Credentialing sets professional coaches apart

MEDIA RELEASE 25 June 2014

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Credentialing sets professional coaches apart

In a global survey on the power and awareness of business and life coaching, satisfaction with the coaching experience and likelihood of recommending a coach to a colleague was significantly higher among those whose coach was professionally credentialed.

“The survey shows clients want to know that they’re partnering with a practitioner who has the training, experience, and skills necessary to help them achieve their goals,” says Jenny Devine, the New Zealand-based President Elect of the International Coach Federation (ICF) Australasia.

Tim Edwards, CEO of the Noel Leeming Group Ltd says a professional coach helps people see the wood AND the trees: “A professional coach helps you set and achieve goals for yourself, your team and your organisation that might struggle to identify or reach without their guidance.

Mark Ashton, Head of People Support, Operations, at The Warehouse is really positive about coaching and sees the value it adds. The Warehouse is so passionate about having a ‘coaching culture’ that it has introduced tools and skills to all its Store Managers to enable them to work side by side with their team, to coach and develop them. This is starting to show absolute benefits for the team and ultimately the Customer.

Previous research by the ICF shows professional coaching generates returns on average 7 times the initial investment for businesses and nearly 3.5 times for individuals.

“According to the London School of Business, ‘coaching is the single most powerful process ever designed for releasing individual human potential’,” says Jenny Devine. “It’s a myth that coaching is about advice giving. Coaching is a skilled process tailored to the individual and their goals. The best coaches are the best listeners and ICF’s core competencies and credentialing process ensures clients gain a proven, experienced professional, while ICF coaches gain the support and tools they need to do their job effectively.

Commissioned by the ICF and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the 2014 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study tapped the views on coaching of more than 18,000 consumers in 25 countries.

Key findings:

- 58% said they were aware of professional Business and/or Life Coaching, an increase of 7% since the ICF’s inaugural benchmarking survey in 2010.

- 17% said they had or were having coaching.

- 83% of those who’d participated in coaching said it was important or very important for professional coaches to be credentialed

- More than two-fifths (42.6%) chose coaching to “optimize individual and/or team performance”; followed by “expand professional career opportunities” (38.8%); and “improve business management strategies” (36.1%)

- More than 85% were very or somewhat satisfied with their coaching experience and, on a scale of 0 – 10, gave a mean score of 7.14 of how likely they were to recommend professional coaching to colleagues, friends and/or family

- 93% of individuals who knew their coach was formally credentialed expressed satisfaction with the result they’d achieved, compared with just 81% of those who’s coach didn’t hold professional credentials

Professional accreditation from ICF ensures all of its coaches meet ICF’s core competency levels and includes a minimum of 60 hours coach-specific training.

Top Tips

What to look for when selecting a business or life coach, by Jenny Devine

• will have undertaken coach specific training from a reputable provider

• will belong to a professional coaching organisation such as ICF

• will actively pursue on-going coach-specific professional development

• will be on a credentialing pathway

• will engage in regular coaching supervision

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