Executive coaching is an increasingly popular trend among organisations, which use it as a development tool, and also among small business directors, who often have to keep their own counsel and would like to improve their personal performance.

The sector has grown rapidly and has inevitably attracted people who are less than qualified. There is no single professional body or set of standards and qualifications to help people buying coaching services. So the challenge is to avoid the cowboys and select a coach with the right level of senior-level business expertise and training to ensure a return on investment.

Choosing a coach who is supervised will help. This involves an experienced expert [coach] providing objective and confidential support. Supervisors bring to bear another perspective—especially valuable when faced with complex, intractable issues or difficult choices. By providing feedback, supervision helps ensure quality, an important issue in an industry without regulation where anyone can call themselves an executive coach.

Patti Stevens, co-founder and director of the Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision (APECS), says an increasing number of corporations require coaches to be supervised. 

Brian Edwards, a coach, and also MD of Optima, a leadership consultancy, says another essential quality for coaches is assertiveness. This combines warmth, empathy and support with an ability to challenge. Challenge without warmth is cold aggression, while warmth without challenge lacks bite or value. Combining the two is far from easy—yet the ability is present within the best coaches.

Five steps to choosing a coach

1 Ask the candidate to coach you for 10 minutes. This will give you a sense of how they work and also help with the "chemistry test"-a vital step to establishing rapport and building trust.

2 Make sure that the coach works from where you are. In other words, they use whatever tools and processes fit best with your needs.

3 Find out the extent of their knowledge of adult learning and behavioural understanding and remember to be cautious: anyone can claim to be a coach. What models do they use? How deep is their coaching expertise?

4 Take up the coach's references and assess their experience. Do they have the right level of practical expertise? What have they achieved and what else, besides coaching, do they do?

5 Check whether the coach is qualified. There are an increasing number of professional qualifications. For example, Ashridge business school (which is a member of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council) runs a Masters in Executive Coaching.

Compiled by author Sally Bibb

Further information:
The Association for Coaches: www.associationforcoaching.com
The Coaching Psychology Forum: www.sgcp.org.uk
The European Mentoring and Coaching Council: www.emccouncil.org.uk
The International Coaching Federation: www.coachfederation.org