What is Required to be a Coach?

By Pete Liska https://www.linkedin.com/in/peteliska/

Technically and legally, almost anyone can call themselves a coach. Some individuals do call themselves coaches without having any coach training. This is like asking someone to go see a doctor who hasn’t had any medical training.

What is really interesting is that sometimes people think a coach is like a mentor or a consultant – that they give advice. The truth is a coach empowers a client to discover their own answer. This takes skill.

The International Coach Federation (ICF), defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” A coach listens, asks questions, challenges and expands thinking, plus partners with the client to empower them moving forward using their thinking, exploration, choices, and planning. A good coach will have great listening skills so they listen and understand what their client is and is not saying.

Coaching certification is designed to develop Core Competencies. The competencies include the coach following the Code of Ethics, establishing a written coaching agreement, developing trust and intimacy, being present, actively listening, asking powerful questions, using clear and direct language, creating awareness, designing actions, planning and goal setting, and managing progress and accountability. The coach lets the client create their strategies to achieve a goal, enhance skills, and be more aware. Powerful coaching questions give the client the freedom to talk out and explain what they’re feeling, their goals, and plan their future.

At the Center for Coaching Certification, the Certified Professional Coach program gets you started for becoming a coach. To be a coach the minimum is qualifying for membership in the ICF and that requires more training so the Certified Master Coach class is the next step. Both are ICF-approved programs that support you learning and applying the coaching competencies while gaining both process and tools for your work as a coach.