Factors in choosing a Coach
Coaching Qualifications
All coaches on the National Skills Academy for Social Care database will have a coaching qualification. These vary a lot and it is quite difficult to compare and assess them. There are many accrediting, awarding and validating bodies. Courses differ in structure, approach, content and the length of time they take.
Over the past few years, it has become expected that professional coaches will have a qualification that is competency based, properly accredited and recognised as of high-quality within the profession. The clearest examples of this are the Certificate in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring and the Diploma for Professional Executive Coaches and Leadership Mentors. These qualifications equate to VRQ (vocational related qualifications) level 7. They are awarded by the Institute of Leadership and Management.
However, many more established coaches will not hold these qualifications because they have emerged fairly recently and weren’t available when many coaches started their careers - but we will identify coaches who do hold the level 7 diploma on the database.
The word of warning is that there are many great coaches who have other qualifications. For you it’s a judgement - a balance between qualifications, experience, and cost and so on. Nevertheless, the level seven diploma in coaching carries a strong quality kite mark.
Finally, if you want to, you could always check out qualifications on the internet or go to the ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) web site for more details of the VRQ level 7 qualifications.
Here are some useful links relating to qualifications:
Coaching experience
We would recommend that when choosing a coach, the coach should be able to demonstrate at least 100 hours of coaching experience - and ideally substantially more. When you choose a coach, think about:
- how many hours they have coached altogether,
- how many in the last six months, and,
- Whether it is important for you to find a coach who has worked extensively with the social care sector or who operates at your level and experience.
If you imagine that a typical coaching session lasts for between 1.5 and 2 hours, with six separate sessions, you could work out how frequently a coach has coached in recent months.
The importance of social care experience, or not, is a more difficult issue to advise you on. Many experienced coaches will argue that what is all-important is the good application of coaching techniques and that a background knowledge of context is unimportant. Others will counter argue that it helps clients to know that their coaches understand their environments and cultures.
Coaching style
When choosing a coach, it is useful to try and find out how the coach works, how they organise sessions and whether that suits you.
- Do you have to travel to them?
- Can you book individual sessions or do they require a series of meetings?
- Do they adopt a particular approach to coaching or bring a special methodology or style to it - e.g. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)?
- How much is negotiable?
You might want to contact some recent clients – you can ask the coach if that’s possible. Check out whether any colleagues have worked with any of your preferred coaches. You can also ask for references or testimonies.
Fees
The cost of coaching varies quite a lot - depending on experience and other factors. This might typically vary from under £100 per hour upwards to £500. It is probably true to say that the commercial world expects to pay more for coaching than the public or third sectors.
Importantly, there is not necessarily a direct correlation between cost and quality - and you may find some poor expensive coaches and some good cheaper ones. Think carefully about how much you and/or your organisation can afford, and want, to pay. Ask about discounts for the social care sector (since many coaches will want to break into this market now) and for booking a series of sessions.
Specialist input
Coaches often offer all kinds of additional and complimentary services and support. Examples include:
- 360 appraisals and feedback,
- Myers Briggs analyses, and so on.
Some of these may be available and you might want to choose a coach who offers additional services or support.
Contract
Once you choose a coach it is important to be clear about the contract between you.
- What do the costs include?
- Who pays if the coach travels to you?
- How long are sessions?
- Is VAT included?
- What happens if you want to cancel?
- What complaints or dispute process will operate?
Make sure you do it properly.
Make sure, also, that you review your sessions. A good coach should ask you for feedback at the end of, and during, sessions. If you are not happy with how it’s going, tell the coach and review how useful the sessions and coach are. You may even decide to change your coach or to try different coaches at different times of your career or for different issues.