You’ve decided that you may be ready to hire a coach, but where do you start? Today, Marc Mawhinney and I discuss how to hire a coach when it’s the right time for your organization and you.
Marc Mawhinney
Host, Natural Born Coaches
“Coaches are important because they are a second pair of eyes for your business.” -Marc Mawhinney
Mark and I discussed my recent article on What to Know When Hiring a Coach.
In addition to the recommendation to check out Marc’s show, I made three recommendations of coaches I recommend at the end of the episode, all of which are past guests:
- Tom Henschel, Essential Communications
- Bill Bliss, Bliss & Associates, Inc.
- Tim Stringer, Technically Simple
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- Next Q&A show: episode 182 on presentation skills (Also see episodes 47-59 of Carnegie Coach)
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How does one know if what one needs is a professional coach (life/career coach?) or a therapist? Are there professionals which wear both hats?
I am currently in transition from solopreneur to possibly going back in the corporate world after about 12 years. Its not a transition that I am eager for and is accompanied by a good measure of anxiety, confusion, self-doubt, etc.
My feeling is that I need someone who can objectively guide me through answering some basic questions at this point in my life (What do I really want to do? What are my real strengths? Do I want to go back to the corporate grind? Should/How do I change careers?, etc.) while also helping me manage the emotional issues.
I know this is a tall order (overwhelming for me right now). Should i be seeking one person who can offer a holistic view (a life coach)? Or two very different professionals (who may or may not offer conflicting advice)?
Very helpful podcast. Thanks in advice for any suggestions.
Hey Charles, thanks for the question. I think the key factor to consider is whether you are wanting to focus and dialogue about the future, or work on dealing with the past.
Coaching is about setting yourself up for future success, therapy is about reframing the past (that’s very over-simplifed, of course). Both are extremely important and I’ve sought out both professionals in my life – but they are very different conversations requiring someone who has different training and skills. Yes, there are people who do both, but generally not at the same time with the same client (nor do I think most people would recommend that).
If you decide these are two areas of focus for you, I’d search for two different people, since I’m a believe in finding the best fit for what you need in each area. All that said, any major life transition and coaching work comes with a dose of anxiety, confusion, and self-doubt, so unless you find you need to deal with things from the past, a coach might be a great place to start. A good coach will tell you right away if they think a therapist is helpful in addition to, or instead of, coaching.
Hope that helps a bit. And, congrats on the upcoming transition, Charles. Good for you for thinking about how to set yourself up for success during this time. You’re already way ahead of how a lot of people handle big transitions like this.
One final recommendation: the book “Transitions” by William Bridges. Keep us in the loop on how things go! =)