With the outbreak of the pandemic, lives are being impacted in ways – both personal and professional. So, in an effort to support the coaching community, ICF has made temporary changes to support ICF credential holders and credential applicants. We share with our community the mail we received from ICF as an accredited training provider. We thank ICF for its proactive and supportive stance.
Message from ICF:
We hope this message finds you safe and healthy. As an organization, as a profession, as individuals—we care about the many implications of the current global pandemic on all our communities, including the global community of coaches.
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to impact how we all live and work, your contributions as an ICF-accredited training provider remain vital. Thank you for continuing to advance the highest standards for our profession during these tumultuous times.
Now more than ever, our members and credential-holders are living our value of excellence. With the added pressures our coaching community is facing, we want to create a space for excellence to thrive. For many coaches who planned to renew or apply for an ICF Credential in 2020, this crisis has the potential to be enormously disruptive and derail them from achieving their goal. We don’t want this to happen.
In the weeks, months and years ahead, our world will need coaches and coaching more than ever before. We want to ensure that ICF-credentialed coaches continue to represent the highest professional standards and that they are ready to provide support when and where it’s needed.
We are committed to maintaining our high standards for credentialing and the value ICF Credentials have for those who hold them. We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges to all communities, including the global community of professional coaches.
To support coaches on their professional journey while continuing to ensure the highest standards for the credentialing process, the ICF Credentials and Standards Global Board has approved three temporary measures to support coaches in 2020:
Capping Continuing Coach Education Requirements for Lapsed Credential-holders
ICF values ongoing professional development for credentialed coaches, which is why we require ICF-credentialed coaches to renew their credential every three years. We acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic may disrupt access to Continuing Coach Education opportunities, particularly for individuals required to submit additional CCE units to renew a lapsed ICF Credential.
For coaches whose ICF Credentials expired December 31, 2019, we are capping the Continuing Coach Education requirement at 41.2 CCE units (at least 24.72 units in Core Competencies). This is the number of CCE units required to renew a credential after a one-month lapse. Coaches will still be required to complete at least three of their Core Competencies units in coaching ethics. They can obtain these hours by completing ICF’s free online course.
Upon renewal, December 31, 2022 will be the new expiration date for these coaches’ credentials. They will still be required to submit at least 40 Continuing Coach Education units (24 in Core Competencies), completed between December 1, 2020, and December 31, 2022, during their next renewal cycle.
Extending Client Coaching Experience Recency Requirements for ACC and PCC Applicants
We recognize that this crisis has had an enormous impact on coaches’ businesses and, for many, led to the cancellation of scheduled coaching sessions that they had planned to count toward their client coaching experience requirement. By temporarily extending the recency requirement for ACC and PCC applicants, we hope to enable many coaches to stay on track with their anticipated timeline to apply for an ICF Credential.
If a coach applies for their ACC or PCC by December 31, 2020, their recency requirement for experience hours will be extended from 18 to 24 months.
For ACC applicants, this means that at least 25 hours of coaching experience must have taken place within 24 months of submitting their application.
For PCC applicants, this means that at least 50 hours of coaching experience must have taken place within 24 months of submitting their application.
Increasing Eligible Number of Pro Bono Hours
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges to all communities, including the global community of professional coaches. But these times are also unprecedented in terms of opportunities for coaches to be in service to their communities, and we know that coaching is now more important than ever.
If a coach applies for their ACC, PCC or MCC by December 31, 2020, they will also be eligible to count a higher proportion of pro bono coaching hours toward their experience requirements.
We are increasing the proportion of eligible pro bono coaching hours by 20%.
This means:
- ACC applicants can count 30 hours of pro bono coaching toward their experience requirement (up from 25 hours)
- PCC applicants can count 60 hours of pro bono coaching toward their experience requirement (up from 50 hours)
- MCC applicants can count 300 hours of pro bono coaching toward their experience requirement (up from 250 hours)
Because we want to provide support to ICF Credential-holders and credentialing applicants as soon as possible, these changes are effective immediately. Throughout the day, we will email all ICF Members and Credential-holders to notify them of these temporary measures. Information about these temporary measures, along with guidance on how coaches can access Continuing Coach Education and professional development opportunities, will also be available at https://coachfederation.org/
As always, our staff is here to support you in your work. Please feel free to contact the team at support@coachfederation.org with any questions you have about these temporary changes.
Today and every day, we are thankful to partner with accredited training providers as we support coaches worldwide while promoting the highest professional standards for the coaching industry. Thank you for the important part you play in moving this work forward!
