Are you Thinking of Hiring a Life Coach. Then read all about how to choose a life coach on this page! Welcome, I’m Davis and I’m going to help you establish how to choose the right coach.
You know where you want to be. For some reason you can’t quite get into the habits you need to arrive at your new destination. You might be thinking about getting some help. Choosing the right life coach to help get more happiness, balance and success in your life is a big step.
You want to be certain the coach you decide to hire has the personal experience and the professional skill set to empower you to do it too. Someone who can motivate, educate, and inspire you to take the action to move you towards a happier and more fulfilled life.
Before you embark on a journey with a life coach, I urge you to look for proof of their maturity, skills, qualifications, and successes, and ask for a free exploratory session Don’t expect a coach to inspire and motivate you if you don’t gel.
The Right Coach For You
A career coach: someone who is good at career coaching might not be great at relationships; someone who is great at relationships might not be great at career coaching. A life coach – find out what they love to do; find out what their specialities are. Make sure that they are matched to you and your needs.
Not Everybody Is An Expert
Next, what about qualifications and experience? With life coaching there is often not that high a barrier to entry. What that means is that almost anybody can become a life coach with very little or technically no qualifications / insurance etc.
Next, imagine what happens when somebody goes to a life coach training company and pays them a lot of money; nobody is going to fail the exam. Not when they have paid thousands of £s to a life coach training company because it is not in the company’s best interests to fail people. It’s not like university where people fail. What I’m saying is that quality can vary.
Personal Experience Counts
And moving a bit further than just qualifications, what about experience? How long have they been a coach and what was their experience prior to that? Was it relevant, and how about their life experience. I’m not saying that somebody who is 22 or maybe 25 couldn’t be a life coach. It’s not impossible, but it’s less likely they will make a great coach than somebody who has seen a bit of the world and has gone through some stuff themselves.
So, it’s worth considering qualifications and life experience.
Demonstrate Approach
Can you “get to know” the coach in advance of meeting them in some shape or form? Can you get to understand your own challenges through their eyes?
Exploratory Session Reduces Risk
What next? I think coaching is a personal thing. I would always want to meet who I may be working with before I say yes to working with them. Who wants to go to work and pay someone they don’t like or get on well with? So, I think the client shouldn’t be put at a disadvantage because of that. Ask, does the coach offer a free exploration session.
Currently I do offer one, maybe I won’t always do that. It is the way that I have approached life coaching so far. It’s a way for the client to get a feel for what coaching with me is like without risk to them and their money so I’m happy with that. Not all coaches offer free exploration sessions, but I think you should certainly ask.
The Right Coach and Mentor Will Get You There Quicker
Think about what you really need. Is it a coach or a mentor or both? A coach will ask you great questions, and help you design a formula and strategy and things like that and help keep you accountable. But a mentor has done it; and I think sometimes having a mentor in almost all cases is better. A mentor knows how to do it; they are going to be certain, and they will lead you through it. And that can often be a lot faster when you have a mentor with specific experience in what you need.
Do you want a coach, or do you want a mentor? Or do you want a bit of both?
Leading By Example
It’s a bit of shame, but some life coaches don’t have their own life together. So imagine being taught to stop smoking by somebody who smokes or being coached to get in physical shape by somebody who is obese or overweight.
There is a lack of congruency with that. It isn’t authentic. You need to know that they are good; not only do they know how to do it; but they have implemented their own processes for themselves.
So, knowledge is one thing, anybody can read a book. But can they get themselves to do it is a real testament of whether they can get you to do it. If they can’t get their own “stuff” in order what makes you think they can help you do the same. So, have they got their own life together?
The Essential Questions
So, these would be my top tips. Do they offer a free exploratory session, if so fantastic.
Do you want a mentor or a coach, or both?
Have they got their own stuff together and does what they say resonate with you?
And do they really seem to want to help, let’s throw that in, because you want somebody who is passionate about helping you overcome the challenges you face.
Rapport is Key
Lastly, how did that exploratory session go?
How did your conversation go?
How did you get on together?
Does what they say resonate with you and do they “get” you?
Lastly, how did that exploratory session go?
Does what they say resonate with you and do they “get” you?
