Accountability is an important coaching element that professional coaches introduce to their clients toward the end of a session. Ending a coaching session like this provides a logical conclusion and helping the client map out the actionable steps needed to implement the ideas and thoughts generated during the session. Just as clients need a personal accountability process to propel them toward realizing their potential and commitment to follow through, coaches also require it for their own personal and professional growth. So, the question remains: “What drives personal accountability for coaches?” I have found it embedded in the ICF credential renewal process.
Finding a Driver for Accountability
When looking at options for coaching education and professional development, I found the International Coaching Federation (ICF) to be the only forum that prioritizes coaching accountability through its 360-degree process. This process helps me stay connected and grow. ICF provides a depth and breadth of essential coaching knowledge material, a global network of accredited educators to train you on professional standards and codes of coaching, and an independent testing system to evaluate coaches’ ability to sustain their professional acumen under any circumstance. Additionally, it trains and embeds in you the essential ethical principles of being a coach and carrying out a moral coaching practice.
However, the most important element in choosing ICF is its role as a driver. ICF requires professional coaches to maintain a personal accountability mechanism to retain their ICF credential. This personal accountability mechanism is governed by ICF through its credential renewal process.
Maintaining Fluency in the Language of Coaching
Every three years, ICF credentialed coaches must demonstrate that they have not only kept pace with the coaching principles and standards and served their clients but also gained new training to fuel the candle of coaching. While it may look like any other process of enrolling in programs and collecting professional development credits and certificates, it is in fact a personal accountability apparatus that prompts you to stay connected with the learning process and maintain your coaching credential.
Just imagine learning a language by attending classes and passing exams but not practicing the language or traveling to the country where it is spoken. After some time, you may gradually forget the language or have difficulties with correct pronunciation.
Similarly, let’s consider a medical doctor who completes rigorous medical education for five to seven years and earns their medical license. After attaining their license, some doctors stop pursuing ongoing medical education and fail to keep in touch with contemporary changes in their field. Ultimately, they end up experiencing limited growth in their practice but also, at times, lose the confidence of their patients due to their outdated knowledge and practices. However, those who remain engaged with modern medical practices and hold themselves accountable for their own growth continue to enjoy better professional standing.
During my coaching education, I underwent a process to understand the language of coaching. Yes! It is, as a matter of fact, a language through which one travels through the session with a client. Without it, there is every possibility that one extra word, one additional expression, or one supplementary question without getting the answer to the previous one may take the whole session in a different and confusing direction. It is the language of coaching that keeps a coach on track. A coach is personally accountable for staying on track. ICF supports this personal accountability through Continuing Coach Education (CCE) programs, mentor coaching, ICF Communities of Practice activities, and associating with local ICF chapters.
Getting the credential is one thing through a focused study during a certain period of time, but maintaining the credential is the real challenge. It is a test of your commitment and expression of your growth. The credential renewal process through ICF provides action to your expression of personal accountability.
Learn more about ICF credential renewal:
Umer Bhutta, PCC, SHRM, SCP, MCIPD
Umer Bhutta, PCC, is the CEO and Founder of Abundance Business and Consulting. With over 25 years of experience, he has held leadership positions in HR for large corporations spanning the textile, hospitality, and telecom sectors. His expertise lies in training and development, organizational development, restructuring, and implementing business improvement projects across various corporate, public sector, and donor–funded organizations. Additionally, his company is an approved program provider accredited by CCE in Pakistan. Umer is also an accomplished author, having written four books: “Choose Or Be Chosen,” “Chahat (The Want),” “YOU in Search of Job in Search of You,” and “Becoming an Entrepreneur”. Furthermore, he serves as a SHRM certification instructor in Pakistan.
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