Why Is Coaching Certification Important / What it's like to be Coached BY ME
I was interviewed recently about my process of becoming a certified coach and thought it might be helpful to others.
I do quite a bit of mentor coaching as well (for coaches going through certification) and this may answer some questions for you.
I’m certified with both the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI), CPCC and my PCC (Professional Certified Coach) via the International Coaching Federation (ICF) the North American credentialing arm.
Through what organization did you become certified as a coach? CTI - CoActive Training Institute (formerly known as Coaches Training Institute)
https://coactive.com/. I began the training in 2015 and finished my certification in 2017.
How many hours were involved and what is the cost (ballpark?) for this investment?
Initial Course Work: 6 months, 5 sessions (3 days each) of training = 120 hours, in person (max of 30 people), knowledge and experimental training.
Certification Course: 6 month, weekly = 37 hours, virtual, group (max of 8 people) training plus mentor calls, minimum 15 hours with my own coach and passing a written exam and a verbal coaching exam.
Also required, proof of coaching a minimum of 100 billable hours.
$13,000 USD (+ cost of private coach) (in 2017)
Is this org accredited through any larger body (e.g. ICF)? What are your thoughts on accreditation?
ICF - I believe accreditation is important to differentiate between coaching and consulting. Plus, we are held to a strict ethics code.
What is your official designation? PCC, professional certified coach (requires a minimum of 500 paid coaching hours and a minimum 125 hours of training)
How has your certification helped you? Was it worth the investment of time & money?
Certification helped me gain confidence and street cred - companies care about credentials, people don’t. For me, it was absolutely worth the time & money.
What was your favourite part of the process and what did you learn?
When you begin coach training, the first 6 month training is really more about deconditioning. Most of us go into coaching because we want to help people and we believe we have knowledge we want to share, and/or we’re really good at solutioning. Then you get into the program, and the goal is to strip you of the knowledge part and instead get really curious about the other person, that way you can help anyone vs only the people who could benefit from my specific knowledge.
A big part of training is learning how NOT to tell people what to do and instead allow the person you are coaching to find the wisdom inside of themselves.
Consultants tell. Coaches ask.
There is a place to share my perspective and wisdom, but it’s never from a place of “mentorship” - as in if you do the same thing I did you’ll get the same results. It’s from a place of perspective sharing and brainstorming of what is possible.
I often say that therapy is helping you to understand and come to terms with your past, Mentor is an expert in the field telling you best practices and a coach is in the middle. Your past informs your present and I think you are the expert in your own life - so my job is to pull that wisdom out of you.
If I was telling people what to do -- then I wouldn’t be pulling on the wisdom of who they are. It is one of the most difficult things about being a coach - staying curious, asking difficult questions, and saying the difficult thing that will help your client be the best they can be -- or potentially being the ONLY person willing to say the truth to the person, or even more specifically, the truth as I experience them.
My other favorite part of the training process is the real world coaching. The majority of the training is actual coaching (either 1:1 or 1:1 in front of the entire group) or activities to explore your range and get you out of your comfort zone; getting feedback and then dissecting the process of what went well and what didn’t. Or the flip side of that is having the experience of being coached, so you understand both sides. It is a very vulnerable process to hire a coach and commit to change. It should not be taken lightly.
If you could go back in time, would you do anything differently?
I did both my certification and training via CTI - in hindsight, I would absolutely recommend doing the CTI training but I may have done my certification through a different organization to explore another coaching organization's flavor. With that said I absolutely do not regret the path that I took.
Do clients value or expect a certification in a coach?
No. I have very few people ask me about my certifications. But I absolutely value my certifications and the work/knowledge I put into becoming a coach.
I often say hiring a coach is like real estate or love. You’ll just KNOW when you’ve met the right coach who can get you there…. It’s so much about the coaching conversation and really being seen. When I meet a new perspective client, rarely am I sharing much about me or the “process” - we’ll get right into the coaching so you get a chance to know what it feels like to be coached by me. I’ve had a few people question my history, but most people want to know how I can help them.
How long have you been coaching? Since 2015 full time.
What types of clients do you work with mostly? What sort of challenges or goals are they working on?
I work with a few types of clients:
(1) Corporate clients who are working on their leadership edge -- anywhere from emerging leaders to those on the executive team. They are ready to uplevel with accountability.
