Cathy Liska 
When building your skills as a coach to be effective, how do you measure effectiveness? The International Coaching Federation has a list of Core Competencies they explain in detail. Additionally they provide a Comparison Table that defines how coaching competencies are evaluated in their credentialing process. These documents provide excellent insight for setting goals and measuring your effectiveness as a coach. Define your goals and then consider your obstacles.
Goals: What level of effectiveness do you want with the competencies?
- Evaluate current level of competency for each of the core competencies and then determine the next level as a goal
- Achieve credentialing as an ACC, PCC, or MCC
- Skillful application of the competencies at the highest level per the Comparison Table
- A consistently increasing measure of client ROI
Obstacles: What holds you back from effective application of coaching competencies?
- Paradigm Shift – applying skills as a coach is very different than applying the same skills in other roles
- Different Competencies – some of the competencies are different and new
- Habits with Existing Skills – because of a high level of education and experience with existing skills it is a challenge to change the habits when coaching
- Awareness of Different Application – sometimes it is challenging to know when the application is on or off track
Options for Moving Forward: How will you move past your obstacles?
- Be intentionally open and consciously competent with skill application
- Reflect on how it is different plus the reasons for it being different
- Focus on one skill area at a time
- Practice with colleagues
- Practice with a mentor coach or a trainer coach
When you effectively build your coaching competencies and commit to continuing to enhance your skills, the rewards include the positive results of your work, the referrals, increased opportunities, and a growing coaching business.
