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How can you quickly convey the concept “professional coach” to consumers who may know little (or nothing) about coaching?
A new coaching credential, the “Board Certified Coach” (BCC) aims to send just that message to potential coaching clients in the U.S. and around the world.
The new offering comes from the nonprofit Center for Credentialing and Education in Greensboro, NC, a nonprofit that offers seven credentials to individuals in varying fields, including global career development facilitators, clinical supervisors, and human services practitioners.
In each case, CCE awards credentials based on a person’s ability to demonstrate “that they have met established standards of professionalism in the specialized area in which they are certified.”
In the case of coaching, that will mean satisfying requirements in six areas:
- Fundamental coaching skills
- Ethical and professional practice
- Screening and orientation
- Assessment
- Interventions for individuals
- Interventions for businesses and organizations
Patrick Williams, past president of the Association of Coach Training Organizations (ACTO), met with representatives of the CCE early this year, and was impressed.
“They do the assessment process in a very research-based, academic-based and objective manner,” said Williams, who believes this kind of work is best done in just this way—by specialized credentialing organizations—and not by the ICF.
“I’ve been saying for six years that accreditation for coaches needs to be done outside the ICF,” said Williams. “The ICF needs to be an organization that supports, stands for, and markets coaching…and helps the visibility of the coaching profession, supports research, those sorts of things. Accreditation of coaches needs to be done separately.”
Of course many coaches have invested great amounts of time—and money—in coaching’s existing, established credentials. One of the key areas of concern during last year’s debate over potential changes in the ICF’s credentialing system was the impact such a change might have on the value of a hard-earned MCC.
But would “Board Certified” succeed in the minds of consumers where other acronyms have had little impact? Many coaches concede few clients ever ask about certification.
“There is a growing need for some sort of quality mark for coaches and coach training programs,” said Dutch coach Ton de Graaf recently. De Graaf has argued that part of the problem is that few coaching clients—and even fewer members of the public at large—have ever heard of any of the coaching associations.
The end result, de Graaf says, is “market confusion about the quality, focus and nature of the services the coaching industry offers.”
This isn’t the case in medicine, where an estimated 91 percent of patients perceive great value in board certification, calling it “important” or “very important” in their choice of doctors.
“Board certification has served as the gold standard for close to 75 years now in assuring the public that those that bear the imprimatur of each of the 24 boards…have the necessary training, experience, and knowledge to provide high quality care to their patients,” said James C. Puffer, MD, president and chief executive officer of the American Board of Family Medicine in a recent story in Physicians’ Practice.
Could “board certified” become the gold standard in coaching? Details on the CCE credential and the process for qualification have yet to be made public.
CCE is associated with the National Board for Certified Counselors, which has, since its incorporation in 1982, certified more than 45,000 NCCs, or “National Certified Counselors,” along with smaller numbers of specialized certifications in addictions counseling, clinical mental health counseling, gerontological counseling, and career counseling.
NBCC’s mission at the outset in creating a “board certified” counselor was to “further the profession of counseling.”
But one caveat comes from a study of all those board certified surgeons and specialists out there: patients may look for “board certified,” and they may use it as a way of choosing a doctor, but the certification itself may not mean anything in one key area: getting better medical care.
“They came to the conclusion that there was no good evidence, no strong evidence, no conclusive evidence that showed board certification was any advantage,” said Dr. Eric Grosch in an interview with Physicians’ Practice.
And yet even with no connection to the quality of care, the researchers recommended keeping board certification around. Why? Because people understand it, and consider it a good measure of a doctor’s training and expertise.
So what do you think of the “BCC”—a great idea, or just another acronym?
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There are 11 Responses so far...
“They do the assessment process in a very research-based, academic-based and subjective manner,” said Williams
“Subjective” manner? I would think he meant to say “objective”.
I think that the BCC idea merits some real investigation. I agree with Patrick that credentialing is best done outside the member organization and that it requires a very specific expertise and infrastructure – and if CCE has that expertise and infrastructure I look forward to what they might propose for coach credentialing. While individual coaching clients rarely ask about credentials, the HR gatekeepers hiring coaches into large organizations always do ask, so I continue to advocate for strong credentialing support in coaching. I also think we need to remember that, in relative terms, coaching is still very new so just because credentials aren’t widely demanded today that doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future. And finally, no credential can ever be the sole determinant of quality or expertise. Just as bad dentists and lawyers and doctors manage to pass their professional exams, so will lesser coaches, so “buyer beware” and the power of referrals and reputation will always be critical.
I’ve been hearing an increase over the past 2 years in stories about clients who ask for certification. I’ve also been hearing more disaster stories from people who’ve had bad experiences working with coaches. There also is an increase in coach training programs that certify anyone without any testing, at all.
I think the trend toward certification will grow stronger, but only if there is a reliable certification out there. Neither the ICF nor the IAC seems to have accomplished that.
Board Certified Coach sounds great. I’d love to see how they plan to do their certifications.
Karen, Spot on – the power of referrals and reputation will always be critical!
