Cathy Liska Professional coaches are trained. Unfortunately, there are many calling themselves a coach who do not have training. Because coaching is a self-regulated profession, there are people who think being a coach is as simple as saying you are a coach.
How much sense does that make? Well, years ago, people use to call themselves a doctor without medical training. People use to call themselves a financial planner without training. People use to call themselves a counselor or a therapist without training. Like other professions have experienced, that is happening in coaching. The real question is, do you want to hire a professional service provider who has not been trained?
The gold standard in coaching is the International Coaching Federation, ICF. To become a member, they require coaches to have 60 hours of training. To earn a credential with the ICF, they require training, experience, working with a mentor coach, recording yourself coaching, and an exam. The ICF offers three levels of credentialing. The first level, the ACC, requires 60 hours of training and 100 hours of experience. The second, the PCC, requires 125 hours of training and 250 hours of experience. The third, the MCC, requires 200 hours of training and 2500 hours of experience.
While many professionals have transferable skills, coaching is a unique process and coach training is how the ability to coach effectively is developed.
