I saw this article from Lolly Daskal, author, and executive coach, called How Can an Executive Coach Make You a Great Leader? It reminded me that there are so many benefits for a leader who has a coach. I wanted to share some of my experience of having a coach and ideas for you to consider should you decide you might want to hire a coach.
The Beginning of My Coaching Experience
I remember when I hired my first coach in 2012. I had been looking for a coach, but I hadn’t met one that I really connected with until one day a coach came to the company for a speaking engagement. She had a great perspective on leadership and shared stories of clients who regained confidence. I reached out to her to see if we could work together. I had some big challenges that I wasn’t sure how to navigate without help. I needed an outside perspective to identify my blind spots and to help me look at the challenges that I was having in a different way.
Hiring a Coach
I remember being excited and anxious at the same time. It isn’t easy to share your challenges with someone, but she created a safe space for me to talk about how I felt and what I was thinking. She asked me the best questions to help me see how others might perceive me and how I could potentially look at what was happening in a different way. I knew that she was in my corner and believed in me. I learned so much about myself during that six months with her. It was a pivotal time for my growth as a leader and she helped me believe in myself again. I credit her in so many ways for helping me, but it also gave me a new possibility to consider. Working with her helped me see that coaching could be a viable career for me someday.
Becoming a Coach
A few years later, I was still working at the company, but I took an online coaching program at night with people from all over the world. We had teachers who were master coaches and taught us the art of coaching, how to listen deeply and to be present for our clients. I didn’t expect to learn so much about myself through this process. The coach has to learn about themselves at a deeper level to be able to coach others in the best way. Going through this experience gave me a gift of self-understanding that was unexpected and I am so eternally grateful to have it. All the things that I learned in this program showed me how to create the same experience that I felt when I worked with my coach. Now I could be there to support my client’s journey.
I knew so much about working in corporate, but I didn’t know how to be a coach yet or how to start a business. I hired a new coach to accelerate my learning so I could take my coaching and business to the next level. As I have gained more experience, published my book and started the podcast I have continued to grow. Throughout all of these new steps of learning, I have always had a coach to support me along the way.
Do You Need a Coach?
If you were asked that question, how would you answer? If you have never had a coach before or an understanding of how coaching works, you would probably say no. I was the same way. I told myself that I would figure things out on my own until one day I realized that I couldn’t. Asking for help was never a strong suit of mine, but I had to admit that what I was doing wasn’t working and I didn’t know what else to try.
I needed help from my coach to stop sabotaging myself and my career progress due to fear. She supported me as I revealed my blind spots, assumptions, and limiting beliefs about myself and my leadership. Once I began implementing some of the actions that came out of my coaching sessions, I felt more confident. I kept taking imperfect actions and people started to treat me differently. My confidence returned and I felt brave again. The coaching was helping me to move forward and show up differently.
What Support Do You Need?
There are various reasons to hire a coach. Here are a few opportunity areas where a coach can help you: when you go through a career transition, have a challenge with a boss/peer/direct report, leading a new team, if you want to be more visible or prepare for your next role. There are so many nuances to navigate in each of those situations and that is where a coach can help you the most. Having someone who believes in you can accelerate your learning and help you to make a bigger impact on yourself, your team, and your company.
What challenges do you have that a coach could help you with? What would help you move your career to the next level? Ask for referrals from friends or colleagues who have used a coach. Ask them what help they needed from a coach and what results they received. One thing to note: Not all coaches are the same. Coaches may have different focus areas, work with different career levels, and based on their experience will charge different amounts. Do your research and have calls to see if they would be a good fit.