I would say the different levels have different challenges/goals -- emerging leaders could be finding confidence in their role and learning how to collaborate and lead a team effectively. C-suite might find that they don’t have any peers or mentors to help them brainstorm or ask questions of, so it’s more of a brainstorming place and to not feel so alone.
The biggest challenge, the higher up you go, is that what got you here will not get you there… Oftentimes, people are promoted because they are amazing individual contributors (IC’s)… but once you manage people, you have to let go of the reins and now let your team do the work, your time should now be on strategy, processes/systems and cross-collab -- which is the most difficult thing to do. The most common thing I work on with people, at this level, is delegation and again confidence -- confidence to be the Leader that they are or want to be in an authentic way.
(2) The other set of people I most often work with are those who are actually trying to find meaning in their work or “what they want to be when they grow up” -- it’s often by doing the same, remove the mask of how you think you are supposed to work and I help give people permission to work how they work best.
This could be that they are looking for a new job or to get out of the corporate world. I usually say, let’s explore what’s holding you back in the role you are currently in while exploring new roles. You don’t want to take your same bad habits with you to a new role.
(3) Set of people is entrepreneurs; either newer to their business or looking to scale.
What's your favourite coaching story?
Every person I work with has an amazing story -- you can’t be that involved in people's lives and not…
Whenever I start coaching with someone we start with where they are currently at… then on the last session we go over those same criteria. I love the wonder and disbelief people share that they might have listed their confidence at a 4 on a scale of 1-10 and now they are at an 8 and can’t believe they ever even thought they were a 4… it’s a subtle shift, but a long lasting one and that is what is so rewarding and where people can absolutely change their entire lookout on their life.
But I love it when people say that what they came in for (accountability, ROI, etc.) is not the thing they are taking from the coaching — though they achieved those things, it’s the confidence and clarity of purpose that they now feel.
I also love the story of the person when we were closing up a six month engagement, they said that they wanted to renew for an additional 3 months. As they realized they originally came to me to SURVIVE and now they were ready to THRIVE.
Are there any other questions I should ask or things you want to mention?
There are a lot of coaches out there right now and I believe it’s a testament to the new work style that is dawning. We are moving faster and need to be more creative than we have ever been… the old style of work won’t work here - and that is a hard thing to shed. We are taught in a schooling environment that trains us to get perfect grades by studying. You have to release that in the real world if you want to be successful and feel good about yourself. There is no studying for an A - you have to take chances, try new things, iterate and try again and that takes confidence and a coach can be an essential partner towards that end.
A coach will help you explore what is possible for you and then be the accountability partner to discuss what went well and what didn’t, so that you can tweak and iterate again. A coach will see the unconscious -- and name the conscious -- behaviors that are keeping you from being the successful leader or person that you want to be.
My biggest pain point in the coaching world is how many uncertified coaches say they are coaches but are actually consultants -- they are the “school” example above, “if you do what I say and/or follow this format, you will have success”. Coaching is an internal process and differs for each person because each person is an individual. I’ve seen it first hand, as I’ve done a “mastermind” with all “coaches” -- but it was actually a person talking about an issue and all the “coaches” telling them what they should be doing about the issue, and nobody ASKING what they WANT to be doing. The difference is subtle but mighty.
There’s also a bad taste in peoples mouths about “life coaches” or about getting burned from a coach in the past. It’s unfortunate, because just like a good mechanic can have your car up and running smoothly OR can bleed you dry trying to find new things wrong to be fixed.
Don’t believe a coach that tells you you have to sign within the next 10 minutes or the deal goes away; that you should go into debt to work with them; or that they can guarantee your success. We absolutely can create a successful outcome, but the work happens in between the coaching sessions, it’s team work.
Also, as your title is “How to Become a Certified Coach”, I would add -- interview coaching companies like you would interview to hire a coach. CTI is the second organization that I did a trial with. The first did not fit my personality or my value system.
I will also say that I believe real world coaching is priceless during this training process -- an online udemy course that you just watch online, is great to help you understand the foundation, but if you are not practicing those skills on real people in the real world, it may take you longer to have the confidence to have a successful coaching business -- or maybe not, you do you!
I hope this was helpful to you and helps you gain clarity in your decision.