ICF Coach Certification in India

ICF Coach Certification in India

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the largest coach accreditation body in the world that provides coaching ethics, standards, and core competencies around which coaches over the globe choose to operate if they are aligned with ICF.  ICF Coach Certification programs are very popular across the globe.  ICF Coach Certification in India has become the defacto standard when it comes to ICF approved Coaching Certification in India. ICF provides approvals for different coaching programs and any organization that wants to facilitate ICF Coaching Certification in India, has to go through the rigorous process, as per ICF definition of coaching, coaching standard, and coaching markers required for a program to deed fit to be provided ICF approval.  This is the reason why ICF Coach training in India is very popular, as the entire process of approvals is governed by ICF, and aligned with ICF’s principles.  ICF Coaching has become the industry standard, and is being used as the way to coach across the globe in most of the organizations.

Consideration for ICF Coach Certification in India

If you are looking to attend an ICF Coaching certification in India, here are some of the considerations that you should look for:

1. Coaching Methodology: Choosing the Coaching framework and Methodology that you are going to learn during the ICF coaching program is the key element that you must consider when you are looking for an ICF Coach Certification in India.

There are many courses that are available as ICF approved Coaching Certification in India, but the one you should consider must be based on a strong Behaviour change background, where the coaching methodology is so well-built that it enables you to start your coaching journey on a powerful note.

Some of the strong behavior-based coaching methodologies are Results based Coaching – Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Coaching using NeuroScience, and Meta-Coaching (Neuro-Semantics based). Behaviour-based methodology enables you to work on deep routed changes which can be driven by sub-conscious level changes. There are question-based coaching tools as well, but they don’t necessarily come with a strong methodology behind them. They are linear in nature, and do not allow the coach flexibility to be totally present with the client, and/or apply a dynamic approach ~ where the next question or pattern interrupt is based on what is happening with the client in real-time. Make sure that your ICF approved Coaching Certification in India is based on strong coaching frameworks, and provides an overall experience about the entire Coaching spectrum.

2.Sales and Marketing Support: You have completed your ICF Coach Certification in India  ~ what next? The most logical question will be: Where are the clients going to come from?

Most coaching courses won’t teach you the intricacies of building a coaching practice or finding coaching clients, or branding and content marketing, or influencer marketing and agile marketing, or growth hack in your coaching business. Although these are concepts that every coach must know if they are looking to establish a flourishing coaching business; this is entirely a different course in itself.

But if the coaching vendor is intent on sharing some tips and a road map around this, then that is what you must consider.

3.Presence and further support: Check the mentoring support that is available from senior coaches when it comes to your queries post the program. Check if you can attend the course again, and how much it will cost you? Check the locations where the vendor has a presence and has associations with. Should you need further support in any other city or country, this is the means to easily get that.

4.Price of the program: An expensive program does not translate to the best program. Generally, the pricing of a program is based on the value of the organization offering the program. Some organizations may price the program competitively even though the program quality would be considered the best in terms of methodology. You may have noticed already, competition in terms of ICF approved Coaching Certification in India is definitely going to be more expensive than random sub-standard Life Coach Certifications, which are many these days. You may request an installment-based package to manage your investments across different months as easy installments.

5.Last but the most important, ‘The Master Coach Trainer’: If you are considering attending an ICF Coach Certification in India, you must check the profile of the coach who is going to facilitate the program; their background, their qualifications, and their mentors. Take a look at their testimonials and see if they train internationally. Check if they can provide you with coverage across different flavors of Coaching: Life Coaching, Executive Coaching, Business Coaching, Sports Coaching, and Entrepreneur Coaching, and/or have expertise in all of these.  The best ICF Coach training in India will cover all these aspects, around niche selection, and participants getting aware of these terms, and how to move forward as a Coach.

Attending a Certified Coaching program is a Life changing decision, as a person may be exploring an alternate career so make sure that you do your research well, and invest the right amount of time and money, and avoid shortcuts if you are exploring one.

ICF Coaching Certification in India

Are you fit to be a Life Coach/Business Coach/Leadership Coach? Yes, you are. Anyone and everyone are fit to become a Life/ Business/ Leadership Coach, by attending an ICF Coach training in India. The real question is- are you capable of becoming a successful coach? ICF Coaching and ICF coaches are in great demand these days, why?  Because ICF is the gold standard when it comes to Coaching, providing an ecosystem for coaches to thrive, get their brand in order, and get their coaching skills in place.  Hence, ICF Coaching or ICF Coaches as keywords on Linkedin are very searched keywords. ICF approved Coaching Certification in India is the defacto gold standard for aspiring coaches.

What has this information got to do with Coaching, or ICF Coaching, or any coaching as such, and becoming a successful coach.  Read further in terms of whether you are fit to become a Coach, and join the bandwagon.

Success is a relative term. It means different things to different people. Here, the basic definition of a successful coach is one who has paying clients.

