What to Look for in an Executive Coach
You Have Decided to Hire a Coach. Now What?
You finally carved out the time, acknowledged that you need an outside perspective, and started searching for an executive coach. Then you realized the hard part was not deciding to get coached. The hard part is figuring out who to trust with the job.
The coaching industry has low barriers to entry. Anyone can hang out a shingle. And in academic medicine, where the stakes involve your reputation, your team, and your trajectory, choosing poorly is not just a waste of money. It is a setback you did not have time for.
Here is what I would actually look at.
Credentials: Useful, But Not the Whole Story
Let me start with the thing most people check first. Does this person have a certification?
Credentials from the International Coaching Federation or a similar body tell you someone invested in formal training. That matters. The ICF's Professional Certified Coach designation requires a minimum of 500 hours of coaching experience. That is not trivial.
But a credential alone does not tell you whether someone can help a division chief navigate a dysfunctional leadership team or coach a department chair through a high-stakes hiring decision. Those skills come from experience in environments that resemble yours.
Look for the credential. Then ask what is behind it.
Coaching Style: How They Work With You
Executive coaches are not interchangeable. They have different styles, and those styles produce different experiences.
Some coaches are highly structured. They use assessments, frameworks, and goal-tracking tools. Every session follows a clear arc. If you thrive on structure, that can be exactly what you need.
Others are more emergent. They follow your energy and trust the process to surface what matters. Henry Kimsey-House and his co-authors describe this well in Co-Active Coaching — the idea that the client's agenda drives the session, not a predetermined playbook.
Neither approach is inherently better. What matters is whether the style matches how you actually learn and change. Ask a prospective coach how they structure sessions. If their answer does not resonate, that is important information.
Chemistry: The Thing You Cannot Fake
A 2016 meta-analysis in The Journal of Positive Psychology confirmed what most coaches already know: the quality of the coaching relationship is one of the strongest predictors of outcomes. Not the model. Not the method. The relationship.
That means the discovery call is not just a formality. It is a live audition — for both of you.
Pay attention during that conversation:
- Do they ask sharp questions? Not surface-level questions about your title and goals. Questions that make you think.
- Do you feel heard? Not managed. Not impressed. Heard.
- Do they understand your world? Academic medicine has its own rules. The promotion process, the politics of protected time, the tension between clinical load and scholarly work. Your coach does not need to be a physician. But they need to demonstrate fluency with your context.
- Are you being honest? If you notice yourself performing during the first conversation, that is a signal. Coaching only works when you can say the real thing.
If the chemistry is not there, it does not matter how impressive the resume is. Keep looking.
Red Flags That Should End the Conversation
A few things that would give me pause if I were hiring a coach.
They guarantee results. No legitimate executive coach can promise you a promotion or a leadership appointment. They can help you show up differently. The results follow from that — but they are yours, not theirs to guarantee.
They have no experience near your world. Coaching a physician leader is different from coaching a startup CEO. If someone cannot speak credibly about academic medicine, you will spend too much time educating them and too little time being coached.
They are selling a rigid program. Beware the coach with a twelve-step system that every client follows regardless of context. Executive coaching should be tailored to your role and challenges. Cookie-cutter approaches signal that the coach is optimizing for their business, not your development.
They rush you to commit. A coach who pressures you into a six-month contract after a thirty-minute call is prioritizing their pipeline over your fit. Good coaches give you room to decide.
The Bottom Line
Finding the right executive coach is not about finding the most credentialed person or the best website. It is about finding someone who listens well, challenges you without ego, understands your environment, and creates a space where you can be honest about what actually needs to change.
That combination is rarer than it should be. But it is worth the search.
Check out our individual coaching options if you're ready to invest in your next chapter.
