Here's how you can become a certified executive coach.

Becoming a certified executive coach involves several key steps. Understand the role and required skills, then assess your strengths and areas for growth. While a bachelor's degree is beneficial, advanced degrees in business or psychology can deepen your knowledge. Choose an accredited certification program, such as those from ICF, CCE, or EMCC, and complete the required training and practical coaching hours. Accumulate necessary coaching experience, then apply for certification and pass the required exams. Engage in continuous professional development, stay updated with coaching trends, and build your coaching practice through effective marketing and business skills.

Reputable coaching certification programmes are expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it's worth understanding the basics of the coaching profession before diving into a certification. Read about it online. Pick up a couple of books on the subject ("Co-active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives" by Henry Kimsey-House et al. is a good starting point). If possible, reach out to a few professional coaches and ask them about their day-to-day. Try to understand what makes a coach successful in their role. How does the business of coaching work? what are its pitfalls? What sort of career trajectory could you aim for as a coach? What costs does a coaching career entail and what is its income potential?

Focus on challenges your executive clients are coping with and ask yourself questions which address those challenges with regard to the word "what" at the beginning of each questions. I.e." what happens when this challenge is not solved?" or "What could have happen to stop or eliminate this challenge?" Executive coaching is about helping top-managers best lead their teams, organizations and live the best life they can and want to have. That's why only the true understanding of what they can stop doing, modify, and invent in order to change their way of work and living and what they can maintain as this is really supportive and strong for their well-being and growth matters so much for the start as an executive coach. That's all it is.

An executive coach works with leaders to enhance their performance, develop their leadership skills, and achieve their professional goals. This involves one-on-one sessions, feedback mechanisms, and the application of various coaching techniques. Let's take an e.g., Imagine Jane, a senior marketing manager, who wants to pivot her career towards helping other leaders excel. She begins by researching what executive coaching entails, discovering that it involves a deep understanding of business dynamics, psychology, and human behavior. She learns that executive coaches need to be excellent listeners, empathetic communicators, and strategic thinkers.

Accreditation Bodies and Certification Programs: There are several reputable organizations that offer certification in executive coaching, such as the International Coach Federation (ICF), the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). Each has its own set of requirements and certification levels. First step- know your 'why' E.g, John, a director of operations, decides to pursue a certification in executive coaching. He evaluates different accreditation bodies and finds that the ICF's certification is highly regarded in his industry. John explores the various certification levels offered by ICF—ACC,PCC, and MCC—and decides to aim for the ACC as his initial goal after reflecting.

Before picking a coaching certification, think about your career goals. There are 3 main coaching niches: Health, Wealth, and Relationships. What kind of coach do you want to become? Do you wish to help executives improve their health? Their career and income trajectory? Their relationships? Where do you believe you can add the most value, at least as your starting point? Based on your answer, choose a coaching programme from a reputable institution that helps you specialise in your desired coaching area.

Find global coaching organizations which help you grow as a professional coach under the wings of the best executive coaches you can learn from. ICF can guide you with powerful credentials which will support your coaching presence and confirm your way of proven path of growth as a coach. In addition look for accreditations which will support your specialty as executive coach. I.e. when you work with agile management driven executives get diplomas in agility management coaching (Scrum, Kanban, etc). When you work as a team coach find appropriate paths for your team coaching development. When you work as communication coach focus on improvement in this area (like: NVC) and get certified here as well.

Before picking a coaching certification, think about who you want to help and why you believe you can help them. There are 3 main coaching domains: Health, Wealth, and Relationships. Which are you most qualified, either professionally or personally to support other people in and why? Do you wish to help executives improve their health, their career and income trajectory or their relationships, which can be both personal and professional but will almost certainly start with themselves? Where do you believe you can add the most value, at least as your starting point? Then, based on your answers, choose a coaching programme from a reputable institution that helps you specialise in your desired coaching area.

