How to find a good coach

When looking for a business coach for your change journey, it’s important to look at certain criteria to find a qualified and appropriate coach. The Artop Institute at the Humboldt University in Berlin has developed the questionnaire “Check-the-coach”, which can help you to evaluate the coach and the coaching process. Here are some excerpts and tips that can help you:

Qualifications and recommendations play a crucial role, as there are no uniform quality standards in coaching. Therefore, pay attention to references and especially recommendations from other people. Certifications from recognized professional associations are also positive indicators. Your coach should be able to convincingly explain his/her working methods to you and be able to point to scientific evidence of the effectiveness of the methods used. A free preliminary meeting provides an opportunity to ask for this information.

When choosing a coach, you should also consider the following criteria:

• Coach’s background: check the coach’s education, additional training, and prior experience in similar positions or life situations.
• Framework: Pay attention to the atmosphere, frequency and duration of the sessions. The chemistry between you and the coach should be right in order to enable a trusting cooperation.
• Clarification of the assignment: Clarify from the beginning the basis of the working relationship, the concept, the approach, the tools used, the limits of the coaching as well as the goals and criteria of goal achievement.
• Relationship level: Sympathy, trust and a relationship at eye level are important factors for successful cooperation.

As the coaching process continues, here’s what you should keep in mind:

• Reflection on the process: Is the coach open to joint reflection and feedback? Continually reviewing and adjusting the coaching process is critical to achieving the best possible results.
• Plausibility and voluntariness of the proposed actions: Are the proposed action steps understandable to you and do you feel free to accept or reject them?
• Goal achievement: work with your coach to get closer to the agreed upon goal and make progress.
• Side effects: Be aware of potential side effects of coaching and make sure they are discussed and addressed. Feedback from friends or family members can also be helpful here.

There are several professional associations that offer a search function for business coaches. As a member of the professional association bso, I can recommend that you use their directory of over 1,200 consultants to find qualified coaches in your area.