ICF programs in India

In this post, I will make an attempt to satisfactorily answer questions that participants have had regarding the International Coach Federation, ICF programs in India.

1. Which are the top ICF programs in India?

Any program run by a certified coach could be considered a top ICF program in India. In order to figure out who has been categorized under the top coaches in India:
*Check the website of the coach
* Look for testimonials from past participants on their LinkedIn page
* Look at what they write on their blogs and research who trained them
* Look for their coaching style and methodology
…more over there is going to be a buzz around a top coach, and it will be easy to find top coaches in India.

Ensure that you approach a course with solid references because these days branding and creating a fake buzz is rather easy to create. There are many coaches/trainers who will state that they have trained/transformed 5,00,000+ people in 50 countries, or have trained 7000 coaches in 5+ years ~ these are over exaggerated claims and easy to find out. But many times a lot of people get carried away by these false claims, so stay alert! Especially if the coaching course advertisement looks like this ~ “Get answers to all your problems.”  These are self-styled Gurus leveraging easily marketable gimmicks to lure gullible people!

2. How to decide which ICF program to attend in India?

If you are seeking an answer to this question during your search for ICF programs in India, then the training vendor or the coach offering this course would ask you a question back instead of checking whether the ICF program is the right fit for you.  The question would be simple, “What is your intention in attending this ICF program?”

You may be wondering why such a question? Well, ICF is the most respected brand when it comes to Coach Accreditation and validation of a vendor offering ICF approved coach certifications and programs. But that does not mean that everybody who wants to be a coach needs it.

Still wondering why? Well here is the answer. If somebody wants to work as a Life Coach with people, and their potential clients are going to be students, homemakers, and professionals who come for a Life Coaching session, B2C (Business to direct client) ~ they would be more interested to go with your references, and how they felt after that. And most of the time they won’t ask or will be interested to know whether you are certified by ICF, or by IAC or by X or Y.  In this case, a person does not need to become an ICF coach, where you have to take the extra step to register with ICF, write an exam etc. A program which is approved by ICF will suffice; where you can claim that you have attended an ICF approved coach program, and it will be relatively cheaper to start off with, and after some practice, and if you are keen to take up the ICF certification, you may then go for the entire ICF ACC level package.

On the contrary, if you are working with corporates then it is better to go with the ICF ACC level package and start to work towards that so that you can get more visibility with your corporate clients, as you can showcase branding and credibility by having an ICF certification.

3. Why should I go for an ACC or PCC level course? 

The answer is simple. If a person has completed their high school, they enroll for a Bachelors degree first. Post this they get some work experience and then if required and based on their interest they study for their Master’s degree. It is hence advisable to complete the ACC level first. Plus, there is a huge effort required to complete PCC directly, and not to forget the cost is almost double. There will be vendors telling you many stories about how beneficial doing a direct PCC is ~ but it is not. You can manage your branding and corporate assignments by just being an ACC level coach, or just by attending a course where the course content is approved by ICF.

4. How much time does it take to complete an ICF Certification?

To become an ICF ACC level coach, you have to complete 60 hours of coach specific hours. I.e.

+ 10 hours of mentor coaching (which has to be spread across 3 months)

+ You have to maintain 100 hours of coaching logs with your clients. Once you have completed 60 hours of coach specific training hours, it is totally up to you whether you want this to be completed in 3 months or 6 months.

Once a person completes the above, they then have to register their application with ICF (450 USD) for non-members and submit the certificate of 60 hours, provide details of 10 hours of mentor coaching, and the 100 hours of the log. Post that, the ICF validation of the application takes 4 weeks, during which they will be sent a link to an online exam.  3 hours – 120 questions, and once a person clears that exam, they become an ICF ACC level coach.

In conclusion: To become an ICF Certified ACC level coach it takes roughly 4 months (fast track) ~ from attending the training  + 10 hours of mentoring + 100 hours of coaching with clients (assuming a person completes 100 hours of coaching as well in the same time frame of 3 months) + 4 weeks required for ICF validation of the application, and successful completion of online exam by the candidate.

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