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industry news Reproduced with the permission of choice Magazine, www.choice-online.com continued from page 47… Following this determination, the Board charged the global ICF Credentialing and Program Accreditation Committee with developing a plan of action to be presented to the Board during its March 2010 meeting. This plan of action was to be aligned to the above three-fold program purpose and with the direction to include key stakeholders to ensure co-creation. The Committee was tasked to make sure its plan touched on a number of areas, including: • The number of credentials the enhanced system should offer; “The ICF Board has already committed to maintaining the existing three-tier credentialing system at least until January 2012.” • Methods used to differentiate between different levels should the ICF retain a three-tier credentialing system; • Qualifications of credential applicants (training and/or experience hours); • Written and oral exam requirements; and possible assessor compensation. I encourage readers to visit the ICF blog at Coachfederation.org/blog for more information around this request to the Committee. The Credentialing and Program Accreditation Committee worked diligently following the Board’s January meeting to prepare a detailed work plan that involved reviewing and 48 VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2 researching a number of key areas as well as a timeframe with major milestones. The Board reviewed this plan during its March meeting and approved the work proposal. The Committee’s plan outlines a multitude of discrete tasks to be carried out, and currently the timeline for this work stretches out for the next few years. This timeline could, however, be compressed or expanded depending on various decisions made along the way. Regardless of how the timeline evolves during this project, the ICF Board has already committed to maintaining the existing three-tier credentialing system at least until January 2012. This does not mean that the three-tier system will disappear in January 2012 – only that anyone planning to apply for one of the existing credentials can rely on the stability of the existing system through that time. The Credentialing and Program Accreditation Committee will lead the efforts outlined in the project plan, but will also outreach and create several workgroups to include key stakeholders such as credentialed coaches, assessors, and others to carry out the work and ensure co-creation of potential system enhancements. To ensure diversity on workgroups, members will represent multiple geographic regions, credential levels, coaching experience, etc. The ICF looks forward to sharing more information as this work progresses. If you are interested in how the ICF Credentialing program continues to evolve, I encourage you to look for more updates around this work to be included in ICF member and credential holder communications, in the Coaching World newsletter and on the ICF blog. Ethics Education In coaching, ignorance is definitely not bliss By Liora Rosen, MS, MA “The ICF’s core values of Integrity, Excellence, Collaboration and Respect all meld into one within the Code of Ethics.” So starts the newly launched Ethics Education chapter training program. As coaches, we like to think we already have those four values covered: we behave with integrity, we encourage our clients to excel, we collaborate, we’re respectful. Our ethical bar is already high … we’re coaches! True as that may seem, there’s more to ethical coaching than acting with integrity; you also need to know what to do in a coaching dilemma, know your guidelines, parameters, etc. The ethics training program is intended to highlight things you may not realize you needed to know. It is intended to be your coaching GPS – your navigator for when you need it, so it helps if you know how it works. Have you rolled your eyes yet? I know, you’re probably thinking, ‘yeah right!’ Truth is, I’ve been cautioned that not everyone gets as excited about ethics as I do (been there, saw that), but hear me out and keep reading because the reaction to the training program has so far been the opposite to what you are probably expecting. As far as I know, it has always been the goal of the Ethics Education subcommittee to expand the knowledge of ICF members regarding updates to the Code of Ethics – sometimes successfully, sometimes not (I get it! Not everyone gets tingly over this), and vying for your attention at the International Conference once a year really only goes so far. As a matter of fact, in an ICF survey coaches ranked ethics dead last Reproduced with the permission of choice Magazine, www.choice-online.com
Reproduced with the permission of choice Magazine, www.choice-online.com as their topic of interest. So why the crazy agenda to provide ethics training to all ICF members (almost 17,000 in case you’re wondering)? The answer has much to do with ICF’s past as it does with its future. Since it first came into existence in 1995, ICF’s membership has grown exponentially. Original counts range from 50-200, then in year five there “The ethics training program is intended to highlight things you may not realize you needed to know.” were about 2,000 members, in year 10 around 8,000 members and now in our 15th year there are almost 17,000 members from 90 countries. Complaints started coming into the ICF in 2001 as the process for the Ethical Conduct Review was being organized and finally approved by the Board in 2002; we now stand at a total of 28 complaints (a small number that takes up many volunteer hours). Most of the complaints have come from North America and whether that is because we are litigious by nature or just more aware of the ECR process is hard for me to say; it’s probably a combination of the two. Here’s what I’ve heard researching for this article: • More coaches are now aware of their rights, responsibilities and possible courses of intervention, so coachto-coach complaints are on the rise. • Many people outside North America are not as familiar with the process “Building coaching partnerships that are based on integrity is a basic foundation of professionalism.” and so do not utilize it as often. • Coaches not fully aware of what they need to know in order to protect themselves now find themselves facing a complaint allegation. • Personally, I’d add the numbers factor. As membership grows globally, it is natural that people should reach out to our organization to intervene on their behalf and provide remedies; after all, we are a self-regulating profession. All of these statements point me in the same direction: the number of complaints will continue to increase. That said, we should not just sit back and let the numbers dictate the direction we’re going in. We should be proactive in living to our aspirational goals of doing good and helping to create a better world; hence the ambitious agenda to provide training to all. Building coaching partnerships that are based on integrity is a basic foundation of professionalism. Ethics isn’t law; it’s a choice, but choice can only guide you in the realms you know. For the realms you don’t know, there’s the code. It guides you into unknown territory. For example, the code says you must have clear agreements with your clients and sponsors but never specifies that it has to be in writing; so is a verbal agreement good enough? Well, yes, until things go bad and then only what’s been written on paper can clarify a “he said, she said” scenario. So although the code doesn’t specify that agreements HAVE to be in writing, the training program will make that perfectly clear … for your protection, it should be in writing. There are lots of other goodies in there for you to discover. The Ethics Education program is out there – for YOU! So you can be a better coach and help keep the number of com- VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2 industry news plaints down the right way. The program is packed with important information; it’s interactive, fun, and vital for your coaching. That’s it! That’s my pitch. Email your chapter leader and find out when training is coming your way; find out what you don’t know. I don’t just mean newbie coaches; I mean you experienced MCCs as well (yes, there really were some of you who didn’t know what you needed to know – that’s what the program is for). And if, after you’ve attended the training, you think it’s been worthless, call me. I want to hear your comments. As always, the Ethics committee values your feedback and welcomes any comments or questions you may have (email icfethics@coachfederation.org). For now, happy learning! • ICF Latin American Coaching Conference 2010 July 15-17, 2010 Lima, Peru www.icfperu.org ICF Asia Pacific Coaching Conference 2010 September 1-3, 2010 Singapore www.apcc2010.com 2010 ICF Annual International Conference October 27-30, 2010 Fort Worth Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA www.coachfederation.org 2011 ICF Annual International Conference December 7-10, 2011 Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA www.coachfederation.org 49 Reproduced with the permission of choice Magazine, Save These Dates! www.choice-online.com
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