Is it important to get a coaching accreditation? Isn’t the coaching degree you get from your coaching school enough?
I think the answer depends on one’s intention for their personal brand.
While I don’t think this accreditation will get you more coaching clients, or help you have a turnover with many zeros, it can instead be a constant process of improvement by aligning yourself with the values of a community of coaches you respect and believe you have something to learn from.
Personally, I opted for the International Coaching Federation, the only one I knew of at the time and the one also recommended by the school I attended, and about which I’ll tell more below.
I didn’t know from the start if I wanted a coaching accreditation or not, but once I understood the benefits for me and my coaching practice, I was 100% convinced. And after much preparation and self-doubt, on a Friday afternoon, the email confirming my PCC level accreditation arrived.
A fantastic win for me and the reward for a year and a half of working with myself, studying coaching methods and many individual coaching hours.
So what are the benefits of a coaching accreditation
- Alignment to a code of ethics. When you start a coaching education, there is a period of adjustment to the coaching mindset. Even though we all enter school with a desire to help others, that doesn’t mean we have to find solutions and answers for the people we work with. A code of ethics explains your motivation behind it. The “why” of following the coaching competencies.
- Following a set of coaching competencies. They are like a lighthouse that will always guide you safely to shore. Whenever you are unsure of what you should do in a coaching session, turn to the competencies and they will show you the way home to a successful coaching session from which you and your client will both emerge much better than when you started.
- Association with an international brand (ICF, EMCC, AC etc) which aims to give visibility and credibility to this profession through a continuous process of continuous improvement and development.
The relationship between the code of ethics and coaching skills is one of interdependency. The code of ethics helps you to understand WHY you should apply the competencies, and the competencies help you understand HOW you can apply the code of ethics.
Of course these are just the values-based benefits. There are also other logistical benefits, which relate to the credibility given by the accreditation:
- Internal coaching job. Maybe you don’t want to be an entrepreneur as well, getting an accreditation allows you to get a job in a multinational company that has internal coaches
- A coaching job on a national or international coaching platform. You apply on specialized websites (e.g. coachhub.com) and based on a profile where you talk about the type of coaching you practice, people can apply to work with you for the packages you offer.
- Team or individual coaching projects in multinational companies. If life as an entrepreneur appeals to you, but you want to stay in a corporate environment, then an accreditation will give you an advantage in getting a company-wide collaboration.
That said, the accreditation process is not the easiest nor the fastest.
Depending on the coaching school you have graduated from you will be able to go through the process faster or slower. But in any case, the assessment methods are the same. You need:
- 10 hours of mentoring with an accredited coach at the same level or above for which you are applying.
- 1 or 2 coaching recordings that you submit for assessment, either at the school or directly to the ICF
- a passing score of at least 460 points on the ICF Credentialing Exam
- and of course the necessary practice hours at the level you wish to obtain.
This is where I can assist you through a Mentoring Program
During a 3-month mentoring program in which we will meet every two weeks I will guide and support you to be able to deepen your ICF skill set and code of ethics so they become a part of you and your coaching practice. It’s not enough to just ask questions that you know will cover a particular competency, you need to understand the importance of the question to the client and especially to your relationship with that client.
We will evaluate together, 4 coaching sessions that you will record with your own clients and see which areas you need to focus more on so that you get a successful final record.
I’ll help you see your coaching superpowers and discover how they can assist you in your sessions. At the same time we’ll also look at missed opportunities and what’s holding you back in those moments.
And our final session together will be in preparation for the 3-hour (+1 if English is not your first language) knowledge test exam, which will test your skills in 81 different coaching scenarios for which you will have to choose the best and worst coaching options.
In addition, thanks to the process that also helped me to learn, once every 3 months I will organize a free practice and feedback session where you can participate with 2 other coaches who are preparing for the same accreditation process.
Why choose me?
My passion for coaching has allowed me to dive into everything I’ve discovered about coaching with enthusiasm, and especially with a hunger for knowledge that I’ve never felt for anything before.
So, my way of digging into all the resources offered by CoachVille, old recordings with Thomas Leonard, dozens of hours of observing coaching practicums and a fascination with powerful and insightful questioning, gave me the ease to score very well on my own assessments. I took the feedback provided and the opportunities for growth and turned them into superpowers. That’s what I want to offer you if you’d like to work together!
In a nutshell,
- I’ve logged over 600 hours of coaching over a year and a half.
- over 200 hours of peer practice
- I have successfully mentored several coaches who have managed to achieve the desired accreditation after working together, and even set up their own coaching business
- I am a trainer in CoachVille Romania
The cost for this 3-month mentoring package is 3000 lei (aka 600 euro) and includes
- evaluation of 3 coaching sessions
6 hours of 1 to 1 mentoring (3 hours of feedback on coaching records, 2 hours on the code of ethics and competences and 1 hour on the ICF Credentialing Exam)
If you are interested in what I have told you about my mentoring programme, I encourage you to send me an email and we can continue the discussion in a get-to-know-you session.