How do you choose a coach?

Let's start with the origin of the word "coach", as this can bring us closer to selection criteria. In the Hungarian town of Kocs, the best horse-drawn "carriages" were once built for the higher-ranking people. As these came from the town of Kocs, the word coach developed in German-speaking countries and the word coach in English. A passenger coach is still called a coach in English today: something that takes higher-ranking people from where they are to where they want to go.

Higher-ranking people? Well, back then only a small section of the population could afford these special carriages. Of course, coaching is not about who is higher up, at least not as a person. But it is still the case that you have to be able to afford a coach and that it can be quite normal for the person being coached to have a better economic position in life. Coach still means: Can I get ahead with this help, ideally to where I want to go? In contrast to the mentor, who is already there or has experienced what the client wants to achieve, the coach does not necessarily have to be where the client wants to go. In this respect, the coach can sometimes only be a guide.

Different forms of coaching

The example of the coach clearly illustrates the different forms of coaching that exist. First of all, when you think of a coach, you think that you just have to sit in it and then it will take you to your destination.

However, this doesn't work for health or fitness coaches - they can't recover for the client or train for them - or in the business sector. There, a distinction must be made between interim managers, trainers and consultants who take on tasks within the company. Coaching is a guide to action. And a good coach demands that his instructions are followed. If this relationship of trust does not exist, the coaching should be terminated. Bob Proctor says it so well: "If I coach you, you have to do what I tell you. Otherwise I become your assistant. And I don't want that."

Imagine if Jürgen Klopp was the coach of Liverpool's football team and the players didn't follow instructions. The team would never get on the winning track. Ergo: The coach is not on the pitch himself, he gives instructions on how to play the game.

The coach must therefore be good in order to give the best instructions. They don't have to be able to do everything better themselves. He must be able to lead his team, his coachees, to success. And that is a special gift.

In English, education means education. The word has a Latin origin and means "to bring out". A coach is good if he can awaken and develop the inner potential, the unique ability of the team member, the coachee, and bring it to fruition. Nothing should be imposed or grafted on. Therefore, when choosing a coach, you should pay attention to whether you want to be carved in the coach's image, whether you just want to buy their program, or whether it is really about developing the client's uniqueness. This is usually a very individual and up-close process. Jürgen Klopp could not do his job remotely and not with video courses alone.

The coach should not be selected solely on the basis of material success. It is also logical to look at how this success was achieved and what values underlie it. I explain this below using the purpose quadrant.

We have also often talked about different levels of consciousness. Whether I follow Spiral Dynamics or other models is the same for the basic criterion of the level of consciousness. More important is: Can your coach take you to the next level? He must at least be able to show you the right wall for your ladder and perhaps also hold the ladder. I've often had coaches that I chose at the level I was at. However, many of the so-called top coaches at that level were incapable of taking me to the next level because they didn't know and couldn't understand it. Coaching was often even detrimental to me. Not only did it cost me unnecessary time (money anyway), but it also often undermined my self-esteem, as it wasn't really about me and my advancement, but about copying a level that I wanted to leave.

Selecting a coach with the purpose quadrant

That's why today I recommend using the Purpose Quadrant to select a coach. I have often used this chart here, and in itself it is self-explanatory, and I have often used it ... but how does it work for coach selection?

Let's start by giving the quadrants numbers. Bottom left 0, bottom right 1, top left 2 and top right 3. Now feel which quadrant you are in - in the context of the desired coaching. Let's start from the context of business and career. If purpose and your true self have not played a major role so far, you are probably in quadrant 0 or 1. You can easily determine which of the two you are in by looking at your bank balance. Do you have to work hard to survive (0) or can you afford a lot and not work for months or even years and still live (1)?

At the bottom left, quadrant 0, we have crossed out in red because we wouldn't wish anyone to live there. But it can happen - I was born there, for example.

The lower right quadrant, quadrant 1, is what we internally call the investment banker quadrant. If I conform to the prejudice and do everything for bonuses, I am betraying my soul.

At the top left, in quadrant 2, you are in good to very good contact with your soul. There are many here who discard matter, it is called the mendicant quadrant, because they deliberately renounce matter. There are also many people here who help with their professions but are afraid of money and luxury.

In the upper right quadrant, quadrant 3, we are out of the dilemma. Here, economic success can be lived with emotional fulfillment in harmony with the soul. We call this *purpose driven profit*.

Where are you in this picture and where do you want to go? Then you will already have a good starting point for your coach selection.

In other words: people in quadrant 0 usually stay there. If they do change (which rarely happens), it is often only after 1 in order to get out of money trouble first, the purpose does not yet play a dominant role. I also changed from 0 to 1, from poor to rich. When I realized the missing soul connection, I then went to 2, from off-purpose to on-purpose - but at the same time from rich to poor. I had radically given up and transferred my law firms, my office building. The book *Lieber die ganze Welt gegen mich als meine Seele* (I'd rather have the whole world against me than my soul) records some of this process.

You could also go from 0 to 2. But this seems to me to be the case much less often.

I went from 1 to 2 myself. But today I also have clients who go from 1 directly to 3, while maintaining their economic success from off-purpose to on-purpose. You don't have to go back to poverty first. Transformation does not require poverty, only the courage to do business differently with a new world view and new values.

From 1 you can also fall back into quadrant 0. From money back to poverty, that happens often enough.

From 2 to 0 hardly ever happens, at least I don't know of any cases. From 2 to 1 and 3 is possible. You can have your soul bought or you can go to 3 because you realize that 2 is not a good model for the world.

Once again as an overview:

From ... ... to
0 1 and 2, rarely after 3
1 0, 2, 3
2 0, 1, 3
3 1 and 2, rarely after 0

So: Now find out which quadrant you are currently in. Then decide which quadrant you want to change to. And then choose your coach carefully. Is he or she at home in the quadrant you want to change to? The quadrants are large areas. In 3, for example, you can place more emphasis on purpose and less on financial success. Or have very great material success there, but purpose just above the zero line.

First of all, the most important thing is that your coaches are always at the level you want to be at. Once you are there, you can then look for the next coach who will take you further. Sometimes you have to change coaches if you want to grow yourself but the coach is not doing so.

If you want to have an above-average quality of life, I always recommend a coach. You choose him specifically, as described above? - Very good! Top coaches will get you to your destination faster, more comfortably and more gently.

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