Hiring a Top Executive Coach

Hiring a Top Executive Coach

How do professionals looking to hire a top executive coach determine what qualities make for a top executive coach? Coaches that operate at the highest levels in the professional coaching world have a vested interest in making sure the people that hire us know the criteria they should use to evaluate our services. Although I am a firm believer that top executive coaches posses certain inherent personality qualities, there are specific educational standards, certification standards and work-place experiences that are imperative in order to be considered a true top executive coach:

1. Certificate of professional coaching from the International Coach Federation. This certification is the international educational standard for professional coaches. The certification process includes a minimum of 125 hours of coach-specific training course work plus 500 hours of documented coaching experience.

   1. Experience working in a leadership role in a business or organization

   2. Superior communication skills (oral, written and aural)

   3. Acute self-awareness and high social-emotional intelligence

   4. High self-confidence balanced with humility and recognized authenticity

Beyond those basic qualities and qualifications listed above, to be a top executive coach one needs to:

1. Posses a love of learning in order to stay current with the social science research relating to leadership and business

2. Have both a rich personal and profession history in order to better relate to a diverse clientele and offer support and guidance from a place of experience

3. Operate from a place of compassion and caring in order to help clients balance home-life, work-life and the challenges of making tough/layered decisions in business

4. Be firmly rooted in a sincere interest in making an impact on each and every individual client as well as the broader world that clients operate within.

5. Demonstrate creativity and openness

How can professionals find out if someone is truly a top executive coach? Always start by asking these questions:

1. What is your professional background?

2. Are you a certified professional coach through the ICF?

3. Tell me about three clients for whom you provide similar coaching services to what I am looking for.

4. How do you measure success with your clients?

5. How would your clients describe your coaching style?

Do you think you or your business can benefit from hiring a professional coach? Are you ready to hire a top executive coach? Contact Kimberly at (512) 298-9021 or via email at Kimberly@KimberlyPutmanCoaching.com to schedule a consultation to learn more about executive coaching with KPC.