Coaching certification fraud is more common than most people realize. What’s really curious is that most consumers don’t care once they’ve taken the bait. Think about people like Dr. Laura and Dr. Phil, neither of who have a doctorate degree. Do their fans care? If some do, it doesn’t appear to significantly affect either Dr. Phil or Dr. Laura’s popularity. It may even enhance their popularity! Is coaching any different?
What is Coaching Certification Fraud?
Coaching certification goes beyond saying you have a certification that you never earned. It’s actually creating your own certification based on what your prospects are looking for, and giving yourself the certification. Sounds like much more work than actually going through a coaching program, but perhaps I’m missing something. I’m not entirely sold on the idea that clients really care about certification anyway. I’ve only had two people ask about my certification and credentials, and that was before I did a complimentary session with them. The real issue wasn’t my credentials.
What Clients Really Want?
When clients ask about coaching certification, they don’t really care about it. With coaching programs as numerous as the stars in the sky, how someone tell which ones produce great coaches? It may be the only way a potential client can raise a question as to whether you can provide value. The best way to handle this concern is not to send out your 10 page curriculum vitae and hope for the best. You need to talk to your potential clients and find out what their hidden concerns are. Most likely, they don’t even know. I tell people who want to see my bio before I do a session with me that the call is a gift. If they want it, great. If not, that’ ok too. The concerns vanish when you can establish rapport, provide value, and make an impact in someone’s life.
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Colette Seymann
JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach
I recently earned certification as a coach through iPEC Coaching. I learned excellent skills and worked hard for my certification. Had I taken an unaccredited coaching course, I would not be nearly as good a coach as I am now.
The requirements include the Core Coaching Competencies of the International Coach Federation, as well as the Code of Ethics of that same organization.
I would advise anyone to seek out a certified life coach or a coach who is training to be certified. We’ve learned amazing, powerful methods of helping people clarify their goals and desires, release inner and outer blocks to those desires, and move forward, step by step, until they’ve reached their true goals.
It’s interesting that you’re very sure that an ‘unaccredited coaching course’ would have failed to train you in becoming as good as you are now. How would you know unless you went back in time and did it differently? Would it not make a difference WHICH unaccredited course you took? Seems like a case of 20/20 hindsight to me.
No-doubt you learned powerful methods at iPEC, however that doesn’t preclude coaches taking unaccredited courses from learning the same (or even more powerful) methods.
Jeff