How to Find the Right Program TO BECOME A CERTIFIED COACH

Achieving Goals, Career Enrichment

10/24/18 - Katie Bennett

The coach training world is confusing, convoluted and extremely difficult to navigate. We get questions all the time from coaches who would like to join the ALV team but don’t yet have their coaching credential. We are happy to provide guidance to help explain the industry and help you find the best coaching training program for you. There are a couple things for you to think about before you start diving into the specific training programs:

Table of Contents

What are your goals?

Are you looking to start your own coaching practice? Or perhaps you want to join a larger coaching organization like ALV? Maybe you want to be an internal coach within an organization or you simply want to utilize coaching skills to be better at your job. Your vision for the future and how you plan to utilize your coaching skills will impact which training program you should select. For example, some programs teach skills to build a coaching practice for those who want to have their own coaching business. If you want to do this, you may seek that type of program out. If you want to work internally in a company, this may not be as relevant.

Is it ICF accredited?

Unlike some of our sister fields like counseling, there is very little governance and regulation of the coaching industry. For example, to call yourself a therapist, you legally need to have a certain level of training and hold an official credential. There is no equivalent regulation for coaches. Anyone can call themselves a coach, whether or not they have been through a coach training program. However, there is an organization called the International Coach Federation (ICF) which accredits coach training programs and ensures they meet a certain standard. This can be an effective vetting process as you evaluate prospective training program. There are still plenty of fantastic training programs which aren’t ICF accredited, so you’ll need to determine if this is a priority for you based on your goals. If you are attracted to a program which is not ICF accredited, I would encourage you to do a thorough review of the curriculum to ensure it is comprehensive and covers the skills you want to learn. You can compare it to the ICF core competencies which are listed here. You can view the database of ICF accredited programs here.

Does it have a specialty?

Perhaps you know that you want to focus on career coaching or you have a particular interest in coaching executives. Many coach training programs have a specialty they are aligned with, and others have multiple tracks which you can choose from based on your area of interest.

What is the time frame?

Most coach training programs span six-months to one-year. There is no right or wrong length; it is simply what works with your timeline and commitments. However, the ICF requires that you complete a minimum of 60 hours of training and 100 hours of coaching to meet the lowest credential level. Even if you decide not to register your credentials with the ICF or go with an ICF accredited program, this is still a good baseline to ensure your program is thorough enough to teach you the skills you’ll need to be successful.

What is the format?

The majority of today’s top coach training programs involve a combination of in-person and remote training. Some, however, are purely online. Make sure that as you do your research and narrow down your list, you think about how you best learn. Is it important to you to have face-to-face interaction? Do you like the flexibility of completing work online in your own time?

The other important structural factor to consider is type of cohort. Are you aligned with a cohort of 6 or 60? Are you aligned with a cohort at all? What is the tenure and demographics of the other students in this program? Are these people you can learn from and who will be additive to your network?

Understand the different formats included in the programs you’re considering, and select a program with a format that works for you.

Who are the instructors and coaches?

The best coaches are also self-aware and coached themselves. So does the coach training program give you a coach for you to work with? Who are these coaches and what is their experience level? Make sure the coaches you are working with and the trainers involved with the program are people whose careers you respect and would like to emulate, since they will be the ones helping you pave your own coaching career path.

What does it cost?

Cost may also factor in here. Most coach training programs cost $8-$10k. It is good to be aware of these costs up front so you can begin to budget for the program of your choice.

Here are some coaching training programs which we highly recommend based on our own research and where we have hired coaches from to join the ALV team:

Coaches Training Institute (CTI)

Description: A 12 month, ICF-accredited program, consisting of five in-person experiential workshops, followed by a six-month virtual certification program.

Why we like it: CTI is one of the oldest and most reputable coach training programs, having trained over 55,000 coaches. It takes a holistic approach to coaching which will successfully prepare you to coach in a variety of contexts from health to career to leadership.