This is a life journey and commitment...remember that! None of us are ever too good to stop learning and developing! The more we learn, and more importantly the more we're willing to learn, will support us developing the levels of rapport, trust and respect with those we work with.

When choosing a coaching training programme, look for testimonials from previous students. Wherever possible, reach out to a few of them and ask them about their experience. Marketers are very smart at crafting compelling copy. First-hand experience from former students can save you a lot of frustration and disappointment in the long run.

When you start to train, never stop. Executive coaching is a very fast growing business with enormously broad palette of specializations. That's why it's so important to be informed about the current "hot" coaching trend. During learning you can meet new mentors and gurus and one day you will become one of them. Learning among other coaches helps you better understand different kind of clients especially when you can participate in peer-coaching programs. Of course you also learn the basics of each coaching system you are training.With the pace of time you will find your own policy for succes and combine the best mixture of techniques and methods to best serve your executive clients. This needs only continuous learning.

Formal training programs are essential for developing the necessary skills and knowledge. These programs often include coursework in coaching methodologies, ethical practices, and practical coaching sessions. Additionally, accumulating coaching hours under supervision is typically required. For instance, Maria, an experienced HR executive, enrolls in an ICF-accredited coach training program. Over several months, she participates in intensive workshops, online courses, and peer coaching sessions. She also engages in supervised coaching practice, where she coaches her colleagues and receives feedback from her mentor coach. Through this hands-on experience, Maria hones her coaching skills & confidence in her ability to develop other leaders.

Work within your specialty. Like dictors who have specialty (dentists or gynecologist) the same with executive coaches. When you work with top-managers you cannot be a new-born mother coach at the same time. Collect hours with full awareness what kind of clients you best serve and why they are so happy and satisfied with working with you as their executive coach. Learn about your most advanced improvement in helping leaders sustainably grow and don't go for fast growth but stay focused on what you do to help leaders get along with visible, and constant transformation so that they infect others with their own improvement from their own work with your support. Remember to help them measure their improvement and involve stakeholders.

There are many ways to get certified as a coach but if you want to find work in corporate organisations and maybe work for some of the coaching organisations that supply coaching to the top global companies in the world, look for programmes that are certified by: The International Coaching Federation (ICF) The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) or the Association for Coaching (AC) These organisations have a great reputation and are recognised globally

Ask yourself what kind of certification are you looking for? And double check whether you really need another certificate ;). Consider specialising yourself in a specific area or method of (executive) coaching. The most up and coming method is working with the body in coaching. But how do you keep it suitable for a business environment? How do you help CEOs with little to no experience in tapping into their embodied wisdom? And how do you do it safely and effectively? After researching different methods in embodied executive coaching, I've landed on Leadership Embodiment, developed by Wendy Palmer. It combines principles from martial arts, mindfulness, psychology and neuroscience. It is experiential and backed up by science.

I've been certified by many global organizations i.e. : Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Leader and Team Coach, Professional Certified Coach by ICF, Professional SCRUM Master PSM-1, Clean Coach for Leadership Accredited by The Institute of Leadership and Management and the Clean Coaching Centre, NLP Certified Master Practioner (iNLP) , Professional Solution-Focused Coach by Erickson International, Positive Psychology Certified Practioner (University of Pennsylvania) and Non-violent Communication Certified Practioner (Agnieszka Pietlicka). In my executive coaching practice I use MGSCC + Clean Coaching + Positive Psychology + NVC as my combination of the best techniques which guarantee leaders' sustainable, and visible growth.

Consider these often overlooked yet nuanced factors while pursuing your certification: Research various coaching programs, ensuring their curriculum and methodology resonate with your objectives and values. Prioritize programs accredited by recognized coaching bodies like ICF, EMCC, or CCE to ensure credibility and quality. Seek programs offering networking potential and membership benefits to expand your professional connections. Account for built-in coaching practice hours within programs, allowing for essential hands-on experience before certification. Assess the time and financial commitments required, ensuring they're manageable within your current situation.