A coach should figure out his/her intentions before setting out on the coaching journey. One might want to become a Life Coach and serve people free of cost with the sole purpose of helping them. This is charity. That coach is not in the business of coaching – and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Reach and impact suffice as measures of success for such coaches.

In the case of Business/ Leadership/ Executive and even some Life Coaches, the intention is to build a career while still helping people. These coaches are in the business of coaching and for them the yardstick to measure success is different. The success of such coaching ventures is judged by the profits it generates – just like any other business.

For this reason, it is important to treat your ICF coaching venture like a business. In this business, the actual coaching is just the product – along with its development, equal importance needs to be given to other aspects of the business plan. These include marketing, sales, capital creation, asset creation, management, quality assessment, product development, and all the works. Hence, one needs to play the role of a coach as well as an entrepreneur.

ICF Coaching Certification in India ~ the ultimate brand for coaches

This prompts us to answer the original question. “Are you fit to become an ICF coach and utilize the brand of ICF Coaching?” The answer to this now lies in the answer to the following questions:

• Do you have the proper training to be a Coach? ICF coaches get more visibility in the market, and ICF Coaching has made inroads in corporate coaching.
• Are you adept at the entrepreneurial aspects of your Coaching Business?
• Do you have the resources to run the said ICF Coaching Business?
• Did you attend ICF approved Coaching Certification in India? 

If the answer to even one of these questions is in the negative, you still have a long way to go.

ICF Coach Certification ~ Way forward

The current situation, given the pandemic, is highly digital in nature. The geographical barriers to running a business have ceased to exist – this poses both an opportunity and a threat to budding coaches. Local competition has given way to global competition and your coaching business is now required to compete with every other coaching business on the planet. With global coach directories, and global marketing and advertising platforms being so accessible, anyone can market from anywhere to anywhere.

The good news is – if they can, so can you. You need to have the resources to compete in terms of content marketing, branding, social media marketing, search engine optimization, etc. sorted for your ICF Coaching to go beyond boundaries. If you have the financial resources to do this and stay afloat for the first two to three years, then you have a chance to flourish and thrive as an ICF coach in this digital era. A proper business and marketing plan backed by sensible financial resource allocation and efficient time management needs to be in place. Badgering friends and family over emails and messages is not a plan; the only purpose it serves is to annoy them.

Prospective coaches need to plan their finances not only for their ICF coach training in India but also for the journey leading up to being a successful coach. One cannot expect a brand-new coaching business to generate income sufficient for both itself and its owner to stay afloat. It takes time and that is why a prospective coach should plan for different or multiple different streams of income. This regular source of income could be part-time or full-time from a different niche. You could capitalize on an existing skill and use that income to keep your coaching business afloat until it generates enough profits on its own. For instance, you could freelance as a graphic designer, a content writer for an ICF coach who is doing ICF Coaching, or even an accountant – anything that you’re good at which can be marketed.

Coaching industry ~ current status Asian and African context

ICF Coaching isn’t a novel concept. In the west (US & UK markets mostly), people have been studying and practicing ICF coaching for decades. Going to one-on-one sessions with a coach for growth and development, whether personal or professional, is a common occurrence now. In Asian and African markets, however, such is not the case. An attempt to popularise coaching in Asia was made by a handful of ambitious coaches from the west some twelve to fifteen years ago but with little success owing to lack of awareness. People, in Asian and African countries, were not familiar with coaching and weren’t really convinced of it has the potential to become a viable career. The situation now, however, is different. Awareness about ICF coaching has hiked in the past five to six years, courtesy of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  As a result, the ICF coaching fraternity in Asian and African countries is witnessing an accelerated growth.  Also, the demand for the ICF Coach Certification in India is on the rise. The foundation of the Coaching Industry has finally been laid in most of the Asian and African markets.

Is ICF Coaching a viable option in India?

‘Yes’ and ‘No’, both.

Yes, ICF coaching is a viable career option for those who believe that they can make it in this field. They ought to have the patience and the will to work through moments of weakness along the journey, and the ability and passion to put in the hard work, post attending their ICF Coaching Certification in India.

‘No’, it is not a viable option for those who are driven by the wrong intentions. If someone chooses to go down the coaching path thinking it is easy money and if they aren’t willing to put in persistent hard work, experiment with concepts and frameworks, and learn constantly and consistently, then coaching is not for them.

What is the timeline to get success as an ICF Coach?

Every aspiring coach wants to know the answer to this question. What needs to be understood is the answer is different for different people. Several factors play a role in determining success. However, what can be said for certain is that the more you want it, the more you’re willing to work for it, the quicker you’re going to get it.

Everyone has their own yardstick to measure success. The first step is to identify what success means to you. Once you have clarity of what you want, and how that fits in with your environment and resources, you can begin the quest of achieving it. One needs to be logical, persistent, and patient in the pursuit of success.  So patience is your key after attending your ICF Coach Certification in India.

