coaching, workshops, courses

 Chemistry meetings are a chance for us to discuss your goals for coaching, for you to understand my approach and coaching style, ask any questions, and an opportunity for us to get to know each other and see if we would be a good fit to partner together for a coaching program. 

While chemistry is important this is not the only criterion for selecting a coach. Some other things you might want to consider: 

• Confidentiality - while confidentiality is part of the profession's code of ethics of any coach aligned with a professional coaching body, be sure to ask them how confidentiality will be handled. This is especially tricky if your coach will be involving stakeholders from your organization in the coaching process.   
•  Certification - you want to make sure that the coach is certified through a certification body such as the International Coaches Federation (ICF) or Association for Coaching (AC). This certification ensures that your coach has the right skills, follows a code of conduct (see above), and is dedicated to their own professional development.
• How do they define success -  understanding this will help you know how the coach will help you to measure success. I believe that success should be measured in terms of skills and behaviour change (e.g. better listening) and the impact of that (e.g. stronger stakeholder management and greater influence in the organization, as demonstrated by getting buy-in to proposal x). Success can also be assessed by the key stakeholders you are wanting to impact.  
• Coaching logistics such as cost, number of sessions, and the coaching process -  How much time will you be committing to? How much will it cost? Do they recommend certain leadership assessments or 360-degree feedback? How often would you meet or talk? How long does the coaching process typically last? What happens when it's not working? A good coach will customize their process to your coaching goals and will educate you in their experience of what works and what doesn’t. 
• What to expect -  In most good coaching processes, the coach will want you to drive the agenda of each coaching session, keeping the overall goals you have for coaching in mind. They will ask you about what you are committed to doing and what you learned from taking action. They will want to know your successes and challenges and what you’d like to focus on in the session. At the end of each session, they will ask you to step back and share what you learned and what actions you’re committing to.