Unlock

Your
Potential
 Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com
What do you want
to accomplish?
What would you start today
if you knew you could not fail?
What’s holding you
back from achieving
your goals?

Everyone has goals they want to reach, challenges they are

striving to overcome, ideas that need a road map and times
when they feel stuck.

A growing number of individuals are turning to professional

coaching for support in identifying and living out their
vision and purpose so they can be the best versions of
themselves. Partnering with a professional coach can unlock
your potential and set you on the path to thriving personally
and professionally.

As the world’s largest organization of professionally trained

business and personal coaches, the International Coach
Federation (ICF) is committed to setting high standards for
the industry, advancing the art and science of coaching, and
helping clients get the most out of their partnership with a
professional coach.
What is coaching?

Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com

ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires
them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Coaching is a client-driven process. The
coach’s responsibility is to:

• Discover, clarify and align with what the client wants to achieve
• Encourage client self-discovery
• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
• Hold the client responsible and accountable

The coaching process helps clients improve their outlook on work and life, while improving their
leadership skills and unlocking their potential.

“What most impresses me about

my coach is his level of energy
and enthusiasm. He shows
these two characteristics in every
coaching session. His listening
and questioning skills help me—
and my team—discover new
insights and develop strategies
for future development. In his
coaching sessions, he creates a
safe, comfortable and engaging
environment. His integrity, energy,
openness and humor make him
an empowering coach.”
Drago Dervarič, CEO
Saubermacher & Komunala D.O.O.
“Coaching is a guided process where somebody

Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com

helps you through the power of questions and
active listening come to your own conclusions.
You help to get your own answers, and these
are the best answers because you are the
expert for yourself. I think coaching is the
leadership style of the future.”
—Janez Hudovernik, Associate Certified Coach (Slovenia)
How is coaching distinct from
other service professions?

Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com

Professional coaching focuses on setting goals, creating outcomes and managing personal change.
Sometimes it’s helpful to understand coaching by distinguishing it from other personal or organizational
support professions.

• Therapy: Therapy deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or in
relationships. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past that hamper an
individual’s emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and
dealing with the present in more emotionally healthy ways.
Coaching, on the other hand, supports personal and professional growth based on self-initiated
change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. Coaching is future-focused, and the coaching
relationship emphasizes action, accountability and follow-through.

• Consulting: Individuals or organizations retain consultants for their expertise. While consulting
approaches vary widely, the assumption is the consultant will diagnose problems and prescribe and,
sometimes, implement solutions.
With coaching, the assumption is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own
solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.

• Mentoring: A mentor is an expert who provides wisdom and guidance based on his or her own
experience. Mentoring may include advising, counseling and coaching.
The coaching process does not include advising or counseling, and focuses instead on individuals or
groups setting and reaching their own objectives.

• Training: Training programs are based on objectives set out by the trainer or instructor. Though
objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached,
with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path that coincides
with an established curriculum. Coaching is less linear, without a set curriculum.

• Athletic Development: Though sports metaphors are often used, professional coaching is
different from sports coaching. The athletic coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs
the behavior of individuals or teams based on his or her greater experience and knowledge.

Professional coaches possess these qualities, but their experience and knowledge of the individual or
team determines the direction. Additionally, professional coaching does not focus on behaviors that are
being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the focus is on identifying opportunity for development
based on individual strengths and capabilities.
 Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com
“I love helping people work through things that
have kept them stuck, have kept them staying
small, have kept them from living to their fullest
potential. And now I have the opportunity
to help other people who are like me, well
educated, trained professionals who have
invested a lot in a career, and I can help them to
put all the pieces together and get in touch with
what it is they really want to do. And help them
through the transition so they can live the rest
of their life really fulfilled.”
—Julia Mattern, ICF Professional Certified Coach (USA)
Why should I partner with
a coach?

Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com

If you want to take advantage of an opportunity or challenge, feel “stuck” on the path to achieving
your goals or simply believe there is something more to discover in your personal or professional life,
partnering with a professional coach could benefit you.

