How to choose a coach?

Competences, powers, accreditations, associations - these things are confused and instead of putting things in order, they only obscure it. A manager, HR employee, specialist or just a potential client often has an unclear picture of indicators that will allow for the right choice of a coach. Work has been underway for some time to codify the coach profession, and in a formal sense it has been entered on the official list of competitions in DE.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon that the more regulations, restrictions and requirements appear in this area, the more hidden there is a tendency to close the market, to create groups of influence and closed, elite corporations, as is the case, for example, in legal and medical circles. , notary or bailiff professions and, unfortunately, many others.

The more open the market is, the more diverse, inventive and creative it becomes, which is of decisive importance especially in the coach's profession. Let the client choose, not some tribal elders. Of course, the mechanism in which worse money drives out better is a separate thing. People after the completed, several-hour course also call themselves coaches, representatives of other professions (such as business trainers, psychologists, educators) automatically add a fashionable word to their names: coach, because as we often hear: they have always been coaches, just like that they didn't call it. And here, however, we can notice an interesting change - coaching services have become cheaper, of course this is bad news for people or groups who have earned a fortune on coaching services so far; good, because coaching becomes widely available even when you pay for it out of your own pocket. Therefore, perhaps it will be more useful to leave the choice to the customer instead of creating, often illusory norms, which in the Polish anti-system tradition may be circumvented or bent or, worse, may become an expression of only one method or one pressure group. Let the client choose, but it is worth knowing how to choose.

Which coaching association does the coach belong to?
Currently, in DE and in the world, you can simply finish school, postgraduate studies or a course and practice the profession of a coach. You can accredit yourself in a separate process on the basis of the completed school, course, or studies, i.e. confirm the competences already acquired and the experience gained. Accreditation can be obtained from any international or Polish association.

Accreditation or other types of confirmation of competences are provided, among others, by ICF (International Coach Federation), Izba Coachingingu, ICC (International Coaching Community), PSC (Polish Coaching Association) or less known EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council), ECI (European Coaching Institute) and many others.

It is worth paying attention to an important distinction - in fact, almost everyone who pays a contribution may be a member of ICF, PSC, EMCC or other association, depending on its statute, which is not the same as the actual practice of the profession or competences. Therefore, one thing is a school diploma, another thing is accreditation, and another thing is participation in an association. They are three different things. Let's take an example: taking a high school diploma or graduating from lower secondary school (the equivalent is school, course, coaching studies); additionally taking the so-called international baccalaureate (accreditation) and membership in, for example, ZHP (here the equivalent is participation in an association).

The Coaching Chamber, which is an institution based on the principles of commercial law - associating business entities, also accredits, i.e. confirms the acquired competences of a coach. Any entrepreneur who pays the contribution and meets the statutory requirements may be a member of this chamber, even if he is practically doing something else. The Chamber also grants its accreditations. The issue of the most popular ICC (International Coaching Community) in DE, often placed next to ICF and other associations, is also important. ICC is not a professional association in the strict sense, but an association of coaches who have completed the same course, which is a franchise of Joseph O'Connor's idea, currently implemented in DE by two coaches who bought this franchise and confirmed with training from its creator. Thus, the ICC is an association of people who have completed the same course, the same training product (only the graduates of that specific course belong to the ICC).

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Dr. Berle Coaching München
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