Earlier in the Summer I submitted my application for my Master Certified Coach credential. Woohoo. Now the wait, as the assessors work through my portfolio and listen in to my recordings. Fingers crossed I might be an MCC by Christmas. And I hope I don’t get egg on my face by shouting about it now and then not passing! But it’s all part of life’s tapestry of learning.
My strategy
Anyway, the point of this post is to give you my strategy for accumulating hours towards your credential. Yes, I had a strategy. Why? Because when I didn’t have a strategy, I just drifted and the hours did not tot up in the way I would have liked them to. This time, with my PCC renewal coming up for the fourth time in December 2022 (I received my PCC in 2010 and we renew every three years), I told myself that I was not going to allow myself to renew, but that I wanted to stretch myself to MCC with all that that entails.
The point at which I told myself this was the last time I renewed, in 2019. But I didn’t immediately put a strategy in place, which was a little foolish as I still had about 400 hours to accumulate, so needed a plan.
My original plan for my ACC and then for my PCC was to decide on the date I wanted to submit my application, look at the number of hours I needed and then divide that number by the amount of intervening weeks (allowing for holidays etc). This told me how many hours of coaching I needed each week. And this is the way I planned for my MCC hours accrual as well, once I put my mind to it.
I needed about ten hours a week, which was more coaching than I was doing at the time. So I needed to think creatively about how to gain more coaching hours.
Ethicality
I am very ethical about the hours I count towards my credential. Nothing goes in my log unless it is pure coaching. No mentor coaching, no supervision (though I coach most of the time that I am supervising), no instrument debriefing (as that is feedback, not coaching, and there is a parent/child dynamic there rather than a partnership), no team development or team facilitation where the agenda was designed by me rather than the team. This is why it has taken me more than 20 years to get enough hours for my MCC!
I had never offered pro bono coaching, so I knew I had capacity in the pro bono hours that the ICF allows. My planning coincided with the pandemic which gave me a greater sense of social responsibility. I therefore created a couple of group coaching programmes that would give me some pro bono hours and I offered my coaching expertise to a charity for no fee.
Then I looked around me and figured out where else I could be building relationships that would lead to more coaching. Over the course of the three years, I have not had to work so hard at finding new coaching because I have had a lot more referrals. I know that’s not always the way when you are starting out, as you haven’t yet got enough people to give you referrals….but do not be afraid to ask for those referrals from everyone you have worked with in a coaching capacity – and also from people who have known you and loved your work in other capacities.
Internal coaches
If you are internal to an organisation, you also have a built in audience. When I was tracking my hours for ACC and PCC, I was internal. I offered my coaching out via the blog that I wrote. I built quite a following through that blog so ended up coaching people from all over the world.
I signed up to the ICF reciprocoach programme, gifting and receiving coaching from some amazing coaches. I also run a Coaching Circle where we practice coaching, so could count those hours as well.
And each week, I totted up what I had done, and rejigged how many hours that meant I still needed, so that I could increase or decrease the amount of hours I needed each week to get there. I exceeded my target of December – though I almost certainly won’t hear back until December at the earliest.
I hope this helps you to find ways to accumulate hours. It can feel like a daunting task to go from zero to one hundred for ACC. I certainly felt daunted going for the 2500 for MCC! But once I started to strategise and think creatively, I made it happen. You can too. Though make them quality hours, not just hours for the sake of a log. That’s where mentor coaching comes in, to support you to improve your coaching to be your best each and every time you log another hour.
*Update – Clare received her Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential in March 2023!
