Choosing an Executive Coach? Don’t Skip the Vibe Check

My mentor sent me off to meet a prospective coaching client. With a grin, she called it, my “Muh Dikhai.”

It’s an old Indian custom. The prospective bride comes out in front of the prospective groom’s side, and the family finally sees her in person and makes a decision.

What has coaching got to do with Muh Dikhai? 
Ok let me give it my own term – The Vibe Check!!
Its also commonly known as Chemistry Meeting (haha!)

In my last post, I had written about four things one should check before hiring an Executive Coach. 

The fifth is the Vibe Check… And it goes both ways! 

The Client and the Coach both do it…after all a partnership is getting forged, isn’t it?
In that first meeting, the leader can feel the presence of the Coach and ask herself: 

Who is this person, really (beyond the credentials)? 
How do I feel, sitting across from them? Safe? Judged?
How easily can I speak to them? Can I be vulnerable?
How does this coach actually work? What’s their process?
What shifts can I expect? 

The Coach too must try to understand a few things
Is this leader actually open to being coached? Ready to be challenged?
Do they walk-in certain that they already know everything, or with humility?
How self aware are they?

In essence, as a leader, you must feel that you can trust this person to help you grow in the direction you want.

And as a coach, you must believe that this leader is ready and willing for their growth journey, even if it makes them uncomfortable

This #VibeCheck and #VibeMatch are absolutely critical for successful coaching to follow!
Try it the next time you consider a coach.

If you are a senior leader reading this, tell me what would make you feel you can trust an executive coach enough to be vulnerable?

#leadershipdevelopment #executivecoaching #abrighterlife #coachmusings #CXOcoaching

Yoshita Swarup Sharma

Master Certified Executive Coach | Leadership facilitator | NLP Practitioner | Inner Transformation Specialist | Co-founder & CEO – A Brighter Life

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly” Yoshita lives life by the famous lines of Richard Bach. She is a management graduate from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management and economics graduate From Hansraj College, Delhi University. She has been an accomplished marketing professional before embarking on a second career in the domain of people transformation.

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