Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

28 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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As with consultants or business service providers, coaches obtain
much of their business through referrals. Asking your friends and
colleagues for the names of good coaches is a good way to start. As
a human resources professional, you are likely to have connections
to local or national coaching organizations, and you can also make
inquiries among your colleagues at other companies.
Selecting the Right Coach
Coaches should be recruited, screened, and interviewed in a manner
similar to that used for other professionals. The client should
also have a strong voice in having the final approval on a particular
coach. Even if you as the HR professional do much of the screening,
the client should participate actively in the choice as well.
As one HR professional in a health care management organization
described coach selection: “We ask about the coach’s capabilities.
We find out what the leadership methodologies are in which the
coach has been trained and if they are consistent with the direction
in which we are trying to move the culture. Also, the fit between the
person and the coach is important. There needs to be a connection so
the client is open to listening and sees the coach as credible. It is very
important for the coach to be non-judgmental. We seek input from
the client on the comfort level with the coach.”
In some organizations, the clients do the actual selection of
coaches. You may or may not be that involved in the actual selection
process. Your primary role may be as a conduit of information for the
client. Whatever your role in coach selection might be, you can
provide value to your client and your organization by raising some
important questions that help to select the right coach (see
“Questions for an Interview with a Prospective Coach” in Section V).
References
The question of references often comes up. Coaches are usually willing
to provide references, but not all clients want to be used as