If you have never had career or management coaching before, how do you decide which coach is right for you? And harder still, how do you navigate the different approaches on offer to find the one that suits you best?

My advice here is not to analyse matters too much, but to trust your instincts when choosing a coach. Apart from ensuring that your chosen coach has the education and experience to deliver on your expectations, I would advise you to trust your intuition during your first session with a potential coach. Ascertain how comfortable you will feel discussing very personal matters with this person. Do you feel challenged, but comfortable and safe during your session? A good coach will use your feedback skillfully to balance their input and will leave you with greater insight into your situation. Above all, they will be adept at uncovering what works well for you.

Although this develops over time, you should see the first signs after about one hour. This is why I offer my clients a no-risk guarantee: I don’t do many preliminary meetings, we are too busy for that. Instead, we get together for an authentic 4-hour session. Our target for the first hour is to decide if we want to go on working together, i.e. commit to goals that we will define later in the session. If the decision is no, we part there and then, and I tear up the invoice. If the decision is yes, we have entered a partnership. Contact me today to set up this first meeting!