Your Goals and Hopes

What is it that brings you to coaching? What do you expect to get out of it? People have a variety of reasons, from a deep desire to help people to the idea that coaches make lots of money. Write down a list of reasons you want to become a coach. Include everything you can think of, such as:

• Good post-retirement career
• I want to make a difference in the world
• People always tell me their problems
• I want to be a better manager (or HR professional or OD professional, etc.)
• I want to work for myself
• I want to help organizations be more productive and motivating

Prioritize this list, as it will have a bearing on the training you select. Be very honest in making and prioritizing your list, as this decision has far-reaching consequences, and you must be sure you are embarking on this journey for reasons that are powerful for you.

In looking at this list, think about what kind of coach you might want to be: Executive Coach, Leadership Coach, Team Coach, Life Coach, Wellness Coach, etc. Currently many businesses, governments and organizations understand about executive, leadership and team coaching. Building a business around life coaching, wellness coaching, and any coaching that works with individuals can be more challenging. Coaching is not as well-known as other professions like therapy, general medicine, or law. You will need to spend time and energy marketing to fill your roster. Remember that coaching is a relatively new profession and so you will spend time educating potential clients.

Note that ICF is working hard to educate the public, and has support for their members to build their coaching. businesses.

Relevance

What program is best suited to your needs? If you want to be a professional coach and dedicate yourself to your new profession, the optimal and most widely recognized coach education is an 125+ hour certification course with a program accredited by ICF called Level 2 (formerly ACTP - Accredited Coach Training Program). Note that it is not required to have a certification in order to attain a credential.

If you want to learn coaching tools because you use coaching in your role as a manager, consultant or therapist, and don’t plan to dedicate a major portion of your energy to coaching, a good approach might be a program that will give you enough coach education hours to attain a credential, such as an ICF Level 1 (formerly ACSTH - Accredited Coach Specific Training Hours).

Be sure the program you are interested in is accredited by a regulatory organization such as ICF, EMCC, AC or CCE before signing up!  For ICF, you should see the logos for Level 1, Level 2, ACTP, ACSTH or CCE on their website.  If you want a full Certification program, look for the ICF Level 1 or ACTP logo.

Radiance offers ICF Accredited Coach Education Programs:  ACTP, ACSTH and CCE.  We have applied to transition to the new accreditations:  Level 1 (formerly ACSTH) and Level 2 (formerly ACTP).

Your budget is also a factor. In North America you can expect to pay $12,000 - $18,000 USD for a full certification Level 1 (ACTP) program. If PCC-level certification is not necessary for you, the Level 2 (ACSTH) program will be less outlay upfront. A consideration with that approach is that it can be as expensive or more so in time and even money to attain higher level credentials, as the coach will need to be mentored (about $1,000 USD in the U.S.) over a period of 3 months, and will need to send in recordings to be assessed by ICF, which currently is taking 12 or more weeks.

Radiance Partners, LLC offers payment plans to help with tuition, and ACTO, the Association of Coach Training Organizations offers a scholarship program for qualified individuals.