I got my Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coaching Federation 11 years ago today, after becoming a certified coach with New Ventures West the year prior.
I have renewed my PCC credential 3 times since then, most recently in 2024 which means I’m credentialed through the end of 2027.
Most of my clients don’t know and rightfully don’t care all that much about my professional credentials because they value my experience, my expertise, my background, my reputation, my coaching style, my core values, and our relationship above some external marker of proof that I’m qualified to do this stuff.
But even as a skeptic and someone who has generally avoided professional affiliations most of my career, I place tremendous value on that PCC credential—not because of how hard it is to get, but because of how hard it is to keep.
Every 3 years when you go to renew, you have to submit proof of at least 40 hours of continuing education credits. And those hours can’t be from just anywhere; the training has to be ICF-approved, meaning the curriculum and trainers align with the core competencies rigorously defined as the bare minimum expectations for a professional certified coach. These core competencies are regularly reviewed and revised by a global job analysis and convening body of thousands of coaches worldwide. It’s serious shit.
Even more importantly to me is that you must submit continuing education credits in the category of Ethics to demonstrate that you are reviewing, relearning, retaining, and upholding what it means to be an ethical coach—acting with integrity, transparency, non-judgment, inclusivity, fairness, and of course total confidentiality. You are required to sign the ICF Code of Ethics every time you renew your credential.
So yeah, it matters. It’s pretty cool that any of this exists. The ICF is a massive and globally influential organization that I’m grateful to be a part of. I’m definitely the type to color outside the lines, I always have been and always will be, so don’t expect me to be like any other ICF-credentialed coach you might have worked with…but I really do appreciate the comfort and reassurance it gives me to have a governing body reassess my competence and readiness on a regular basis. To keep me fresh, and accountable.
If you have any questions about this, just ask. I mentor new coaches all the time, and almost everyone gets confused about the difference between being certified and being credentialed (because it’s confusing). Soooo soo many of my coaching clients have become coaches over the years. I’m swimming in this stuff every day, so please never hesitate to ask.
And to all the folks who let me be a coach every day—past, present, and future—thank you. Thank you. It’s the honor of my life to get to walk alongside you.
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