ICF CCE units

What are accredited programs?

Our flagship program, the Personal Change Fitness Program (PCFP), is accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF). That may mean something to some of our readers, but in this article, I want to explain what it means to those who don’t know.

First, some background. Coaching, as an industry, has been around for 25 years or so. There are a host of training organisations, including universities, that teach people how to become a coach. But there are still many coaches who have no specific coach training. That doesn’t mean they are no good, but it means that no one in the coaching industry has verified that they have the knowledge and skills required to be a good coach.

Because coaching is not currently regulated by government, a group arose out of America called the International Coach Federation, whose mission it is to bring some standards to bear on the coaching sector. They have established a Code of Ethics and a set of 11 Core Coaching Competencies that should be a basic requirement for coaches.

The ICF

There are many coach training courses on the market that don’t reflect (in part or in full) the Code of Ethics or the 11 Core Competencies promoted by the ICF. These training programs cannot be accredited by the ICF, because they fail to meet the minimum standards. That’s not good, because people end up paying money for potentially substandard training.

Training courses that do meet the Code of Ethics and Core Competency standards may be eligible for ICF accreditation, but they need to be scrutinised by the ICF standards committee to see if they fully comply. If so, they can be accredited as an approved coach training program.

CCE units

The PCFP was approved by the ICF as an accredited training program in July 2017. It is approved as a CCE (Coach Continuing Education) program. That means it is a program for coaches who already hold an ICF credential (they are already a trained, certified coach), but to maintain their certification over time, they must engage in Coach Continuing Education programs. The PCFP is one of the programs they could choose to maintain their credential.

The benefit of ICF accreditation is that the world’s peak coaching body validates the quality of training offered in the PCFP, and credentialed coaches can count the training towards their on-going commitments. For non-coaches or coaches who are not credentialed, they can have confidence that the PCFP meets recognised standards within the coaching industry.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to us.

Written by Steve Barlow

steve@thechangegym.com

Steve Barlow
Author: Steve Barlow

Steve heads up The Change Gym. He is a change readiness specialist. You can contact him at steve@thechangegym.com.