Coaching and mentoring accreditation

Accreditation – at least in theory — provides a badge of quality. Professional coaches and, increasingly, professional mentors usually have one or more qualifications to assure clients that they are competent in their role. Accreditation is also required by some professional associations as part of membership, although approaches differ. Many companies also provide opportunities for their internal coaches to be accredited to the same standards as they would expect from externally resourced coaches. This gives the internal coach credibility in the eyes of senior management clients and confidence in their ability to coach.

Who and what can be accredited?

 

Accreditation works at two levels: programme and individual. Programme accreditation recognises the quality of coach training and is awarded to a training provider. It looks at the course content, how the course is taught, the length of study required, the quality and experience of the course faculty and the output (what the individual students are able to do at the end of their studies). Accredited course providers can certify students as having achieved competence at the level of the accreditation.

Mentoring programmes and internal coaching programmes are accredited through the International Standards for Mentoring Programmes in Employment (ISMPE).

Individual accreditation recognises the learning and ability of individual practitioners, usually against a competency framework set by one of the coaching professional bodies. While this mostly happens in the context of a formal programme of study, a coach or mentor can achieve recognition by having their practice independently evaluated by an awarding body – for example, the European Individual Award from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council requires applicants to build an evidence base for their practice, and supports them through the process of evidence-gathering and reflection.

EM CC also offers accreditation for coaching or mentoring supervisors – the European Supervision Individual Accreditation (ESIA) and for courses designed to train supervisors – the European Supervision Quality Award (ESQA)

An emerging area of accreditation is for Human Resource Professionals seeking recognition for their skills and experience in coaching or mentoring management.

Who accredits?

 

There are four kinds of accrediting organisations:

  • Independent training providers, without external validation. These basically rely on the reputation of the provider in the marketplace. They can be fine at a low level of coaching or mentoring, but above this, tend not to have much credibility.
  • Coaching and mentoring professional bodies. Most of the coaching bodies represent the interests of professional coaches (and in the case of the EMCC, professional mentors, as well.) However, the EMCC in particular also addresses the needs of internal coaches and mentors, who do not want or wish to invest in achieving professional status.
  • Universities. Universities historically awarded certificates and diplomas for courses that they ran themselves. However, many now encourage partnerships with reputable training providers, validating the awards these providers offer.
  • Generalist accreditation bodies. These are many and varied. Amongst the most active in this field in Europe are the Institute of Learning and Development, the Institute of Training and Learning, and City & Guilds.

What are the levels of accreditation?

 

Programme and individual accreditation both tend to follow the same structures, for consistency, though the structures may differ between awarding bodies and there are differences in emphasis on input measures (e.g. course attendance) and output measures (demonstrated competence). Here are the structures for the three main coaching bodies: EMCC, ICF and AC.

EMCC European Individual Award

The emphasis on evidence of competence increases at each level. Membership fees are the same at all levels. There are four levels of qualification: Foundation, Practitioner, Senior Practitioner and Master Practitioner. ICF qualifications can be used as part evidence of competence and professional practice at Practitioner and Senior Practitioner levels

ICF

The emphasis is on attending initial basic level ICF-registered courses, plus achieving a required number of coaching hours. Membership fees increase with each level of accreditation.

Associate Certified Coach (ACC): Course modules plus 100 hours of coaching, of which 75% must be for at least 8 paying clients over no longer than 18 months

Professional Certified Coach (PCC): 500 hours of coaching with at least 25 clients

Master Certified Coach (MCC): 2,500 coaching hours, plus at least 10 hours of “Mentor Coaching”.

AfC

The emphasis is on a combination of training hours and hours of coaching delivered, with hours of coaching supervision and continuous personal development also taken into account.

Foundation coach/executive coach: training 35 hours+; coaching experience 75 hours+; supervision, 3 months+;

Coach/ executive coach: training 40 hours+; coaching experience 250 hours+; supervision, 6 months+;

Professional coach/ professional executive coach: training 60 hours+; coaching experience 750 hours+; supervision, 9 months+;

Master coach/ master executive coach: training 80 hours+; coaching experience 1500 hours+; supervision, 12 months+;

What is accreditation worth?

 

There is no clear evidence that “input” measures of coaching (attending training, number of hours etc) correlate with competence as a coach. Nonetheless, in general, the more time a coach invests in the development of their knowledge and skills, the more potential they can be expected to have to grow in the role. Whether they achieve that potential depends on a number of factors, including their ability to reflect upon and learn from their experience, and their self-awareness.

For the coach – and especially professional coaches – accreditation has two main benefits:

  • It provides reassurance to clients and purchasers that the coach has at least a basic level of safety and knowledge
  • It gives the coach confidence in his or her ability to practice at the appropriate level of accreditation

© David Clutterbuck, 2015