You and Your Executive Coach Are a Bad Match. Now What?

U.S. corporations spend more than $1 billion annually to provide coaching to senior leaders who have been flagged for their high potential. While much has been written about how to select a coach, there’s very little information out there about another common situation: picking the wrong coach. Leaders mismatch with coaches for a variety of reasons. They may not be sure what to look for when selecting a coach, or they may not even be given their choice of coaches. Whatever the cause, if leaders are determined to achieve the results they want, they need to fix what’s going on with their coach — or find a new one. Three steps can help: determine why it doesn’t feel like a match, address your specific concerns with your coach, and share your rationale wit your coaching engagement sponsor.