"I can manage anything but I dread a member of my team crying, please no tears" How familiar is this? As a manager you'll have dealt with scenarios just like this and more. You should be getting excellent support for your own professional and personal development. Here's my tips on sourcing your own super coach.
Look outside your business. No matter how good the internal coaches are they are still employed by your company and often coaching is an additional responsibility to their big role. An external coach will have no relationship with your business, no preconceived bias or assumptions and coaching will be their only role and specialism.
Do your research. Ask for recommendations, look for a coach who has experience with similar challenges you're facing. Check their online presence, if they have one, it's not a guide to how super they are but you'll get an idea of their track record and how they work.
Get prepared. Reach out and book a chat/meeting with your potential coach, meet with three or four so you can compare. Jot down your questions and think about what your needs are and your businesses or organisational needs. Sometimes there are tensions between these and that's OK but to make any movement or resolution you need to be clear on what they are. Think about what you personally want out of the meetings and check is it realistic or possible to achieve in the amount of meetings you (or your company) are prepared to invest in?
Coaching is personal and professional development. There is rigorous research for coaching as a meta-analysis of several studies found coaching led to objective performance improvements (as rated by others). This also included statistically significant improvements in goal attainment, self-efficacy, self-awareness, work satisfaction and psychological well-being.
Progress is not linear. An experienced coach will use different tools and methods to adapt and benefit you personally. As you start experiencing and seeing results, enjoy the time to recap and reflect on your progress, this is motivating and sets the stage for the future. Importantly your super coach will be an excellent listener, you will feel you can trust them and you'll be clear on how they work. Remember ask questions, be curious, and don't forget to trust your gut.
If you've had great coaching please share how did you find your own super coach, no matter what the specialism or niche?
