Welcome to the FAQ section at Goal Imagery® Coaching Academy.
Here, you’ll find answers to the most common questions about our coaching programs, certification, courses, and more.
If you have additional questions, feel free to reach out, and we’d be happy to assist you.
So, what is coaching? It’s a process and a relationship between you and your coach that is focused on helping you reach your goals. A coach holds their client to be whole, creative and resourceful, capable of handling emotions, making decisions, and being productive. A coach helps you brainstorm and reflect; clarify your goals; create strategy and action steps. Coach also provides feedback, support and resources to achieve your objectives.
International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole.
It’s a coaching model we use that provides a truly holistic approach serving the whole person and not just one specific aspect of a person or one specific challenge he or she may be facing. Goal Imagery® coaching maintains that masterful coaching includes a very personal and intimate conversation about the client’s values, ideals, and beliefs. As every true leader must lead from the perspective of his/her own sense of values, a Goal Imagery® coach addresses leadership, relationships, and communication skills, assisting clients to relate their values and ideals in an authentic way.
To determine whether you or your company could benefit from coaching, start by summarizing what you would expect to accomplish in coaching. When an individual or business has a fairly clear idea of the desired outcome, a coaching partnership can be a useful tool for developing a strategy for how to achieve that outcome with greater ease.
Since coaching is a partnership, ask yourself whether collaboration, other viewpoints, and new perspectives are valued. Also, ask yourself whether you or your business is ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes. If the answer is yes, then coaching may be a beneficial way to grow and develop.
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. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is future-focused. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one’s work or personal life. The emphases in a coaching relationship are on 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.
The coach:
The client:
An individual or team might choose to work with a coach for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:
Coaching typically begins with discussing current opportunities and challenges, defining the scope of the relationship, identifying priorities, and establishing specific desired outcomes. Subsequent coaching sessions may be conducted in person or over the telephone (upon mutual agreement), with each session lasting a previously established length of time. Between scheduled coaching sessions, the client takes specific actions that support the achievement of one’s personally prioritized goals. The coach may provide additional resources in the form of relevant articles, checklists, assessments, or models. The duration of the coaching relationship varies depending on needs and preferences.
Appreciative approach: Coaching incorporates an appreciative approach, grounded in what’s right, what’s working, what’s wanted, and what’s needed to get there. Using an appreciative approach, the coach models constructive communication skills and methods to enhance personal communication effectiveness. He or she incorporates discovery-based inquiry, proactive (as opposed to reactive) ways of managing personal opportunities and challenges, constructive framing of observations and feedback to elicit the most positive responses from others, and visions of success as contrasted with focusing on problems. The appreciative approach is simple to understand and employ, and its reach can be profound, opening up new possibilities and spurring action.
According to ICF, “…coaching inspires people to maximize potential, learning… It is the client’s responsibility to get results, not the coach’s.” As coach and client partner on creating a solid strategy for the client to achieve his/her goals, it is solely the client’s responsibility to implement that strategy and take action steps in-between coaching meetings.
Measurement may be thought of in two distinct ways: external indicators of performance and internal indicators of success. Ideally, both are incorporated.
Examples of external measures include achievement of coaching goals established at the outset of the coaching relationship, increased income/revenue, obtaining a promotion, performance feedback that is obtained from a sample of the individual’s constituents (e.g., direct reports, colleagues, customers, boss, the manager him/herself), personal and/or business performance data (e.g., productivity, efficiency measures). The external measures selected should be things the individual is already measuring and has some ability to directly influence.
ICF Core Competencies are applicable equally to all niches and our school teaches the most masterful approaches in using Core Competencies across all popular niches. In addition, even if you know your niche before enrolling in your coach training (congrats!), once trust is established, your clients will want to share anything and everything with their coach. Therefore, it’s important to be flexible and versatile as a coach and be ready to coach your clients on topics of their choice.
ICF offers different ways to apply for your ICF credentials (ACC, PCC, MCC) that are called Paths. Your credential path will depend on what type of coach training you graduated from. Meaning, if you graduated from a Level I program, you must apply through a Level 1 Path, etc. If you completed a training that is not approved by ICF, you will be applying through a Portfolio Path.
With a Level 2 certificate, you will be able to immediately apply for either an ACC or PCC credential without a long waiting period and without going through an ICF oral evaluation. That means, there’s no need to choose your coaching session(s) recordings for ICF submission, no sitting on pins and needles waiting for months if you pass or fail — and no stress. It also means saving lots of time and money. The wait time to receive your credential via the Level 2 path is from just a few days to a maximum of 4 weeks — versus waiting for about 6 months to hear back about your results. You will also be saving on the ICF application fees. For ICF members it’s $375 in Level 2 path versus $650 in Level 1 path or $750 in Portfolio path. (ICF membership is $245 per year and you can join as a member once you start your coach training program.)
Level 1 is also allowing you to submit without submitting your coaching recording and saves your time. However, Level 1 path will only allow you to apply for your ACC credential while Level 2 path is open for ACC and/or PCC applications.
You have a few strategic choices. Once you obtain 100 hours of experience, you may apply for your ACC credential via Level 2 Path. Once you add 400 more hours for a total of 500 hours of experience, you may use the same Level 2 school’s diploma/certificate to apply for your PCC credential—without needing any additional training or mentoring hours. Alternatively, you may wait until you have 500 hours of experience to skip ACC application and directly apply for your PCC credential.
