Catchy long title, huh? It is the truth. How in the world does a person know what to look for, who to look for, much less come to a call or interview with the pertinent questions to ask someone whom they have never met much let know? This is just as daunting a task for the coach who is looking for the right client to fit the skillset and knowledge the coach has spent years learning, processes the coach has developed and found the ideal person who can benefit from all that knowledge, training, and skill is a herculean task. So, you see, both the coach and the coachees are in the same predicament. How does one start? Where does a person begin when they place their fingers on the keyboard? This is what we will explore in this month’s blog.
Let’s play pretend here for a moment. If you type in something like “Life Coaching” into Google, you will get millions of hits. If you type in “Executive Coaching,” you will have 109,000 hits. Still too many to pursue. Now what? Under “Life Coaching,” you can find 10, 31, 14, and 7 different specific niches under just this one heading. If you look again at “Executive Coaching,” you will see 20, 99, and 7 as the number of headings you can spend hours searching and reading. You know what? Those aren’t actual coaches. Those are ads for you to pursue becoming a coach, and they are trying to sell you a product, not coaching services.
Now, what do I search for? How about we try a different approach here?
Let’s look up “Who is the #1 Executive Coach in the world?” Do you know who comes up? Marshall Goldsmith – #1 Executive Coach, Speaker, Author… What do you think your chances are of hiring Mr. Goldsmith? Most likely zero. Now let’s look up the “Top Global Gurus, Coaches, Trainers…” and this is where we are taken: https://globalgurus.org/coaching-gurus-top-30/. Here we will find a list of the top 30 individuals who are ranked at the top. You can also Google this to get a great long list you might pursue over a weekend. “Who is the #1 Leadership Coach in the world?”
You see, it is all about how specific your focus is on finding a coach in any niche. You can also use words such as Country, State, City, Chamber of Commerce, Niche, and so on to further focus on who is going to fit your needs right now.
Now, what do I look for next, Janice? That is a good question. What indeed? You might want to consider some very specific traits that will “transform” who you are today into who you want to be in the future [meaning at the end of your coaching contract with your new coach]. These types of questions presented in the initial interview process with the coach vs. the coach interviewing you as a potential client can work both ways, and both you and your prospective coach [if they are worth their salt], should be fine with this type of interview process.
Ask these questions:
- How do you, as my coach, personify optimal living in your own life? [In other words, does the coach walk the talk they coach?]
- How do you, as my coach, remain fully present during our coaching sessions?
- How do I let you know if I am not tracking with you in your communication style?
- What might trigger you as my coach to judge me on something I may reveal to you?
- How do I let you know that the direction of our coaching conversations is not thought-provoking enough for me?
- What is your success rate at zeroing in on what your client’s real issue might be?
- How intuitive would you say you are when working with a client?
- What is your process for moving my sessions forward and keep challenging me to my sweet spot?
- What is your process for expanding a client’s goals and vision of where they want to be?
- What do you do to illuminate the truth your client may not wish to see?
- How do you let your clients know what their strengths are over the course of the coaching contract?
- What do you do when a client seems to drag their feet week to week?
- When a client seems “stalled,” what do you do to ignite their passion to move on and keep the goal in focus?
- How do you advocate for your client’s authentic self?
- Please give me some guidelines as to how you advocate for your client and not break their spirit?
- What is your best method to inspire action with a client?
Remember here, too; there is a great deal of progress that falls squarely on your shoulders as the client. Forward progress can only be achieved when you, the client, change, and you must want to change. A famous person who has been #1 in his field for more than 10+ years says this:
People change when they hurt enough that they have to change, learn enough that they want to change, and receive enough that they are able to change.
Where do you fall in this process?
If you want to ask me these sixteen questions of me during an interview process, please email me, and let’s set up a time to talk. I would be happy to answer all sixteen questions for you! My greatest joy is seeing you reach your goals and succeed!
