Possible?

You are lucky if you have a circle of people who can guide and advise you. But think back to some of your big achievements. Did you take coaching when you were preparing for any Entrance Exam? SAT/CAT/GMAT? Did you have a teacher who worked with you closely when you won a medal or prize in school? Have you ever worked with an instructor in the gym? If the answer is yes, you know the difference between doing it alone and having someone experienced on your side who is as focused on your success as you are.

A coach  can add tremendous value in the following ways:

• A Coach provides an independent and external perspective that can help you gain new insights (it is likely that most of your circle of trusted advisors may be in the same environment as you and think like you)
• Gives honest feedback that helps us improve (again, our well-wishers may be blind to our weak areas or be reluctant to give feedback)
• Creates a safe space for you to share your innermost thoughts, fears and aspirations
• A Coach doesn’t stop at one-time advice, rather is a trained professional who walks the journey with you, helps you with clear goal setting, tracks your progress, challenges you and holds you accountable. He/she can be a catalyst to your success.
• The coach may be experienced in the path you want to walk and could share tips, tricks and techniques that may help you succeed.

Yes, coaching approaches can vary. An important difference is between the common understanding of the word coaching, and the discipline of coaching.

In our colloquial understanding of coaching, the coach is part guide, part trainer, part consultant and advisor. Some examples of this could be fitness coaches, sports coaches, coaches that help you clear an entrance exam, job-search coaches etc. These coaches may have walked the same path as you, have a wealth of the experience in the same field and may have valuable tips, tricks, techniques they can share with you. There is a lot of sharing and ‘telling’  from the coach to coachee here. Often this type of coaching has a very specific end point – getting the medal, clearing an exam, etc.

But ‘coaching’ is also  a discipline. This discipline focuses not on giving advice, but helping you gain insights. Often the goal here is not an event, but progress. Progress happens by the virtuous cycle of generating insights, application of the insight, feedback and change. The focus in this type of coaching is on ‘asking’, not ‘telling’. The Coach, primarily through powerful questions, or through tools, helps you make progress through exploration, generating options, challenging yourself, shedding limiting beliefs and gaining clarity.  And then, in better goal-setting, action- planning and holding you accountable.

This type of coaching is also goal-based, but since improvement does not have an event-based endpoint, one can choose to keep setting the bar higher and keep working towards it with the help of a coach.

The answer is both. When helping clients prepare for a Job Interview, for example, the tilt is towards the commonly understood meaning of the word coaching. I bring in my years of HR experience and training and share useful tips, techniques and advice help you. I’ll help you prepare, practice, polish and perfect your performance with a particular event in mind. It may require me to use some elements of the coaching discipline when it comes to working on your mindset, or say overcoming some limiting beliefs, but largely the focus is on perfecting your content and techniques.

In Career and Executive Coaching, the focus is often on improvement and progress. Here I lean more heavily on techniques of the classical coaching discipline. I may give advice, nudges, suggestions only as needed. In this approach, the intention mostly is to help you find your answers from within. We work towards helping you gain clarity, set meaningful goals , tracking progress and holding you accountable. I’m prescriptive or consultative only when I believe it will add significant value.

First, decide which type of coaching are you looking for. Is your vision of success  event based (clearing an exam/writing and publishing a book/winning Masterchef/ running a marathon)? If yes,  more than any kind of credentials or qualifications,  you need someone who has walked the path themselves. Someone who knows the turf, its challenges and ways to overcome them first-hand. This should be an absolute must-have. So check into the history of the coach for evidence of this experience.

If you are seeking a Coach for an area where you are seeking progress, or clarity and direction, you may need someone who understands and is experienced in the discipline of coaching. Here, my suggestion is to look for these:

• Is the person formally trained in coaching and has a credential? Here, check the details of the credentialing body, how long it has been in existence, what values they follow, and if they are endorsed by other reputed bodies/organizations. Also, check their process of earning a credential. How thorough is it?  Does credentialing require training as well as adequate practice? Coach credentialing is now an industry in itself with many players in the market, so you need to evaluate this carefully.
• What is the Coach’s background?  Is the Coach experienced or has sufficient exposure to the same environment as yours? For example, if you are in the medical profession, a coach with a medical background may be able to connect with you a little bit better than one who is not. Or if you are working in the corporate sector, does the coach have a sound understanding of the corporate environment? If not from the same environment, has he/she coached many people from this environment so as to develop an understanding about it?
• Last but definitely not least, check for chemistry and connect. This is hard to define. Check whether you feel calm with the coach or agitated, nervous or anxious? Do you feel you can trust the coach with your innermost thoughts and that he/she will hold them gently and in utmost confidence? Does the Coach make you feel judged or as if you are being evaluated , or does it feel you are safe in this conversation? Very importantly, is the Coach a good listener and more interested in you, than sharing how great he/she is?   You can know these when you have your first pre-engagement meeting with the coach.

Also look for all material the coach has put out in the public domain – any YouTube videos, LinkedIn posts, articles, etc. These should give you some idea about the coach’s philosophy, values, style, views and even expertise. Go ahead only if you feel comfortable with these.

Trust is a prerequisite of a coaching relationship. Coaches accredited by ICF are bound by client-coach confidentiality.  I sign on a confidentiality clause as part of the Coaching Contract with every client.  I will not publish even client testimonials with any identifying details or refer to anyone as a client publicly without their express and written consent. Your identity and details shared during an exploratory call, even if you do not engage me as your coach, will be held confidential.

Breaking the bond of trust with a potential, current or former client is anathema personally and nothing short of professional suicide.