Often when organizations face a change in direction, they look to a Management Coach for help.  Finding a coach with integrity, who can honestly deliver knowledgeable, efficient help can be a challenge.  If you think your organization could benefit from the help of a management coach, here are some things to consider when interviewing potential candidates.

Is the coach / consultant able to listen.  Unfortunately, there are consultants who can talk and talk but fail to hear what you have to say.  If they can’t listen to what you say, it is highly unlikely that they will ever understand your needs and objectives.

A management coach / consultant should offer you a service, not a product. You need someone who will work to solve your problems and meet the needs of the assignment.  You don’t need someone who has a solution that they feel fits all problems.  Be wary of someone who wants only to sell you their program or process.  While their products may be valuable resources to have, a coach / consultant must provide guidance and teaching first.

Be wary of a coach /consultant with boasts of amazing results that they made come about.  A consultant’s job is to empower people and to teach them. A good coach / consultant will help you to recognize the root cause of issues and demonstrate how accelerate improvement.

You will want to work with a coach /consultant with plenty of diversified experience.  A big caveat here is to avoid the temptation to search out a consultant with experience only in your industry.  In order to be truly effective a consultant must be able to offer a wide range of approaches to problem solving that can only come from having worked in many different situations.

The last thing you or your employees need is someone telling you what a mess you’ve made of things or point out all the wrong choices you’ve made.  If a consultant starts out by talking about how bad things are in your system and how things should have been done, then you should definitely end the interview then and there.

Lastly, a coach /consultant should come to you with an open mind.  He/she should wait until all of your concerns and issues have been presented before offering any input at all.  If the coach / consultant arrives at your door with a readymade, cookie cutter, one size fits all approach, they are not the people you want!