In order to be successful, ICF coaching needs to be viewed as a business. Apart from the actual skill of coaching, what is equally, or perhaps more important, is your understanding of the business side of things. A successful life coaching or any other coaching practice needs an efficient business plan complete with product & service positioning, service USP, Sales strategy, marketing strategy, investment & revenue strategy, etc, to be in place.

All these aspects of the business need a whole new set of skills, very different from the one required for coaching. It is essential for any entrepreneur, here- an aspiring life coach, to build up these business skills as well. It is not enough to sporadically post on the various social media platforms or to put out a whimsical ad here and there. A proper strategy, with consistent and quality content, needs to be thought of.

Granted, there ways methods, like paid marketing, to speed up the growth of the coaching business, but that does not guarantee success. You cannot expect to become a super coach overnight just by spending a few thousand dollars a month on marketing. An efficient balance between sustained efforts towards organic growth of the business and paid marketing needs to be struck for optimum results.  The business needs to be managed well and the actual coaching skill needs to be nurtured over time in order for the whole affair to become a successful venture.

Finally, you should constantly be in touch with what drives you. Why did you start coaching in the first place? The heart and soul of your business lie in the answer to this. You should be able to tap into your source of motivation every single day because that is what will help you navigate the rough patches along the journey.

Does Coaching methodology play a part in Coaching?

Like any other skill, coaching also has a learning curve. This is why it is important to not be harsh on yourself right at the onset of your coaching career.

Coaching finds its foundation in subjects such as Emotional Intelligence, Cognitive Psychology, Neurolinguistic Programming, Neuroscience, and the likes. Picking up robust methodology, frameworks, tools, and techniques and experimenting with them is what is likely to serve you best. Learn to develop your coaching presence gradually and then move onto the heavier stuff. Attending an ICF Coaching Certification in India, which is accredited by ICF or any other international coach association, is a good idea. It is extremely important to have a good mentor and so opting for a program delivered by the best ICF Coach Trainer, will definitely give you an edge, while selecting your ICF Coach training in India.

Is it important to be an ICF certified coach, if one wants to become a Coach?

It is not mandatory to have an ICF Coaching Certification in India in order to practice as a Coach. However, with a surge in the number of people offering this service, it makes obvious sense to set yourself apart with a globally accepted accreditation. So it is in the interest of a person looking to become a Coach to attend an ICF Coaching Certification in India to get started as a coach. Learning through such a program hones you with coaching skills which are at par with industry standards, worldwide and enables you to provide your clients with service which helps them optimally and is worthy of their investment. This in turn paves the way for excellent word-of-mouth marketing.

All in all, getting an ICF Certification for coaching and working consistently towards building up the coaching business is what is likely to help someone become a successful life coach.

ICF Coaching and mistakes coaches make

A major mistake that most coaches end up making is that when they get something going for them after they have completed their ICF approved Coaching Certification in India is that they stop focussing on what got them there: ICF coaching education, content marketing, sales, marketing, branding, product excellence, etc. The backbone of any business remains the same and depending on the scale of business, the efforts – both in terms of time and finances, need to go up proportionately.

In order to become successful, one must believe that one can be successful. Watch your internal dialogue, and watch what you are telling yourself. You want to be successful, then aim to do your best, be your best, and you will become the best.

So, while you are busy developing your competence (ICF Coaching is the way forward) as a coach, have you started thinking about how you are going to build your coaching business? There needs to be a proper plan in place, and if there isn’t, then you decide – “Are you fit to become a coach right now?”

ICF Coach Certification in India Course Format – Classroom-based with Vikram Dhar

The ICF Coach training in India towards ICF ACC and ICF PCC is offered as a classroom-based program – Integrated Five Certification NLP Program + ICF Coach Program Page:
Certificate of Training (ICF ACSTH hours) – Combo III – (Program Dates: Check our regular schedule)

If you are someone looking for an Online ICF Coach program or Online ICF program, then check out the Online instructor lead program that we have.  The ICF Coach certification programs are delivered by Vikram Dhar, who is rated as the best NLP trainer in India, and delivers the best NLP training in India. Our ICF approved Coaching Certification in India is powered by NLP, Emotional Intelligence, and Neuroscience based Coaching.  Vikram is the only NLP and Meta NLP trainer in India, and an ICF Mentor Coach & ICF Coach Trainer with a decade of teaching experience.

Course Format – Online ICF Certification Course ~ Instructor-Led Virtual Workshop with Vikram Dhar

For Online Instructor-Led Virtual Integrated Five Certification Program (Online NLP program + ICF Coach Program), leading to ICF ACC or ICF PCC under ACTP.  

Please visit our online courses section or call +91-7506070907 for details, and get to know which course will be more useful.