How to choose your Business Coach

When hiring a Business Coach, whether through your organisation or of your own accord, it is important to choose the right person, or it could be a costly mistake, not just financially but timely and emotionally too.

There are many people who call themselves Coaches and yet they have no Psychological training or therapeutic experience which is somewhat alarming. To many those, with a business background but no Psychological training, are Mentors and not “Coaches”.                       

“Over the past 15 years, it has become more and more popular to hire coaches for promising executives. Although some of these coaches hail from the world of psychology, a greater share are former athletes, lawyers, business academics, and consultants. No doubt these people help executives improve their performance in many areas. But I want to tell a different story. I believe than in an alarming number of situations, executive coaches who lack rigorous psychological training do more harm than good” (Berglas, 2002, p.89)

You may be asking yourself, why do Business Coaches need Psychological/ Therapeutic training? 

It is commonly said that we shouldn’t bring our personal lives into work, and to an extent that is absolutely true however, it is almost impossible for us not to bring our backgrounds and previous life experiences with us into the workplace because it is those that have shaped who we are today with regards to attitudes, beliefs and behaviours.

A 2009 Harvard study revealed that 75% of Coaches have assisted clients with “personal issues” and from my own personal experience, I would say that 98% of my clients have discussed personal issues with me in the Coaching Context. This never surprises me as personal issues affect our work. It is that simple. Our previous experiences and current experiences have an impact on us and our behaviour whether we like it or not.

So, you need to ask yourself whether you would rather discuss areas of your life with a Business Coach who is trained to understand and interact with clients on a Psychological or Therapeutic level or one without this training?

I have spent almost a decade of my life at university studying human behaviour from both a human-centred therapeutic perspective and also in a scientific and psychological perspective. From my intensive studying I feel that I can provide a well-rounded, professional and confident service as a Business Psychologist and Business Coach.

I am proud of my professions as Psychologist and Coach and of the incredible results that I have achieved with my clients on both a personal and business level. I know that my success has come from a natural instinct and intense interest in psychology and most importantly the years of hard work and dedication committed to understanding human behaviour.

So when choosing your Business Coach, make sure you check for credentials of Psychological and/or therapeutic training.

If you would like to learn more about Business Coaching do get in touch.