This month I acquired my Professional Coach (PCC) accreditation with the International Coaching Federation (ICF). I have previously been working at the Associate Coach level, but in my passing my PCC accreditation, I became only the 437th member of a select group of ICF coaches in the UK who are working at this more advanced level.
What actually is coaching?
Coaching is a learning tool that works at a deeper level than traditional learning interventions. It suits people seeking to make a behavioural change, but who need the partnership of another to help them formulate a plan of action that they can buy into psychologically.
Working with a coach helps clients to think and plan a transition into something new or to get unstuck in a challenge they are facing. This client-centric approach by the coach allows individuals to create an action plan for change that they take personal ownership of.
So why choose a PCC qualified coach?
1. PCC certified coaches have to train for an additional 125+ hours with a reputable approved coaching training provider and achieve a clear standard of competencies while being observed by others already trained to a higher level of practice.
2. PCC coaches take an approach with clients that is both organizationally and psychologically sound, having been objectively judged by expert moderators that ensures PCC coaches will achieve a high standard and drive significant value for their clients.
3. All accredited coaches have to master the core competencies of coaching and these can be understood further on the ICF website: https://www.coachfederation.org.uk/about-us/icf-core-competencies/ PCC coaches must also work at deeper level of coaching, bringing a more in-depth knowledge of psychology from the additional study into the coach/coachee partnership.
4. All coaches should have supervision to keep them psychologically ready for working at more advanced levels. PCC coaches also have an increased number of compulsory professional development hours as a requirement of the renewal process. This ensures PCC coaches remain current in both organisational thinking and in recent psychological advances in the understanding of human behaviour.
How to choose the right coach?
When you are looking to invest in some help with your leadership or career issues or where you might be stuck in your business, my advice would be to look for a Professional Coach who:
· Has a recognised qualification in the coaching field that suits your requirements
· Is accredited further with the ICF, EMCC or another coaching accreditation body
· Is in touch with developments in the fields of coaching and has a significant level of psychological understanding
· Has knowledge of corporate life and organizational systems
· Has sensitivity to your situation and knows how to work with different learning styles
· Demonstrates the highest ethical and professional standards
· Can prove that their work has been professionally supervised over a number of years.
What I bring to my work with coachees
As a learning and development professional, I understand the significant role that coaching can play in creating success stories for my clients. By operating at a PCC level, I can now demonstrate:
- 500+ paid hours of coaching to clients. Coaching everyday means my approach is robust, particularly as I have worked across many sectors and client types. I understand people, leaders and organisations, enabling me to offer my clients psychological safety when working with their personal stories – thus helping them to transition.
- My own coaching model which is based on eight core principles built from leading-edge coaching theory. My model supports my clients in creating the behaviour change and positive mindset they are looking for. It has been proven in practice to work by many of my coachees and has been widely endorsed by those that have observed the work’s impact on their business.
- Extremely high ethical standards including confidentiality, boundary awareness, and an advanced level of customer service in deployment and session set up.
- Utilisation of more advanced tools, techniques and exercises, helping to support clients to unlock a mindset for change by initially rehearsing the behaviour in the coaching space. This enables coachees to prepare to make the change in real-life, ensuring clients leave ready to genuinely make a change happen.
Do you have a leadership or career challenge right now? Or are you facing current issue in your team that you can’t resolve?
Why not contact me for a confidential chat about how I can help you become unstuck.