If you don’t have enough experience hours to apply for your PCC right away, it’s advisable to apply for an ACC credential first. While we think that it’s generally better to have a credential than no credential at all, your strategy will also be influenced by knowing how much longer it may take you to get 500 hours of experience. If it’s only a few short months, then it might make sense to wait a bit and apply directly for your PCC credential.
The coaching experience count is always cumulative, from your ACC to your MCC application. However, ICF won’t be doing any record-keeping for you, so you are obligated to use ICF templates and regulations to document your coaching experience hours. At our school, you’ll be provided everything you need to start accurately and easily document your coaching experience.
In our school, we’ll pair you up with as many peer partners as your time management allows. While you are learning your new coaching skills and coaching each other, you’ll be earning your coach training experience hours at the same time. ICF recognizes bartering (paying for a service with a service, including coaching service) as paid coaching experience time. The requirement of the training school for peer coaching as part of your ongoing homework is also recognized as your coaching experience time but counts as a pro-bono coaching experience time.
If you completed Level 2 program, you won’t need any additional training or mentoring to apply for your PCC credential. With 500 hours of coaching experience, you will simply use the same Level 2 graduating certificate you used to apply for your ACC credential and apply for your PCC credential. That’s why Level 2 training is considered the most sensible choice.
Yes, if you have 500 experience hours, you can apply directly for your PCC credential either via Portfolio or Level 2 path. Level 2 certificate ensures that all ICF requirements (other than your coaching experience) for your PCC application are completed. When going through a Portfolio path, you must make sure that those requirements are completed to be able to apply.
Our school allows for a smooth transition from Level 1 to Level 2 program. In addition, even if you choose our Level 1 program, you are allowed to change your mind. At the end of our Part 1 Core Program, you’ll be able to skip Level 1 exams and continue to Level 2 if you wish. That means, no stress in deciding, and focusing on what’s important—obtaining your coaching education.
That will depend on the school and the program you choose. Some schools break down their programs into separate modules/courses. It may be confusing. The best thing is to reach out to speak with someone who could answer your questions about what courses and requirements you need to complete in order to receive a specific certificate. Note that there may be extra charges for learning materials, school exams, mentoring hours, observed coaching sessions, etc.—and some schools even require an additional investment in a 3-months private coaching sessions with a PCC or MCC coach. You must ask about the exact school requirements for certification beyond just the course tuition to truly understand and manage your budget.
Our tuition is inclusive of everything you need to successfully graduate. Also, we don’t increase your tuition when you choose to pay in installments versus paying in full. We do our best to keep your tuition affordable and are extremely transparent having all the tuition and fees published on our website including the withdrawal policy.
It depends on a school’s policy. If you already have your ACC certificate or an equivalent amount of coach training hours (at least 60) from another training and wish to apply for your PCC certificate via Level 2 path, our school may accept up to 65 training credits towards Level 2 graduating certificate at our school.
Arrange an introductory conversation with the person who will be teaching the course you’re interested in—or at least with someone who represents the school.
Be aware of any school that allows you to just click and register for the course without any enrollment interview—it may indicate that the school is focusing on collecting the money versus on creating the nurturing learning environment. This lack of care will usually extend itself on the quality of the training offered.
Look up the school and their instructors on Linkedin to see recommendations from their students and alumni. You’ll be able to get the school’s vibe and decide if it’s something you resonate with.
Mentor Coaching for an ICF Credential consists of coaching and feedback in a collaborative, appreciative and dialogued process based on an observed or recorded coaching session to increase the coach’s capability in alignment with the ICF Core Competencies.
No, ICF-type of coach mentoring is exclusively focused on evaluating and improving your coaching skills according to ICF core competencies.
Any ICF-Credentialed Coach can be a mentor. ACC coaches must have renewed their credential at least once before being able to become a Coach Mentor.
No, it just means they chose not to pay to be listed as a Mentor on ICF’s website. However, you should verify their ICF credential (and their credential renewal if they are an ACC coach) on ICF’s website.
It can take as long as you like. However, in order to use those sessions for your ICF Credentialing, the mentoring sessions must occur over an extended time (three-month minimum) in a cycle that allows for listening and feedback from the Mentor Coach while also allowing reflection and practice on the part of the individual being mentored.
Yes. Coach Mentoring group should not exceed 10 coaches.
Your Mentor Coach is not obligated in providing you with documentation but will have to confirm the information you submit to ICF about your coach mentoring with them. Listing the name of your Mentor Coach with their email address, credentialing level along with the start & end date of mentoring, and the number of coach mentoring hours is sufficient.
Our experienced mentors make your life easier and provide you with an official letter documenting all the information you must submit to ICF.
You can have as many Mentor Coaches as you like.
Level 1 and Level 2 Paths don’t require the proof of your mentoring sessions since all required by ICF mentoring is included in Level 1 and Level 2 programs.
No, when you are applying for any credential, all ICF credentialing requirements for whatever credential you’re applying for must be met before applying.
Only ACC credential holders must submit a proof of a new 10-hour set of mentor coaching when renewing their credential.
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