How to Create an ICF Accredited Coach Training Program

Creating an ICF accredited coach training program is a great way to grow your coaching business. To help you decide if creating an ICF accredited coach training program is right for you, we’ve broken down what it means to be accredited and the steps involved in ensuring your program has met all their requirements. It’s time to get serious about making sure your program is up to par with industry standards.

What does accredited mean anyway?

Accreditation means that your training program meets certain criteria set by a governing body. If you want your certification program to be credible, it’s important that it be accredited by a respected institution such as ICF.

Accreditation creates credibility and gives people confidence in what you’re doing. It also makes it easier for your participants to get licenses or employment at places where licensure is required (e.g., schools or businesses) since they will already have their accreditation standards.

(NOTE: If you’ve been asking questions about ICF Certification lately, then you need to attend this webinar, called “ICF Credentialing & Coach Certification”. During the webinar, I’ll cover how you can gain an ICF Credential in a matter of months. Click HERE now to attend the webinar.)

What to do when creating an ICF accredited coach training program?

Creating ICF accredited coach training programs that adhere to all of the standards set by the institution takes a lot of time and effort. Here are the fundamental steps you need to follow to ensure that your life coach training program gets accredited:

Take the time to learn what requirements there are for becoming a licensed life coach: Licensing requirements vary state by state, so make sure you know about any regulations or certifications that must be met before starting your own coaching business. This will save you time and effort when you’re setting up your own program.

Decide whether you want to provide classroom training or offer online classes: Both have their pros and cons, so weigh those carefully before deciding on a plan of action. Make sure that you’re open to both options before starting a program because it’s not likely that you’ll be able to fulfill all requests after going through with it!

Thirdly, you need to decide how long you want your program to last: Depending on what type of accreditation you’re going for, you might have a certain time frame before coursework must be completed. It’s important that you look into these requirements and make sure that students in your program will be able to finish it within a certain amount of time. Some coaching programs can take years if students don’t move at a normal pace.

Figure out what you’re going to cover in your program: When creating an accredited coach training program, you want it to be thorough so that students can learn everything they need to know about becoming a professional life coach. It’s important that you balance your curriculum between theory and practice. Make sure that all sections of your course are interesting and engaging, not just classroom lectures—this is where fun activities and hands-on activities come into play!

Mistakes to avoid when creating a life coach training program

When creating your own program, here are some things you’ll want to keep in mind:

Focus on quality instead of quantity: The less is more mantra applies well when it comes to coaching certifications—don’t dilute your curriculum with extra hours or needless content. Focus instead on providing high-quality information in as few hours as possible. With any additional curriculum, ask yourself how each additional hour benefits students and what they can expect to gain from it. Don’t simply tack on content because someone else offers it.

Identify what makes you unique: To help set your course apart from others, identify specific ways in which you will distinguish yourself. Maybe it’s through a specialized focus, like emotional health coaching. Maybe it’s via personalized study time or mentorship time with instructors—or both!

Know exactly who you are trying to attract: It goes without saying that different kinds of people go into different kinds of coaching niches; many times, these decisions hinge on one main thing—who those people ultimately want their clients to be. Just because your mission statement may resonate with hundreds doesn’t mean it will resonate with thousands. What kinds of clients do you envision walking through your doors every day? What drives them? How do they spend their days? Put yourself in their shoes and try to understand them better than anyone else does.

Final thoughts

When it’s all said and done the most important step in creating an ICF accredited coach training program is understanding and appreciating how other programs have created valuable training. By researching what’s already been done, you can create something that truly helps your clients while also adding value to your own curriculum. It takes a lot of time and energy to create a coach training program from scratch but take comfort in knowing it can be done—and that there are benefits for doing so.

To learn more about how to generate an endless wave of high paying coaching clients, get your FREE Instant Access to our “ Life Coaching Business Blueprint” video toolkit when you go HERE.