The Coachaverse, useful tips on coaching certifications

Like the lead character in the Bollywood movie ‘Brahmastra’, over time I have gained understanding of some of the elements of ‘Coachaverse’ – The world of professional coaching.

Title – Completing a course with 60 study hours which imparted core competencies (CCUs) and resource development (RDs), was a starting point arming me with the title of a professional coach.

A professional coach needs to develop skills like active listening, asking powerful & relevant questions, maintaining presence and communicating effectively with the client. By building trust, the coach partners with clients to enhance awareness and accelerate their progress.

Regulation - The coaching profession is self-regulated. A group of like-minded people, primarily in the US and Europe, have over the years formed associations to regulate, offer support and lay down the approach and best practices for the members and clients to refer and use this professional service.

Some of the known associations which provide certifications are ICF (International Coach Federation), AC (Association for Coaching), EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council), Coaching Federation of India (CFI), and ICC (International Coaching Council), for example.

Certification - More and more Indian organizations prefer certified coaches from reputed global coaching associations to ensure minimum quality standards.

As a member of the ICF, I was required to demonstrate a minimum number of hours with real-life clients apart from the hours of study to get a basic certification ACC (Associate Certified Coach).

Upskilling - An established warrior in any field needs to showcase the impact of rigorous training and continue to learn to gain mastery.

Further certifications in ICF are PCC (Professional Certified Coach), MCC (Master Certified Coach) which one can achieve by doing defined hours of study, mentoring and demonstrating minimum hours of experience coaching clients.

Coaches are further required to earn CCUs and RDs to keep their accreditation alive which ensures continuous learning and self-improvement benefitting both the coach and the client.