How to choose a coach, and what a chemistry call is for

I spent seven years as a Chief People Officer buying coaching, and I bought some of it badly. The pattern in the bad purchases was always the same: I selected on credentials and biography, and I let the coachee meet one person.

What credentials tell you, and what they do not

An ICF credential tells you a coach has logged supervised hours against an ethical framework and been assessed against a standard. That is genuinely meaningful in an unregulated profession, and I would not engage a coach without one.

It does not tell you whether this coach can follow your operating problem, or whether they will be direct with you in month five when it matters. No credential predicts that. The call does.

Use the chemistry call for one thing

Most people use it to be interviewed. They describe their situation for twenty minutes, the coach nods warmly, and everyone concludes it went well. That call tested nothing.

Use it instead to find out how this person handles the moment you disagree. Say something you half believe and see whether they take it apart. Ask them what they would push back on in what you have just described. A coach who cannot do that in a sales conversation certainly will not do it once they are being paid by your employer.

Three questions worth asking

• "Tell me about an engagement that did not work." Anyone with real hours has several. An answer that blames the coachee is disqualifying; so is not having one.
• "What exactly does my sponsor receive?" If the answer is vague, or worse, generous, stop there.
• "What would make you tell me to stop?" Good coaches have a version of this. Coaching that runs indefinitely is usually a subscription, not an engagement.

Meet more than one

Chemistry is real and it is not a euphemism for liking someone. Some leaders need a coach who will sit in silence; some need one who will interrupt. Neither is better and you can usually tell inside ten minutes which one you will actually be honest with.

This is why we offer three chemistry calls, why the sponsor is not on them, and why changing coach in the first two months costs nothing and requires no explanation. About twice a year somebody does. It is nobody's failure; it is the process working.

If the chemistry call felt entirely comfortable, you probably did not test anything.