Getting your ICF Credential
and other NCCA news

• Getting your ICF Credential - Carl Dierschow
• Speakers needed for 2008
• International Speakers Network

Getting your ICF Credential

by Carl Dierschow, CCOC

One of the key steps in becoming a professional in any field is to go through an established and credible education program. In the field of coaching, there are a great many coach training schools worldwide. The diversity of approaches resulted in huge inconsistencies - not a problem in itself, but very confusing for clients who were interested in being able to predict the quality of the coaches they were hiring.

History

In 2001, the International Coach Federation began a concerted effort to rectify this situation. Their first step was to create objective standards for coach training schools. If you look on the ICF website, you'll see that there are now 46 Accredited Coach Training Programs (ACTPs) worldwide. This created some consistency between coach training approaches, while still supporting a wide diversity of approaches and coaching specialties.

The ICF then created a credentialing program to clearly identify coaches who have demonstrated significant skill and expertise in coaching. This includes a certain number of hours of training, of course. And since the best training and expertise comes from delivering coaching in real situations, a credential also requires a certain number of hours of coaching.

ICF credentials

The ICF provides three levels of credential:

Associate Certified Coach	- ACC - this is where most people start
Professional Certified Coach	- PCC
Master Certified Coach	- MCC

These standards of expertise are increasingly being recognized by coach employers and large organizations as a valuable way to objectively establish the quality of the coaches they engage, similar to a degree from an accredited university or a Black Belt certificate. Any organization which employs more than a handful of coaches has difficulty with selecting qualified people and achieving consistency, so consistent education and quality standards are a way to address that. This credential also helps to address regulatory concerns in various governments which are concerned about coaching being delivered by those who are unqualified.

IBM and other companies have already standardized on the ICF credential, and HP is going in that direction as coaching becomes more of a strategic asset. Recommendations have been made that we should encourage our coaches to work toward and achieve their ACC credential, but no firm decision has been made at this time. Endorsing the ICF credential would give our coaches freedom to find the school which best meets their training needs and career goals, while still resulting in a reasonable assurance of skill for people who achieve it.

Speakers needed for 2008

We have a number of speakers lining up for opportunities in 2008.  If you would like to speak or know someone who would be an asset for the NCCA, feel free to fill out the speaker form on the website.

International Speakers Network

This is the time of year when we get many requests from meeting planners who need a speaker ASAP. In the past few years, we have had last minute calls from meeting planners in a panic because their speaker cancelled without much notice. We also get calls from planners who still have money in their budget and want to do a last minute event to avoid losing the money this year and risking a reduced budget next year, since they didn't spend it all this year. When this happens, we don't always have a speaker who can be readily available to be sent on these events.

In addition, we are starting to get calls from planners who want to have us send them speakers and trainers to start previewing information to prepare for next years events. They like to have an idea of what hot topics are available so when they get their January budget, they will have already done some homework on their speakers for 2008 events.

If either of these opportunities are of interest to you, ISN may be a good fit for your career. We are always looking for speakers and trainers who are interested in getting more bookings.

If you are not a member of ISN, please contact me today for your membership packet. Membership is a one-time, lifetime fee of $525.00.

Sincerely,
Dona Merritt
International Speakers Network
647 Wall Street
Sevierville, TN 37862
(800) 987.7771

You are receiving this because you have expressed an interest in the NCCA. If you wish to be removed from the mailing list, please contact secretary@nccoaches.org. Copyright © 2007 Northern Colorado Coaches Alliance.