Dani Tan: Welcome to my coaching Q and a mini series where I'm covering common questions and misconceptions. I get asked about coaching. I'm providing my take perspective and answers to these common questions and misconceptions. And the next one we're going to be covering is how to vet a coach. So how do you vet a coach, whether it's me or a different coach or Anyone that you may be working with, how do you vet them? Dani Tan: And I think this is really important. There is a lot of noise in the industry of coaching of all the different kinds of coaches you can have for all the different things. And we are not knocking them whatsoever, but I do think that you should feel comfortable when you're working with anybody, um, whether it's a coach or not a coach.

Dani Tan: And so how can you really start to have a list for yourself? Of how you vet. And I have this in my series. If you join my email list, if you're, listening to the podcast right now, you will know that I provide any of my prospective clients this information because I think it's important for them to feel empowered. Dani Tan: I want you to feel like you've made a good decision. And my clients are great decision makers. that's something that we work on within coaching and outside of coaching. So. Yeah. I think the more information you can have up front to feel secure and safe is important and is part of my values. So the first thing I always have this list of questions, I'm gonna run through it.

Dani Tan: So I think if you're trying to vet a coach in general, you should think about what is their mission? Why do they coach? So why are they even coaching? what kind of values do they have? And I think that's important to see if it's in alignment with you. So for me, I coach because, I'm first gen, I'm a woman of color. Dani Tan: My corporate experience was very interesting. I felt very supported some parts and I felt like I was really isolated and alone in other parts. I always loved, you know, developing people on my team. I love always loved hiring. I always loved, being able to get promoted. I always loved. People development in general and it was one of my jams, but I also was first gen in the sense to graduate college in my immediate family.

Dani Tan: So I felt very isolated alone when it came to, the college application process, when it came to figure out my career, I ended up pivoting so many different [00:02:00] times. And I just thought to myself that if I am This motivated, driven, and ambitious and annoying when it comes to getting what it is that I want and relentless. Dani Tan: And I had this hard of a time figuring it out. Well, then who else is out there who may be having a hard time too? And how can I help them? And so I did that within my corporate experience when, I was VP in corporate, but. I started volunteering, I volunteered for a nonprofit and I was helping first gen colleges with their internships. Dani Tan: And it just, it lit me up.

And I always knew that I wanted to do something of my own kind of business, but I didn't know what. And I knew that I wanted to just basically help and give back to the community and help people feel empowered and maybe in spaces that they don't feel empowered in. and all like the secrets and back channels that there are within certain spaces, I wanted to kind of like pull back the curtain and be like, Hey, this is what's really going on in these, the conversations you have to have to feel. Dani Tan: To feel good about where you are and how you want to show up and who you want to be. And so I really, truly value people who are here to redefine what leadership looks like, who are here to uplift voices that maybe are not typically in the mainstream to challenge the status quo, to build your own path.

Dani Tan: And, and That's really, really important to me. I look at the people that I hire for my team. I look at the people who I collaborate and partner with for my organization. I make sure it's in alignment with who I am and what it is that I want to do and stand for. So I think that's important too. So the other thing that I usually tell the folks to, look at to that is what is the type of experience that they have? Dani Tan: Is it what you're looking for? are they able to help you with your goals? So for example, I know some clients who. Work with me because I have had five career pivots or I got a lot of promotions, 11 years and they're like, okay, well, she clearly knows how to pivot and she clearly knows how to promote herself to get promoted.

Dani Tan: And she is somebody who came from maybe a low income marginalized background and was able to dominate in spaces that she was not. You know, the farm few between so with that, they want to work together, or they look at my background of the industries that I've worked on or worked with and they choose to work with me. Dani Tan: So I think that's what's important to of knowing where those shared experience experiences. I've had folks work with me because I made the big move to New York and they want to make a big move to New York to, or they have, or they want to practice negotiation or. You know, for themselves building out and hiring teams, I've had to be a startup with the corporation multiple times.

