Team Coaching is not a new phenomenon. It’s been around for ages. From tribal teams to sport teams to organizational teams. Even a family unit could be viewed as a team.

As the post-Covid reality hit the economy, team coaching blossomed even more. For a company, it’s much more cost-effective to hire a coach for an entire team versus an individual employee. And, with the world becoming Zoom-friendly (and other software like Google Meet, etc.), Team Coaching became more accessible and affordable than ever.

1. Why Team Coaching is a Strategic Move for Coaches

If you are a coach and want to grow your coaching business, you may need to adjust your thinking to this new reality.

Not so long ago, a way to get into a new organization was to offer your services for individual coaching. Then in time, once they got to know you and appreciated the value of your coaching, they may have invited you to coach their teams.

Nowadays, a smarter move may be to offer Team Coaching services from the start. Your proposal will have a better chance of getting noticed since an organization would see the potential of getting a bigger bang for their buck. And then you can offer individual sessions as an additional service.

2. The Significance of ICF’s Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC)

Team Coaching has become so popular that the International Coaching Federation (ICF) created a special credential: Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC). The requirements for the applicant are: the completion of at least 60 hours of training in Team Coaching Core Competencies, 5 supervision sessions, and 5 team coaching engagements. Wait, what? Team Coaching Core Competencies? Yes, about a year ago, on the basis of ICF Core Competencies that were created for individual coaching, ICF developed Team Coaching Core Competencies.

I waited to see if this was just a fad. A year passed, and Team Coaching has only grown more and more popular. Not only that, more and more people and organizations know about this ACTC credential from ICF. Well, ICF was always good at marketing, and after all, they are considered to be the gold standard for credentialing in the coaching industry.

As the Founder/Executive Director of a leading international coach training school, I decided it was time to create a stellar Team Coaching course. I talked about it with my partner and VP, Allexis Tuccio, MCC, who had a tremendous amount of experience in Team Coaching. I knew that together we could offer something amazing. And we did. Our Team Coaching course was quickly approved and accredited by ICF – and we soon taught our first course.

3. Seize the Opportunity: Get Your ACTC Credential Now

Then it was time to not only teach Team Coaching at our school but to obtain my own ACTC credential. That meant taking the CKA exam like everyone else. A lesson in humility. The exam was tough but fair, and it felt really good to add that certificate to all my other ICF credentials.

As you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering whether or not obtaining the ACTC credential is really so important. You might not have even heard about it yet. However, there’s no doubt you will.

When ICF was founded back in 1995, many coaches weren’t sure that the coaching profession was going to establish itself. The general public didn’t know what coaching was – and it took a few years before ICF certification really started establishing itself in the market.

ICF really fueled the growth of the coaching industry by self-regulating it with credentialing levels. According to the latest data from the International Coaching Federation’s 2024 Global Coaching Studies, it has now grown to over six billion dollars annually.

Now, most organizations won’t even consider engaging the coaching services of someone who doesn’t have ICF credentials. And many organizations send their employees to study coaching in an effort to implement an in-house coaching culture.

They say that history repeats itself. As more coaches obtain their ACTC credentials, more organizations are going to become aware that they could hire a Team Coach who has been vetted by ICF. Seeing an ACTC credential from the most respected organization regulating the coaching industry will make them feel more confident in their hiring decisions. Soon enough, to be hired for a Team Coaching assignment, you will be required to have ACTC credentials.

There is something else to consider. Back in 2003, the requirements for ICF individual credentials were very different from today. Coaches were only required to submit their experience hours and training hours. I could have applied for my MCC credential without taking any tests. Unfortunately, I waited too long – because I didn’t think that anything was going to change. Then suddenly it did.

When I finally applied, I had to take an oral test. There were two ICF Assessors on the phone with me, and I had to coach one of them while the other one listened. There were no written tests. Since then, the process has become very different. Coaches must submit recordings of their coaching sessions to ICF to be evaluated. Coaches don’t know who their assessors are. There are PCC Markers and other instruments that help assessors in defining your skill level. In addition, there is now a challenging written test that many coaches fail the first time.

What’s my point? Don’t put it off! Get your ACTC credentials now while the requirements are relatively easy. You don’t need a crystal ball to predict that it will become increasingly more challenging in the future.

This is your moment. Take advantage of the currently relaxed requirements! Gain a competitive advantage over other coaches who are going to sit and wait!

The only thing that remains for discussion is what team coach training to choose. There are so many different models in Team Coaching, it can be confusing and even a bit overwhelming.

When Allexis and I were creating our Team Coaching course, we thought long and hard about what model or models of Team Coaching to focus on. We compiled many of the most popular ones and created a learning portal with lots of templates, useful links, and best practices. It serves as a homework platform that frees up a lot of class time for hands-on Team Coaching work and supervision.

Despite the fact that we explore many different approaches, we teach conceptually and holistically. We find the common denominator that could best be applied to any specific Team Coaching scenario. For instance, no matter what model you follow, all coaches are in agreement that creating trust within the team members is crucially important.

We look at best practices and teach how to apply them in even the most challenging Team Coaching situations. What would you do when one team member is not happy with another team member or with the coach? What would you do when the team manager is defensive and not helpful to his own team? What would you do when a team member underperforms while others work twice as hard? How would you help the team members clarify their respective roles and responsibilities? We address practical situations like these and bring them to class in realistic simulation exercises.

Both Allexis and I have backgrounds in acting, and we enjoy acting out these Team Coaching scenarios. The class is fun, and it’s easier to learn and remember when you’re having a good time.

We also wanted to make our training compact and affordable. It’s a 10-week course with three-hour weekly lessons on Zoom plus homework. The all-inclusive tuition is just $2599 with no additional fees of any kind. We also prepare you for the written exam with ICF and support you in every way possible.

We limit each class to 10 students with two MCC coaches/assessors (myself and Allexis) teaching the course.

All you need to do is pick a start date and enroll. It’s that easy.