Julia,I agree that the trend toward will grow – and what I also would love to see is how they will accomodate coaches who already paid out vast sums to obtain ICF, etc accreditation…
“They do the assessment process in a very research-based, academic-based and objective manner,” said Williams, who believes this kind of work is best done in just this way—by specialized credentialing organizations—and not by the ICF.
That was – and still is my stance – The danger of a vested interest in the member bodies’ acrediting is that we all tend to lean toward this or that.. e.g EMCC/IAC/ICF/WABC etc… A universal accreditation (perhaps with clause / privision for current accreditations to by incorporated ??? I hope I make sense.
Hi Elta – I checked their website and they have a grandfathering process through December 2011. There is little specific about requirements on their site, but I requested more info by email. Here’s the link: http://cce-global.org/credentials-offered/bcc
It remains to be seen whether they will create anything like the perception that the AMA has earned over the past several decades.
This new designation could help to reduce the conflict of interest that exists between credentialing review by the ICF and the issuing of the credential by the ICF. However, it could also be a significant disservice to all the ICF-credential holders who paid thousands of dollars for their training and hours to meet the various ICF standards.
There are also some ambiguities that need clarification: Here are three questions we’ve sent to the office of the CCE:
(1) What can you tell us about the factors that prompted your moving in this direction? We’d like to know more about the history of your interest and motivation to provide this particular credential.
(2) What can you provide about the specifics of the requirements beyond the titles of the six elements? For example, what will “fundamental coaching skills” consist of?
(3) What will be the total cost from application to approval for an individual applicant to obtain the designation “Board Certified Coach.”
Today I received the new CCE BCC application for coaches who are grandfathered in before 2012. The fee and requirements vary according to your previous background re: degree, certification, coach-specific training, but is around $199 and $40 per year to keep it current.
There is a test involved and that seems to be the reason for grandfathering: to set norms for future coaches. Those who apply before 12-31-12 don’t have to pass the test, but do have to take it, so the CCE can set norms based on their answers.
CCE does approve coach training programs, so a conflict of interest similar to the ICF’s could be an issue.
Online tests don’t tell much about whether or not someone can actually coach, but I’m curious what the CCE’s test will be like. I’m considering applying just to find out if this is a good option for my coaching students.
Thanks for taking the initiative to gain the additional information, Julia. What is the fee to take the test? We might be able to work something out in exchange for writing an article about the process, etc.
I also received the application which, to be clear, is intended to qualify applicants solely for what they refer to as their “norming” period – the period of time within which CCE will set norms based on test responses from applicants who meet the criteria for participation at this stage (and, as Julia said above, no pass/fail for those who choose to help them create the standards).
Couple of observations based on the package (I’ve not had a clarifying conversation with CCE as yet): First, all norming applicants must have post-secondary education and provide transcripts. Second, it’s quite U.S.-centric in that if your training and degree have been obtained from an institution outside the U.S. you must pay for a review of same. CCE does approve coach training providers but I’m not clear as to whether those training providers pay for the privilege. There are four categories of eligibility at this stage, three of which require 30 hours of coaching experience and one which requires none (editorial comment – norms developed from this cohort are likely to set a low bar if little experience is required). Testing will take place on non-negotiable dates at specific locations – again, U.S. only. The CEU requirememt for recertification is 100 hours over 5 years. The exam fee is $195 USD and annual maintenance is $40.
I will follow up with CCE and discuss the U.S.-centric nature of this effort, as well as the required experience base for norming participants, but based on what I’ve seen so far I think I’ll observe from a distance at this stage. Too bad – I was cautiously optimistic.
Rey – Thanks for your offer. I may just take you up on it!
Karen, your cautious optimism is an excellent come-from for checking this out. However, I reread the application and also called CCE for more info and some of your details about requirements are incorrect.
It should also be noted that the current requirements for BCC are for the inaugural/grandfathering period and may not apply after December 2011.
In general, the number of hours of coach-specific training, as well as other requirements, vary according to the applicant’s degrees and whether they have a recognized coach certification.
The training requirement runs from 125 hours of coach-specific training for an applicant with a bachelor’s degree and no previous ‘nationally recognized’ coach certification (plus 30 hours documented experience and a professional endorsement); to no training requirements, experience or endorsements for coaches who have bachelor’s degrees and qualifying coach certifications.
There are different requirements (30-60 hours of coach-specific training) for those who have master’s degrees in various counseling-related fields. Everyone has to take the test, though.
Although the requirements say nothing about the coach’s ability to coach, the level of requirements seem reasonable for an academic-related certification from an organization that has primarily served counselors in the past.
The application fee is $195 with $40 annually to stay current, as previously stated.
CCE will not accredit coaching schools but will approve the curricula of schools, if they cover CCE’s requirements. There is an application fee for school approval, but CCE is following guidelines from their parent org, to avoid conflicts of interest. I like that they aren’t operating in a vacuum.
In any case, this looks like it could become a reasonable alternative to IAC and ICF certifications for some coaches.