FAQ

 

Finding the right coach is very important. There are many factors to consider when choosing a coach. Coaches have different personalities, areas of interests, techniques, energy, and listening styles. Let yourself explore and find someone who fits, who is right for you. We understand that coaches are a significant investment of time, money and energy.
Professional coaches are trained to listen and observe, to customize their approach to the client’s needs and to elicit solutions and strategies from the client. Coaches believe that the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach’s role, therefore, is to bring out the strengths, capabilities, creativity, and resourcefulness of the client in order to facilitate the achievement of desired goals or objectives.

Through the coaching process the client:

• gains clarity around goals and objectives
• sets goals
• takes actions
• gains greater awareness around choices

How It Works

People hire a coach to produce extraordinary results in their personal or professional lives. Coaches work with individuals or teams to help them achieve goals or desired outcomes. Some examples of situations where coaching has been helpful are:

• starting or expanding a business
• career choices or transitions
• leadership development
• life choices or purpose
• improving personal effectiveness
• enhancing communication skills
• dealing with challenging relationships

The coach’s responsibility is to:

• discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve
• encourage client self-discovery
• elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
• hold the client responsible and accountable

This list is merely a starting point. A coach works with a particular client according to the client’s goals or objectives.
Take the time to do your homework. It requires research, communication, observation and instinct. It can get a little overwhelming and difficult. To help navigate through this process, here are tips and suggestions for you to consider when choosing the right coach.

Search for a coach that specializes in your area of interest (executive, life, career, wellness, leadership, etc.).
Start with the vibe you get on the phone and by email. Do you get the sense that they’re speaking to you with kindness, understanding, generosity? Does the conversation feel transactional, does it feel scripted, maybe even a little manipulative?

Ask people you trust for referrals. Testimonials are absolutely essential when finding a personal coach. Your job is to separate the genuine praise from the thin acknowledgement.
Beyond your direct communications, do some additional research. Check out their website, jump on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and get a sense of your prospective coaches’ lives.

Pay attention to red flags; what is your gut telling you? Be careful that they are not over-promising results, remember it’s you who has to do the work.
Interview several coaches until you find one that feels right. This can take time. Many coaches offer sample sessions. Take your time.

Credibility: find someone who is credible to you and who aligns with your values, objectives and expectations.
Probe for the Coach’s approach and their range. You want a coach who will play all-out with you.
Identify a Coach who has the proper training and experience. Anyone can call themselves a coach.

A strong initial rapport and trust between the coach and the client is essential to the coaching process and engagement, you want to build a strong coaching relationship.
Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions to gather the information you need to make an informed decision about the coach you want to work alongside.

Your membership is valid for 12 months. It is important to renew your membership before it expires so you don’t lose your membership benefits.

Membership renewal is done under ICF Global’s website. Simply head to your profile and click ‘Renew membership‘ or click on Access Profile for more information. Under your profile, click on ‘Membership Info’ (on the right side of the page) to view your membership expiry date. (You can also renew your membership there!)

Tip: If you want to make your life easier, opt in for Auto-Renew!

What is it?

Mentor Coaching for an ICF Credential consists of coaching and feedback in a collaborative, appreciative and dialogued process based on an observed or recorded coaching session to increase the coach’s capability in coaching, in alignment with the ICF Core Competencies.

Why is it needed?

Mentoring provides professional assistance in achieving and demonstrating the levels of coaching competency and capability demanded by the desired credential level.
Mentor Coaching should take place over an extended time (three-month minimum) in a cycle that allows for listening and feedback from the Mentor Coach while also allowing reflection and practice on the part of the individual being mentored.
Mentor coaching for credentialing purposes must last for 10 hours and can be Individual or Group Mentor Coaching. Note that a minimum of three of the 10 mentoring hours must be one-on-one with the mentor coach. Group mentoring may count for a maximum of seven hours towards the mentoring requirement.

Where to find a Mentor Coach?

There are a few places where you can look for a Mentor Coach. The first one is of course your ICF NYC Chapter peers. Don’t hesitate to ask on our LinkedIn Member Group or on our WhatsApp Member Group for recommendations!
ICF Global also provides a list of registered Mentor Coaches here.

What is it?

As part of a self-regulating industry, ICF requires its credentialed coaches to continuously improve their professional skills and knowledge in order to provide the best value to their clients. All ICF Credentials are valid for three (3) years. In order to renew a credential, an individual must participate in continuing professional development activities. At all levels, 40 Continuing Coach Education (CCE) units must be earned during each renewal cycle, of which 24 are in Core Competencies (of which 3 are in Ethics), the remaining 16 may be in Core or Resource Development.

Getting Your CCEUs with ICF NYC

ICF NYC hosts a number of events throughout the year striving to inspire, educate and connect. Explore our Professional Development events, CoachCafés, and more through the ICF NYC Events Calendar.

Getting Your CCEUs with ICF Global

ICF strives to provide continuing coach education that is relevant across various aspects of a coach’s practice from coach skills to business development. Access to live webinars hosted by ICF Communities of Practice are available. In addition, archived learning is offered on the ICF Learning Portal in various contexts including OnDemand sessions and recorded in-person event sessions.

Getting Your CCEUs with other ICF Chapters and events

Explore global and local events, conferences, webinars and more through the ICF Global Events Calendar.

Getting Your CCEUs through ICF Accredited Programs

ICF-accredited education programs have gone through a rigorous review process and demonstrated that its curriculum aligns with the ICF definition of coaching, Core Competencies and Code of Ethics. Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 offerings deliver foundational coach-specific education and training. Continuing Coach Education (CCE) offerings provide advanced and supplemental learning opportunities for trained and credentialed coach practitioners. Find Education.

Finally, explore further opportunities for you to gain Continuing Coach Education units here.

Congratulations on gathering your Continuing Coaching Education units! Now what’s next?

Save your CCEU certificates!

If you have attended any events with ICF NYC that delivered CCEUs, make sure to save them as PDF. You can do that in 2 ways:

1. You received a PDF attached to an email. Simply save it in a folder of your choice to uplod it later. 2. You received an email from us with your CCEU certificate in the email body. Simply print your email and switch your printer to ‘Save As PDF’, you can then save the email as a PDF document in your folder.

 

Add Your CCEUs to your Credential Renewal

1. Login to your ICF Global Profile and click on ‘Access Profile’

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your credential renewal application

3. Scroll down and click on ‘Enter Eduction Hours’

4. Enter the details here: Type of CCEu, Provider (i.e. ICF NYC, ICF Global,…), and name of the event. Add the start and end date and the number of CCEUs as per your certificate.

Upload the PDF file from your folder and click save!
You can now repeat the process for each of your attended events and continuing coach education.

When all the CCEUs have been uploaded and you have fulfilled all the requirements for your credential renewal, you will be able to submit your application for review!