Questions About Coaching

 

Q: How does someone become a CERTIFIED Coach?

A: One of the biggest problems in the coaching industry today is that so many people are calling themselves coaches without any credentials to back it up.

While it's true just about anyone can become a coach if she or he wants to, it takes more than a phone call (or a handful of them) to become one.  There actually is a widely accepted process to becoming a CERTIFIED Coach:

- Complete a coach training program recognized by the International Coach Federation (ICF), the organization which certifies Coaches.  There are only a handful of specific programs that are recognized, and they involve between 125 and 200 hours of classes.  For a list of the ICF-approved programs, click here.

- Document at least 750 hours of actual coaching.

- Satisfactory complete a written and oral examination

 

Q: What is the difference between Coaching, Mentoring, Consulting and Therapy?

A: Mentoring is someone in a group being mentored by a more senior individual.  Their experience is generally limited to the field they're mentoring in.  Also, the mentor usually has a vested interest in the mentee's success.  Coaches tend to have more experience in other areas, and although they are interested in their clients' success...they do not benefit directly from it.

Consulting is typically a short-term arrangement with a business, rather than an individual.  A consultant is usually brought in to address a specific, company-wide problem.  Coaching is more long-term, personal and big-picture.  Coaches address the 'who'...the individual...as well as the what and the how.

Therapy is about issues.  Why you do this or don't do that, etc.  Coaching is about goals.  Coaches generally stay away from the reasons why something is or isn't happening for you.  Instead, coaches focus on action...on making those things happen.  

***Coaches are NOT qualified to deal with therapeutic or health-related issues.  They are generally NOT MD's, CSW's or MSW's.  If you know of a coach who is giving advice on therapeutic or health-related issues, without the proper qualifications, you should report them immediately. ***

 

Q: What questions should I ask a Coach before hiring them?

  • Where did you receive your training?
  • How long was your training?  (Coaching schools deliver various levels of training.  Some are 3 days long, some are 3 years long.)
  • Does your training make you eligible for accreditation by the International Coach Federation (The ICF only recognizes certain schools, and only certain programs within those schools - usually the ones that are 18 months or longer.  Click here for a list of those programs)
  • Do you have your ICF Accreditation?  (Accreditation also requires Mentor Coaching, several hundred hours of documented coaching and monitored sessions to assure that all of the coaching proficiencies are being met)
  • Are you accredited through any other organizations

 

 

Q: John...what are your answers to those questions?

 

A:  To find out more about me, click here.

 

 

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