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The career coaching industry has grown 419% in the last 5 years, is one of the fastest growing industries, and is well over a $1B industry. And yet amidst this growth the field of coaching still seems, at least to its consumers, as an extraordinarily fragmented, uninformed and elusive sector. It is hard to find a good coach - and who is to say what a ‘good’ coach is? Like a good therapist, it’s hard to know until you are finally in the room with the person and have worked with them over the course of several weeks. And yet, again, the field is booming because there is a recognition for the need for more sophisticated, personalized strategies to help us accelerate our careers, businesses, and lives. Here are 6 tips to help drive your selection process:
1) Ask for Client Testimonials
One easy but often overlooked step for people looking for a good coach is to ask for references from former or current clients. And don’t settle for ‘I really like them’ – ask the hard questions like “what was your change objective in going to a coach, and did you achieve it?” Great coaches are not trying to be your friend – they have friends. They, like a professional, have a business objective to deliver on your change proposition. Ask their former clients if they delivered on that.
2) Ask when they end the coaching relationship
One of the complaints people have about any fee-for-service help, including lawyers, counselors, coaches, and consultants, is that they will never tell you enough is enough. A great coach will help you work through the things that need working in a structured and supported model, and will let you do the rest. They know the difference, and do not want to position themselves as the ever-present safety net with weekly check-ins into perpetuity. While that might help their business model, it does not help the client. This is not to say that coaching relationships cannot be long – they certainly can. But there should be a defined end-state for the client and clarity on what that will look like when achieved.
3) Have they role-modeled success?
Seemingly obvious but often overlooked, you should look to see if the career decisions and the career trajectory of the person you are working with defines the success that you aspire to. In other words, have they had successful careers, and if not what does that mean for the coaching advice? Sometime the joke and adage in universities is that ‘those that cannot do teach’ and that can be seen in the coaching fields as well. On the other end of that spectrum can be retired executives who would prefer to tell war-stories than engaging in listening conversation about your future. You want the blend of someone who has achieved success, but also has expertise specifically as an effective career or executive coach with client testimonials. It’s a high bar to be a great coach, but finding one is a game-changer.
4) From Coach to Strategist
Coaching implies a certain ‘rah rah’ quality of encouragement, empathy, and support. While those are important qualities, the heavy lift for a great coach is much more about providing strategic frameworks and insights. Great coaches build structures in your life that in turn do things like improve self-efficacy, create success rituals, maintain forward momentum, and measure progress. The measure of a great coach is not how you feel in the 2 hours you spend with them but in how you feel the Thursday following the coaching session. Here too, the practice has evolved and more than coaching we need strategy for this increasingly complex and dynamic world. The old model of trying to position for promotion just is not relevant in the way it used to be. The new model is war-gaming the potential twists and turns, both internal to the organization as well as external, which need to be foreseen and then navigated to help optimize your chances of success. There is still the need for coaching that is simply focused on the question of ‘help me get a job’ but the growth in the industry is in having a Strategists alongside me to help me step outside my current context and help me strategically position myself for future (1 year, 5 year, 20 year) success.
5) New Models of Coaching
Historically, we have thought of coaching as a one-on-one conversation in which we talk about my resume, my skills, and how to prepare for an interview. That model, while still alive and well, is not the future. 80% of jobs will never get posted, and so the work of the coach, and the client, is not to help figure out how to “get picked”, but rather to create the strategy to go forward and “claim”. There are highly effective group dynamic approaches that serve as powerful change agents in other areas of our life (i.e. group fitness, AA, WeightWatchers) that have an applicability when it comes to career – it’s extraordinarily helpful to be in a like-minded community when we undertake the work of designing our professional futures. Also new is that our economy is shifting towards a ‘Free-Agent’ economy in which there are extraordinary opportunities to start your own business and become self-employed. Again, a great coach should be able to create a path to entrepreneurship for their clients and help them think more broadly about their employment options (another reason why resumes are now the least relevant part of the conversation).
Eric Connor is a career strategist and the Co-Founder of Flank 5 Academy based in Chicago, IL.