Dani Tan: And so folks will come to me because they're like, I have zero to no budget. And I want to be able to fill out this team. I want to hit these goals for our company. And I just need a plan or they're taking over a company and. It is just in shambles and they need to make it more profitable. And that's one of my jams that I had in my corporate experiences was taking, uh, brands and companies that were not performing and turning them around and being able to be kind, but cutthroat when it came to those decisions. Dani Tan: So knowing that, you know, who is your coach and what skillset or experience they have, what shared experience do you have with them, I think is really important. And I think this question is really important is how do they continue to grow and develop?

Because your coach should, I believe, always be growing and developing themselves. Dani Tan: So that way they continue to expand their capacity to support their clients and their team. So I always ask, how are you continually growing and developing? are they being coached? How did they expand their knowledge to support their clients? So for me, for example, I always ask any coach that I hire, like, what are they continually doing to support themselves? Dani Tan: Do they have a coach that they work with? Do they do self coaching? Um, what might that be? And so for myself, I always have a coach. I either have some kind of coach that's supporting me or I have a team, a community that I go to. So I have my own personal community of entrepreneur friends that I go to for any kind of questions I have for that.

Dani Tan: I have my own business coach. I have a somatic coach, so I can, continually expand my ability for empathy, for emotional regulation, to understand nervous system work, to identify patterns, um, that may be popping up when it comes to fear or anxiety or sad or happiness, all that good stuff. And I think that's important work for me because. Dani Tan: All of that, those investments that I've made for myself when it comes to continual learning, and they don't always have to be coaches. For example, like I read so many books, I'm reading books. I'm listening to audio books. I'm listening to podcasts. I'm constantly trying to learn in different spaces so I can help my clients. Dani Tan: Achieve the results or to feel supported.

And so, for example, I, I love neuroscience. I love understanding how the brain works and the different neural pathways. I love understanding how that affects our actions and how to do, um, and how to change behaviors based off of those patterns. So that's something that I love to understand and study. Dani Tan: I love understanding the idea of, you know. What it is that we want to achieve, how regret comes into play, how we want to live full capacity of our lives. I'm reading about that stuff all the time. Um, so that's a little bit more about me. I'm super boring in the sense of. I don't have a TV. I hardly watch TV and I'm usually trying to learn something, which is probably to my detriment.

Dani Tan: I should probably relax a little bit more. But, um, anywho, outside of that, I always ask those questions of anyone that I work with. I think it's important. I also think it's important for somebody not to just stay in one [00:07:00] lane. If you're only focusing on one industry, then how will you see and pick up on what industries are doing? Dani Tan: Well, we talked about this all the time in my past corporate career. If you're in healthcare and you only focus on healthcare and you only absorb healthcare information, then you only know what's working in healthcare. But the best companies, the best startups or innovative companies, they look at what's doing well in different industries and pull it into their industry.

Dani Tan: And that is how you stay ever changing, evolving, and doing better. You don't just stay in your lane. You have to study. Not just your market, but all the different markets. And that's something that I find is really important. The same thing with coaching. I don't just, you know, live in the coaching industry. Dani Tan: I'm looking and seeing what's going on in the tech spaces. I'm looking to seeing what's going on in the healthcare spaces. I'm constantly looking to see what's going on all the other spaces to pull the best practices for my industry, because I don't want to be. some carbon copy of all the other folks in my space doing the same exact thing, because that's not going to help you get the best results.

Dani Tan: And that's not going to help me be the best coach. So those are good questions to ask any coach that you are trying to that. And the other thing I would say is, [00:08:00] what resources do they offer for you to get to know them? I think this is always really important, you know, before you're making an investment with somebody, what resources do they offer? Dani Tan: So you can get to know them, understand their style, understand how they teach, understand what topics they talk about, So you can get an idea what it's like to work together. Do they have workshops? Do they have a blog? Do they have podcasts? do they offer consultations? Like, are there anything out there about them?