Coaching clients who responded to the 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study reported
positive coaching impacts including:

• Improved communication skills

• Increased self-esteem/self-confidence
• Increased productivity
• Optimized individual/team work performance

• Improved work/life balance

• Increased well-being
• Improved business management strategies

• Expanded professional career opportunities

• Accelerated on-boarding into a new professional role

 Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com

“...I love the moment when my coachee gets

an ah-ha moment or realizes ‘I need to change’
or even, ‘I want to change.’ And then starts this
passion. I see passion coming from them that
they would like to make changes.”
—Kentaro Hayashi, ICF Associate Certified Coach (Japan)
How do I find a coach?

Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com

Before you begin the process of hiring a coach, take the opportunity to reflect on your objectives for the
coaching engagement. Being clear on your goals during the hiring process enables you to find the coach
best-suited to help you reach them. Because coaching is a partnership, you should also consider how
much value you place on collaboration, other viewpoints and new perspectives. Because coaching is a
client-driven process, your buy-in is essential to ensure maximum results.

ICF recommends that you interview three coaches before you make a hiring decision. Ask each about his
or her qualifications, experience and skills, and be sure to request at least two client references.

Consider asking the following questions of each prospective coach:

• What is your coaching experience (number of individuals coached, years of experience, types of
coaching situations, etc.)?
• What is your coach-specific training (enrolled in an ICF approved training program, other coach-
specific training, etc.)?
• What is your coaching specialty or areas in which you most often work?
• What is your philosophy about coaching?
• What types of assessments are you certified to deliver?
• What are some of your coaching success stories (specific examples of individuals who have
succeeded as a result of coaching)?

Selecting a coach who holds an ICF Credential ensures that you’re working with the best in the industry.
Possession of an ICF Credential is a clear sign of a coach’s commitment to professional excellence.
Currently, more than 22,000 individuals hold one of three ICF Credentials distinguishing themselves as
consummate professionals.

ICF Credential-holders have fulfilled rigorous education and experience requirements and demonstrated
a strong commitment to excellence in coaching. To be eligible for an ICF Credential, a coach must complete
coach-specific training; achieve a designated number of coaching experience hours; partner with a Mentor
Coach; and demonstrate the appropriate understanding and mastery of ICF’s definition of coaching, Code of
Ethics and Core Competencies.

You may also find it helpful to know that industry research shows a positive link between coaches’
credentials and professional memberships, and their clients’ overall satisfaction with the coaching
experience. According to the 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study, clients were more likely to be
satisfied with their coaching experience and recommend coaching to others when they worked with a
credentialed coach.

Begin your search for an ICF-credentialed coach with the free Credentialed Coach Finder housed at
CredentialedCoachFinder.com.
 Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com
“Coaching essentially is a process that will allow
you to get where you want to be in a much
shorter time and to achieve the success that
you want to achieve in your life without doing
it on your own. One of the things as a coach is
that often if people want to be stretched, then
we give the opportunities to be stretched.”
—Inta Sellick, ICF Professional Certified Coach (Australia)
What are the benefits of
partnering with a coach?

Find a coach at CredentialedCoachFinder.com

Professional coaching brings a host of benefits, including fresh perspectives on personal and professional
challenges, enhanced decision-making skills, and increased confidence. Coaching can also have a powerful
ripple effect, sparking transformation in your family, your community and your workplace.

According to respondents to a 2014 survey conducted by ICF and the Human Capital Institute, benefits
of coaching cited by decision-makers in organizations using coaching included:

• Increased engagement
• Faster on-boarding
• Faster leadership development
• Increased emotional intelligence
• Improved team functioning
• Increased commitment
• Increased job satisfaction

“As a result of coaching, I learned

to listen, respect and live true to
my inner voice—(my true self.)
Thanks to coaching, my lifestyle
made a 180-degree turn. My
ICF coach always applied both
coaching skills and life experience
very appropriately to lead me to
where I needed to go. I respect
his ethical and well-mannered
coaching approach.”
Takeshi Horiuchi
Independent business owner
Ready to
Unlock Your
Potential?
Begin your search for an ICF-credentialed coach
with the free Credentialed Coach Finder at
CredentialedCoachFinder.com.

The International Coach Federation (ICF) seeks to advance the art, science and practice of
professional coaching and exists to lead the global advancement of the coaching profession. Learn
more about ICF at Coachfederation.org.

2365 Harrodsburg Road, Suite A325 Lexington, KY 40504 +1.888.423.3131 [email protected]