.<\/p>\n
The best coaches are the fullest versions of themselves. The haven\u2019t hidden their humanity under a cloak of pseudo-professionalism and expertise. Conversation with them leads quickly to a click \u2013 a real connection with a real person. You feel at ease in their presence and they help you bring your authentic self to the table too.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo baby without a mother, no leader without a context\u201d, says Manfred Kets de Vries. Every leader is both limited and empowered by their organisation to varying degrees. If a coach understands exactly how, they will be far better equipped to deliver meaningful coaching. At the very least, coaches need to understand organisational structures and how they work.<\/p>\n
Coaches seem to love their acronyms. Especially if it sounds catchy or motivational. They generally seem to be made up of 4-5 letters as well, which means there are only 4-5 easy steps before you are PURE or become SMART. Memorable learning has its advantage. But it also has its limits. Tools have the potential to be helpful but humans are complicated creatures whose lives seem to colour outside the lines of formulae. Be careful of coaches that don\u2019t recognise this.<\/p>\n
To quote Manfred Kets de Vries again, \u201cWhen I coach teams, it regularly happens that I look around and ask myself \u2018What in heaven is going on here?\u2019 Then I just wait. Waiting is the art of letting the answers come up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Any meaningful answers will come from within an individual or team. And usually after they have wrestled with some difficult, probing and personal questions. A coach needs to be comfortable with the awkwardness of offering nothing but another question. This way, everybody experiences discomfort for a while \u2013 sometimes a long while \u2013 but on the other side something of value is often discovered.<\/p>\n
If there seems to be little separating your leadership coach from a life coach, it\u2019s probably a good sign. Leaders are people before they are leaders. And their business practices will come from their very personal sense of identity. Work can be an opportunity to bring meaning to life and a flourishing life can result in successful work.<\/p>\n
Is the focus of a leadership coach to increase performance or wellbeing? Is it to encourage personal growth or to unlock creativity? Are they all linked? Work out what your own objective is and see if it aligns with what the coach claims to offer.<\/p>\n
If a coach claims they can change anything quickly or totally, they are overpromising. Coaching is a part of a greater process that takes time. Coaches are not magicians, even if they put on their best wise-wizard performance. A secure coach who has a lot to offer will be humbly realistic about what they can give.<\/p>\n
The best coaches are looking to benefit you years down the line, long after you have forgotten them. They are not after producing a fast result that proves their market value. They are about doing the hard work that brings about lasting change slowly.<\/p>\n
A great coach will not compromise their values if you ask them and they will certainly know what those values are. They know the difference they want to make in the coaching and business world. If a coach doesn\u2019t know this, it is unlikely they will able to help leaders stay true to their own vision and values.<\/p>\n
Creating a safe place to experiment and explore the unknown is not easily done. But a great coach will have done exactly that for years on end. If everyone feels free to be candid, to be vulnerable, to uncover the new \u2013 then hold onto your coach for all they are worth. They won\u2019t give all the answers, work miracles or make everything easy. But they will create space to ask better questions. And who knows where that might lead?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In theory the first sign should be a qualification. ICF, EMCC, ILM and the Association for Coaching are the main accrediting bodies for leadership coaches. They all exist to uphold …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_title":"15 signs a coach can deliver what they claim - TPC Leadership","rank_math_description":"If qualifications aren\u2019t the clearest indicator of an effective coach, what should you look for? Here are 15 signs a coach can deliver what they claim.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"coaching","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[59],"featured-blog-post":[],"page-type":[],"class_list":["post-5112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-developing-leaders","tag-coaching-for-leaders"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5112"},{"taxonomy":"featured-blog-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-blog-post?post=5112"},{"taxonomy":"page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/fr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page-type?post=5112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}