Being accredited in the world of coaching has a range of benefits for a coach. This article will discuss why being accredited is the next best step you can take as a coach, and how further learning and having an accreditation that declares you have indeed invested the number of hours necessary as a coach, allows you to practice confidently in your field of work.
As a coach, you know you have a range of responsibilities, not only to your business but to your clients or coachees as well. This includes that you should know what coaching is and how it differs from teaching or consulting (upcoming blog on that topic so keep your eyes peeled). The responsibilities also include having to generate leads, drive the income, and above all your responsibility in the role as a coach entails taking on the facilitating and guiding of the client or coachee towards their desired outcomes. Coaching the client and not the process, but how?. The world of coaching is softly regulated, leaving room for so many differences within the approach, tools and even how the “end goal”, or as ICF accredited coaches will say, “the Agreement”, is established, approached, and executed.
So few regulations surround the world of coaching, the lines between coaching, consulting, and teaching can blur so quickly that we become lost in what was intended to be a coaching session that turns into a ball of intertwined information that both parties involved don’t know what to make of, leaving you scrambling for notes and tips on what next.
That’s essentially what coaching does, it helps figure out what’s next with regards to whatever the desired outcome is you the coach, and the coachee is working towards. Now, to achieve what is briefly discussed above, there is a baseline required, and that baseline consists of trust. No client will willingly pay you to coach them if they don’t trust that you know what you are doing, and you will not be able to coach someone confidently if you do not enter with years of experience, some form of training, or both.
Being accredited with ICF gives you a guide on how to best manage and conduct your business and coaching session. This is mainly with the help of the ICF Core Competencies that outline a framework that ICF accredited coaches adhere to as to ensure quality, respect, and sustainable outcomes not only for the coaches but for the clients as well.
Being an accredited coach gives you the ability to confidently navigate your coaching sessions and business along with providing your clients with concrete expectations and key point indicators of what to expect within the process.
ICF Accredited coaches that have been in the coaching game for a long time continuously invest in learning hours to improve and show their dedication towards improving their quality of work, at ICF, this is called CCE hours. The beautiful thing about the ICF accreditations is that it recognizes the vast range of different coaching methods, tools, and coaching individuals. Thus their accreditation process allows for you to be associated with ICF once you have reached your 60 hours of coach-specific training through accredited providers, after which you can add to your hours with a vast range of Accredited ICF associates that provide the CCE hours within their respective fields of coaching.
This allows for all types of coaches to compile concrete knowledge and skills within their field of interest that can guide the coachees in the process from a field of knowledge and experience within the coach that they can trust. This creates a space that allows for complete investment in the process from both sides, whether it be holistic coaches that work with a range of tools and approaches to your most specialized coaches such as strength-based coaches in the field of Positive Phycology.
An ICF accreditation provides you with the ingredients you need to form a strong coaching business and coaching relationships, these being the trust of the client and the confidence of the coach.
If you are interested in becoming an accredited ICF coach, and you would like to approach it through the field of positive phycology then you are welcome to have a look at our upcoming ICF coach-specific training dates. You can find these dates under our ACADEMY tab for more information on what Strength Synergy offers with regards to ICF coach-specific training and enrol from there. For coaches who are looking for additional CCE hours, you can contact us on which specific sections from the complete 60-hour course you would like to compile for your CCE hours and we can assist you from there.
When you enrol or enquire you can use the code: SSICF01