John Honor: Hello! My name is John Honor and I am a professional coach and member of the International Coach Federation. In this video I'll be talking about some of the important research to conduct when thinking about hiring a coach to help achieve your individual goals. Coaching can help individuals address in number of ways, whether it's their relationships with others, financial help, self esteem, managing retirement, preparing to re-enter the workplace or work life balance.

Start your research by talking to friends and peers to see if they've ever worked with a professional coach. How did they find the experience, can they recommend a coach. If you don't know anyone who has worked with a coach you can always spend some time browsing the Internet for case studies, articles, research and other information on the effectiveness of coaching. There's plenty available. A great place to start is coachfederation.

org. You will find reports that support using professional coaching to achieve your goals. Organizations like International Coach Federation conduct global research regularly and publish their findings on their website. For example, International Coach Federation's 2010 Global Consumer Awareness Study showed that the number of satisfied clients among those involved in a coaching relationship with an ICF credentialed coach was 92%, 55% of which were very satisfied with their coaching partnership. The 2009 ICF Global Client Study specifically shows that given the same circumstances that previously led the person to seek professional coaching, 96% clients would repeat the coaching classes. In addition to finding information that supports the reasons you want to work with a professional coach, you'll also want to review information you come across in order to better understand the coaching process. Your professional coach isn't going to tell you what to do and they may be even meeting with you over the phone; they're time commitment inbound. How many sessions are you likely to have, the financial investment, what do coaches charge per hour. I encourage you to keep these tips in mind as you consider hiring a professional coach to help you meet your personal objectives and goals.