How to Choose an Executive Coach in Switzerland
Updated 24.10.2026 by Tünde Lukacs
Choose an executive coach on five checks: a recognised coaching credential, experience with leaders at your level, a price you get in writing, a written agreement on who sets the goals and who sees what, and a first conversation in which the coach asks more than they tell.
Most of these can be tested before you pay anything.
Here is the checklist I would give a friend.
Credentials. Look for a credential from the International Coaching Federation (ICF), or coach training at a recognised business school. It tells you the person has been trained and assessed as a coach.
Your level. Ask what level of leader they usually work with. A coach who works mostly with first-time managers can be excellent and still be the wrong choice for a CEO or a board member.
Cost. Ask for the full price before the first session, and what it includes. At The Change Republic, individual coaching costs between CHF 3,000 and CHF 20,000.
Who pays and who sets the goals. If your company pays, the goals are in some cases agreed in a three-way conversation with a sponsor, usually your line manager or someone in HR. If that applies to you, agree in writing what the sponsor will hear and what stays in the room.
Coach or mentor. Decide which one you need. A mentor shares what worked for them in a similar job, while a coach asks the questions that help you reach your own decision.
Length. Expect six to eight sessions over several months, sixty to ninety minutes each.
The first conversation. Use it to test the fit. Notice who does most of the talking.
What credentials should an executive coach have?
The word coach on a website tells you very little, so start with the credential.
The International Coaching Federation awards three credential levels, and each one requires logged coaching hours. The Associate Certified Coach (ACC) needs at least 100 hours of coaching experience, the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) at least 500, and the Master Certified Coach (MCC) at least 2,500. The figures are on the ICF credentials page: https://coachingfederation.org/credentialing/icf-credentials-overview
You can check whether a coach really holds the credential they name in the ICF's online directory, linked from that same page. ICF also has a Swiss chapter: www.coachingfederation.ch
Business schools train coaches too. I am IMD certified and an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC), and I would still tell you that the certificate is only the first filter.
A credential measures coaching skill. The ICF defines coaching once, for every level and every niche, so whether a coach understands your world is a second question, and yours to ask: have they worked with people carrying the kind of responsibility you carry?
Seniority in a coach helps here, with one condition. Plenty of senior people become coaches and then spend the sessions telling you what they would have done. That is advice with a coaching label on it, a different service from the one you are buying.
My own background is over twenty years in leadership roles in energy and professional services, the last of them as a partner at one of the Big 4 firms. That experience helps me follow a boardroom conversation quickly. It would count for little if I used the sessions to tell my own stories.
So listen for three things in a first conversation. Does the coach ask before they suggest? Do they explain how confidentiality works without being asked? And will they tell you if you are not their client? A good coach will.
What does executive coaching cost in Switzerland, and who pays?
Ask for the price early. A coach who will not name a number until the third conversation is making your decision harder.
My own prices are on my website. Individual coaching costs between CHF 3,000 and CHF 20,000. The exact price depends on the size of the engagement, how long it runs, and the tools included, such as the Leadership Circle Profile or AI-supported tools between sessions. For company-sponsored coaching, you receive a quote after a first conversation.
When you compare offers, compare the same things: the number of sessions, their length, what happens between sessions, and whether an assessment such as a 360 is included. Two offers called executive coaching can describe very different amounts of work.
Then comes the second question: who is paying?
If you pay yourself, the agenda is yours, and so is every decision about what to share.
If your company pays, a third person sometimes joins the contract. This sponsor is usually your line manager or someone in HR, and the goals are then agreed in a three-way conversation between you, the sponsor and the coach. Some companies ask for this, while others leave the goals to you and the coach, so ask at the start which one applies.
Where there is a sponsor, that conversation is useful. It puts what the organisation expects from you on the table, in words you can work with. It also changes what has to be agreed before the first session.
Agree in writing what the sponsor will hear. A clear arrangement can look like this: the sponsor knows the goals, joins a short review at the midpoint and at the end, and hears nothing about the content of the sessions unless you choose to share it.
Discovering halfway through that your manager expected a progress report is the expensive way to learn this. A good coach raises the question in the first conversation. If they do not, raise it yourself.
Do CEOs and board members need a coach or a mentor?
At the top of an organisation the request often comes in different words: an executive mentor, a CEO mentor, a sparring partner.
A mentor has done a version of your job and tells you what worked for them. That is valuable when you are new to the level, the industry or the country. At CEO and board level it gets harder. Very few people have done your exact job, and the ones who have are often former colleagues, competitors or people with a stake in your decisions.
A coach brings no answers of their own. The work is on how you decide, how you come across in the boardroom, and the questions you have nobody else to think through with. The team reads every hesitation as a signal, and the board wants answers. A coach is the one person in your week with no stake in either.
Sparring is the word you will often see in Switzerland for something in between: a thinking partner who pushes back. Sparring is highly subjective. There is no set methodology behind it, and it relies a lot on gut feeling, so be careful when you buy it. Ask anyone who offers it whether they will mostly ask questions or mostly give opinions. Both can help you. You should know which one you are paying for.
For board members the agenda changes again. The work tends to be about the relationship with the CEO and the chair, how to challenge without running the business, and decisions taken as a group, where your judgment counts only if you can bring others with you.
I set out the differences between coaching, training and mentoring in more detail here: www.thechangerepublic.com/executive-expert-articles/executive-coaching-vs-leadership-training-vs-mentoring-what-is-the-difference
How long does it take?
Expect six to eight sessions over several months, sixty to ninety minutes each, usually every two weeks or once a month. The weeks between sessions matter as much as the sessions. That is where the work gets tested, in real meetings with real people. Behaviour under pressure changes over months.
What should you ask in the first conversation?
Three questions sort most of it. At what level do you usually work? What does the agenda usually cover? Who is in the contract besides me? A good coach answers all three in a few minutes.
Who will set the goals for your coaching?
Executive coaching with The Change Republic, in Zurich and across Switzerland, starts with a free 30-minute session to test the fit: www.thechangerepublic.com/executivecoaching
Tünde Lukacs is a Swiss executive coach and keynote speaker on leadership and AI, and the founder of The Change Republic in Zurich. A former partner at one of the Big 4 firms with over 20 years of leadership experience, she is IMD certified and an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC), and coaches senior leaders through promotions, career changes and AI adoption.