Articles: Becoming a Coach

Coaching is still an emerging profession in the UK. Although there are coaches, like several of those on our own staff, who have been working as executive coaches for up to 16 years each, coaching has only become widely known in the last few years. It would still be rare to earn a full time living as a coach. Even the most established coaches often mix executive coaching with other activities such as facilitation, training or other consultancy services. Fees tend to match those for consultants or professional advisers, reflecting experience, background and reputation. So, typically, coaching is part of a portfolio career.

Accreditation

As a developing field, there are no statutory qualifications required to coach. However, pressure to regulate and accredit is growing. There are a number of bodies emerging in the UK claiming to offer umbrella accreditation. We have thrown our lot in with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). This is because we have the greatest respect for the people running it, many of whom have been in the business for a long time. They also include many distinguished academics who are ensuring that there is a proper theoretical underpinning to the coaching field. The EMCC is currently piloting the ‘kite-marking’ of courses. Our course is one of the first pilots. We are also represented on the EMCC’s Standards Committee.

The EMCC is also usefully guiding the process of fitting course provision into a nationally recognised framework of qualifications. Our Diploma course is already accredited at Level 7 – post-graduate, the same level as a Masters – by the Institute of Leadership and Development.

Quite apart from these developments, the market is increasingly dictating that most coaches who get work have some form of accreditation. Management/Coaching Futures is widely acknowledged as one of the leading training providers, although there are plenty of others. Our emphasis is on people who want to work as executive coaches. Other companies specialise in life coaching.

Achieving accreditation is no guarantee of receiving work as a coach. Coaching is no different from any other emerging profession in that there is no fast track or guaranteed route to securing work. Persistence and dedication are important traits of practising coaches and successful coaches tend to spend a good deal of time developing the market before they receive referrals in that market. It can take up to two years to develop a thriving coaching practice so it is essential to have some other way of supporting yourself during that time. Many of our ‘graduates’ also start by running an internal coaching service while they are still working full time inside an organisation – often as a planned prelude to moving outside and working freelance.

Our skills training course also attracts participants who seek a detailed understanding from the perspective of a manager wishing to understand better how to adapt and use coaching skills as part of a line manager’s toolkit.