My Coaching Journey Continues (Part II) By Toniya Singh
The Certified Professional Coach curriculum is well thought out and starts with a solid foundation in the Core Competencies and Code of Ethics for the coaching profession. These two topics are then a recurring theme throughout the program and rightly so, as the more they are developed throughout the program, the more it becomes evident that these two are meant to be the foundation of any coaching practice and every coach’s conduct.
It becomes evident very quickly that the instructor walks-the-talk too. The classroom content, the instructor’s teaching style, and the homework at the end of each webinar all reflect the Core Competencies and Code of Ethics that make up the baseline of the coaching curriculum. What is more remarkable is that as we watch the instructor conduct them self following these guidelines and pointing them out to us at every opportunity, it trains the students of the program to begin recognizing them as well. It is neat to see this phenomenon because it comes forth in the students as if almost by magic! Before we know it, we are recognizing actions and words, in ourselves and others, that are aligned with the fundamentals of coaching and easily correcting those that aren’t.
Since coaching practices are unique to the coach’s niche and personality, the curriculum covers the ingredients that the student, a future coach, will use to create or refine their own recipe for how they want their coaching practice to function. We learn about personalities, communication, decision-making, conflict of interest, barriers to learning, of course coaching, and it does not stop there. The Center for Coaching Certification offers FREE webinars that are entirely dedicated to the business side of coaching. These cover the business and marketing arenas in depth and anybody who skips these is doing themselves a disservice, in my opinion. Even if it is not the intent of the graduate to end up in a coaching business of their own, the information within this portion is so pertinent it adds another dimension to understanding the coaching industry as a whole, while providing us with some incredible resources to use as coaches right out of the graduation gate.
