Have you shopped around seeing coaches with all sorts of letters behind their name and not had a clue what those letters mean? You're not alone. Many of these coaches state that they are certified also.

When you're looking at certifications most of them come from the school a coach attended. For instance CUCG and CECG are certifications I hold from Coach Universary. What that means is that I completed a number of hours for each program successfully meeting their criteria. Many of these schools will certify someone in a weekend or six month program. These are certifications that a school who has an interest in graduating a student have created. It doesn't measure the quality of the coach. It's an internal measurement of one program.

If you see the letters ACC, PCC or MCC those certifications come from the Internatinoal Coaches Federation. This is an independent body who judges your skill sets, your accredited school hours, and whose criteria is aligned with the American Psychiatric Association. There is no other instituation or body who has standardized criteria to access coaches on their expertise. The ICF's standards are international in scope and a beyond reproach measure of success and quality. To earn an MCC it takes most coaches five years. While you can be a member of ICF (that just means you paid a fee) to earn certifaction, it means someone has done the work and this work has been verified.

When you're choosing a coach-- get the best. Get an ICF certifed coach.