STEPHANIE VONDRAK

WHEN TOUSEcoaching: TIPS ONfinding the right fit

The McLean Institute of Coaching, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, indicates that 70% of those people who seek out and obtain coaching benefit in various ways such as improved performance and better communication. A variety of evidencebased research can be found at the Institute’s website: instituteofcoaching.org. Coaching can help you clarify goals, identify obstacles to achieving goals, improve self-awareness, and develop strategies to work more productively.

It is important to know when you might want to seek out a coach rather than a psychological professional. Some coaches have psychological credentials as well as coaching credentials—and I personally gravitate towards such coaches—but it is important to be clear about what you are seeking from a professional, and to find the right professional and right fit.

In general, coaching focuses on setting goals and developing and implementing strategies to achieve them. Therapy focuses on mental health and emotional healing. Therapy focuses on cognitions, while coaching focuses on behaviors.

Providing therapy requires a license, and therapists are subject to ethical rules and guidelines established by a licensing board. Coaches may hold certifications in particular areas of coaching but licensing is currently not required at the federal or state level.

Seeking a Coach

If your primary goals include finding direction and clarity, identifying specific goals and developing strategies to achieve them, coaching is a possible path. Coaching can be provided one-on-one or in group settings.

Coaches have varying specialties such as leadership coaching, positive psychology, health coaching, business coaching, spiritual coaching, and life coaching. The first step is to decide which type of coach you need. You can then identify coaches with credentials that match your purposes in seeking one. Rather than searching the internet for coaches, consider reaching out to your network for a referral.

Know what you are willing to pay. Coaching can get very expensive. Before hiring a coach, discuss the amount of sessions to achieve your initial objectives and know what that will cost.

Interview your prospective coach. The coach should be a great listener. Ask about their experience. Ask for examples of their successes with other clients. Inquire about the style the coach uses as well as the tools. Ask for references.

Consider a coach from another locale. With the ease of meeting over videoconferencing, access to coaches abounds.

Be Clear About Boundaries

The best coaches know the boundaries of their abilities. It is important to discuss and make your boundaries clear early on. If your boundaries are disregarded or minimized in any way, ever, there is one word: RUN. A free peer-coaching service might seem tempting, but if the coach you choose through that service has no real coaching experience and tries to impose mental-health diagnoses on you, or worse yet, starts reaching out to people you know with comments about you: again, RUN. You are better off paying for a coach or using insurance for therapy than using a free coach who doesn’t have the credentials and skill.

When Your Coach Should Refer you to a Therapist

There is a significant interrelationship between cognition and behavior. Psychotherapy is outside the scope of coaching work. Most coaching certification organizations provide a list of signs and symptoms that indicate when a referral should be made to therapy.

Therapeutic Coaches

There are some professionals who blend coaching and therapeutic approaches. Typically, this is a coach who has a mental-health counseling background but uses a coaching approach. The same principles apply to selection of a therapeutic coach. What are your goals? How can the coach help you achieve them? What is their method? Establish boundaries and a plan, and understand costs.

Keep Your Business Goals in Mind

If a primary goal in seeking coach is to help you with practice issues, keep in mind that the background of the person with respect to business matters. If you are entrepreneurial, seek someone who understands that. If you are interested in leadership, seek an effective leadership coach. If your goal is to achieve a better work/life balance, there are coaches who have backgrounds specific to that.