How to Hire an Executive Coach: 7 Steps to Finding a Great Fit

Hiring an executive coach for one-on-one coaching can be daunting when you’re facing the task alone. What should I look for? Where can I find one? How do I know if a coach is the right fit for me?

Asking these questions is a great start. It shows you want to be thoughtful about your choice. Your coach will be like a co-pilot; a partner who is beside you in the cockpit. The right fit will help you make the most of the coaching experience.

Multiple factors will influence the right fit for you. Among them: your coaching goals, a coach’s profile, and the degree of adaptability you both bring to the relationship.

Here are seven steps to help you hire an executive coach who will be a great fit for you:

1. Know why you want an executive coach

It can be easy to speed through this step, especially when the need to hire an executive coach feels time-sensitive. Take a pause. What is prompting you to find a coach? Why now? What could a coach offer that you are not getting from your current environment or available resources? What is at stake if you don’t secure a coach? Be honest and specific. Distinguish between the goals you have for yourself and the goals your stakeholders may have for you.

2. Get perspective from others who have worked with an executive coach

The terms “coach” and “coaching” can mean different things in different contexts. Supplement any independent research you have done on coaches and coaching with personal stories from your friends, family, and colleagues. Find out how they selected their coach, what the engagement looked like, and the impact the experience had on them.

3. Reflect on what you are seeking in a coach.

Consider different elements of a coach’s profile. In terms of credentials, you may evaluate the coach’s training and certifications, professional experience, specialization, and track record. In terms of personality and beliefs: communication style, coaching philosophy, or values might be important to you. Don’t hesitate to filter by demographics or life experience if those characteristics are important to you. Seek input from your network and look for publicly available information about different coaches to help come up with your wish list.

To find a coach and get a sense of their profile, tap into:

• Your network (friends, family, colleagues, networking groups, employers, investors)
• Social media (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, Threads)
• Directories (such as the International Coaching Federation directory)

4. Estimate a budget and funding sources.

Rates for executive coaching can vary widely depending on the scope of the engagement, the skills of the coach, the coaching sponsor, the client’s seniority, the client’s industry, and the delivery format. Define a budget range you have to work with and brainstorm your sources of funding. You may have professional development funds available through an employer, investor, grants, or your own business. I have a client right now whose leader is expensing our 6-month coaching engagement through a corporate credit card. Be careful not to assume that you have no choice but your personal funds.

5. Meet with 3-4 coaches from a short list.

Getting on a call with an executive coach before you decide to work with them is important. Aside from learning more about their offerings, the call will help you assess the intangibles you can’t access solely from reading about what they offer:

• How comfortable do I feel with this person? 
• Do they seek to understand my needs? 
• Are they invested in my goals? 
• Could we build a rapport?
• Do we have chemistry?

I use most of the time in my introductory calls coaching the leader who seeks the coach. I want them to get a feel for the experience, so we can both evaluate whether it is a good fit for their needs. (Read more about how coaching works.) Asking the coach for sample coaching is one way to help you answer some of the questions above.

As a baseline, you can expect that a coach will offer coaching packages with a certain number of sessions delivered over an agreed-upon timeframe. Some may incorporate training or stakeholder feedback into the engagement. You can expect to meet weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Program structure and terms may differ depending on whether the engagement is personally funded versus sponsored by an employer or investor.

6. Address any potential conflicts of interest.

Confidentiality is a cornerstone of coaching. However, conflicts of interest can arise if the same coach is supporting people who have pre-existing relationships outside of the engagement. Examples of such relationships include: manager & direct report, peers on the same team, co-founders, and friends. If a coach will be shared, be sure to align on ground rules for the coaching engagement before entering into an agreement to hire an executive coach. Get separate coaches if that’s the clearest arrangement to avoid potential conflicts.

7. Adapt as you build your coaching relationship.

Even with a strong coach-client fit, it will take a few sessions to find your unique rhythm with your coach. Look for a coach who is open to adapting how you relate to each other over time. Keep open communication with your coach about how the coaching experience is going, so that the two of you can refine the relationship as you build it. In turn, be adaptable and open to hearing from your coach how they feel the engagement is going.

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When I seek to hire an executive coach for my own development, I consider these same factors. To summarize the list of steps above into two simple questions, I ask myself: 

“What do I need, and can this person help with what I need?” 

The characteristics that matter most to me in a coach are shared values, specialization, and track record. To assess whether a coach will be a fit for me, I always schedule a one-on-one intro call, attend upcoming events the coach is hosting, and/or review the content they post publicly.

If most of what you’re looking for checks out with a coach, go for it, especially if the coach has availability on your timeline. You don’t want to get stuck in decision paralysis or end up on a waiting list to work with the coach. The coaching relationship opens up so much opportunity to help you grow.