Dani Tan: And I think it's good to see, does this person offer stuff for me to ingest? So I have a good idea of who they are before I work with them. and that way you have, a good idea. And I think the other thing is too, is like, even if they have testimonials or reviews that you can kind of consume and take in, but knowing that they have that offering out there is just showing that they're willing to share that. Dani Tan: And I always think to myself, if they're willing to give this much, of, resources of podcasts or emails or blogs or whichever, Then I can only imagine what it's like to work with them because if this is what they're willing to give out, then I'm always like, Ooh, it might be super impactful to be with them.

Dani Tan: So my favorite folks that I've worked with, they all had podcasts [00:09:00] and I would like, just listen to all of their episodes that I felt like I knew them. By the time I booked a call with them, I felt really comfortable, which is why I also started a podcast because I thought to myself, that's how I felt. Dani Tan: the most comfortable to work with somebody, then I would do the same thing for people who would want to work with me, which is why I do what I do. because I want you to feel comfortable and feel good about it. And I, that way I'll feel good about it too, us working together. And then the next thing I would say is, are they good listeners? Dani Tan: This is really important.

when you're on a consult with them, you know, do you feel like they are hearing you, that they're listening to you? Do you feel like the space was created for you? And if they maybe misheard something or misunderstood something, are they asking you clarifying questions or if you correct them, are they receptive? Dani Tan: Um, It's really important because if you're working with this person, you're sharing with them your hopes, your dreams, your goals, the things that are going well, the things that are maybe going really tough, and you want to make sure you have someone where you're like, okay, I feel [00:10:00] recognized, and I feel, you know, seen and heard, and I feel like they really understand where I'm coming from.

Dani Tan: And that is the basis for all relationships. Like, All of relationships and any relationship that you don't feel valued, validated, or heard. Those are usually the ones you have a hard time with. And so it's important for that to be seen now. Yes. So to coach or partner or whoever still like challenge you and call it the blind spots and, you know, not let you just. Dani Tan: sit and sulk. Yes, but you also want to make sure that they are able to see you where you are at and be able to hear you too. So I always think, you know, whenever I'm having interaction with somebody, do I feel like they were a good thought partner to bounce ideas off of? Do I feel like we could really have a conversation together?

Dani Tan: Do I feel like, you know, they're able to help me with the problem solving and the strategy, but also the emotions and the feelings and hold space? Yes. So I think that's really good. And then the last piece is, you know, what are their credentials and what credentials do you need for them to have to feel good about it? Dani Tan: Because I think for all of us, credentials can mean different things. especially for my folks who are like overachievers type a, like good student folks, we might want like all the credentials, but we might also know that and recognize that sometimes credentials are just like to make us feel good and like safe. Dani Tan: So I always say whatever you need. For that person to have to feel good about it is what's probably most important.

I don't think everyone has to have the same exact level of credentials. I think it just comes down to what you need them to have for you to feel secure. So, um, I always think of it as like, what have they studied? Dani Tan: Where have they worked? Who have they partnered with? What are past clients organizations they've worked with? And I think those things are all really important, to help bring it in. So, and if they're even pursuing anything new, I would ask them, is there anything new that you're curious in pursuing? I always think of it when you're vetting a coach, it's the same thing as having a job interview or you're hiring somebody. Dani Tan: You want to ask them all the questions to make sure it makes sense for you.

And then, I always ask, like, you know, have they [00:12:00] been featured or recommended or interviewed in spaces that, you know, or that you trust or that you're excited about or that are aspirational to you? I think that's all really good too. Dani Tan: So, I hope you found this helpful, and I hope you could take this information to help you feel like you can advocate for yourself and feel empowered in yourself when you're making these investments with your time, with your relationships, with your investments, just in general, you want to feel good about it. Dani Tan: And this is a way that you can use. These questions, whether it's a coach, whether it's a program, whatever kind of, you know, relationship you're trying to vet to have a better idea of what that looks like.

Amazing. I'll catch you in the next one.