Coaching Accreditation and Certification

In the last segment of our Developing an Internal Coaching Program show, our discussion focused heavily on the importance of coaching certification and accreditation.

Bob Vavrina from BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina stressed the importance of certification within his organization’s coaching program. And from a consistency perspective he indicated he experienced great success in having his coaches go through an accredited program.

Bob highlighted both the Center for Creative Leadership and the BeamPines Master’s Program in Executive Coaching as examples of programs he’d recommend.

Josh Erhlich also pointed out that both internal and external coaches should be exposed to as many coaching models, coaching programs, and techniques as possible, to develop a sense of what works best for them.

Josh’s point really resonated with me. For example as a coaching advocate, both in my line of work as a management consultant and on the Insight on Coaching show, I’ve been exposed to many different coaching models and tools, but the enneagram in particular is one that just "clicked" with me.

It provided me with a frame of reference for viewing myself.

I have to admit as a coaching client, I’d naturally prefer to work with a coach who used the enneagram as an assessment tool, or one who was at least familiar with it.

What are your thoughts? For both our coaching program managers and coaches in general out there:

• Do you agree that requiring some form of accreditation or certification is critical when bringing coaches into an internal coaching program?
• In general what are some other recommendations and best practices companies looking to develop an internal coaching program should keep in mind?

All the best,

Tom Floyd
CEO
IEC: Insight Educational Consulting 
Specializing in Management Consulting, Change Management, Workforce Performance, and Employee Development