By Micki McMillan, MCC
This past week, Blue Mesa Group’s CEO and ACTO’s President Micki McMillan and 19 other coaches from around the world attended the first Professional Coach Certification assessor training through the International Coach Federation.
ICF has launched an improved assessment system which enables assessors to objectively determine the competencies of the coach. The inaugural assessor cohort completed the on-site portion of training where they learned the new system of evidence-based assessment. This change in assessment begins September 2014.
“It has rigor, evens the playing field, and enables the candidate to know what he will be assessed for,” explains Micki while speaking about this improvement. “When a candidate passes or fails, he knows exactly what markers he demonstrated, and those he missed. The ICF competencies have not changed. Forty-seven markers have been identified for the competencies, all behaviorally and objectively written. ”
Micki is an MCC and sees this process as a significant improvement for the coaching profession. She’s been an ICF credential holder since 2000 and began teaching and evaluating coaches in 1998.
In keeping with the principle of coaching, this addition enables the candidate to develop a learning plan for improvement, as they receive feedback about what he did and did not do to earn a passing grade.
“As a co-director of an ACTP school, I cannot be more pleased with this new system! For the first time, we, as a school, will know what and how to calibrate our curriculum so we are aligned with ICF standards,” said Micki. “This will help our graduates enter the marketplace with confidence that their skills are solid, and they have the very best foundation to coach with excellence.”
What does this mean for the coaching Profession?
The ICF is becoming more transparent as it advances the art and science of coaching. Coupled with transparency, this change supports the advancement of the coaching profession by evidence based assessment, independent examinations, and greater inspection of the schools it accredits.
As the Coach Training Director of the UT Dallas Coach Training Program, I wonder if you will be sharing the information you trained assessors about with us with some guidance of the changes based on Evidence Based assessment. Our assessors need to know what ICF is requiring as your “new system”, as do I.
Please advise.
Dr. Lee Smith
UT Dallas Coach Training Program
425.488.3795
Couldn’t agree more, Lee. We are working with ICF to establish ways in which we work together so ACTP training directors can be as up to speed as possible with regard to the new markers.
ICF is just rolling this out, and is being quite deliberate as to how they do this. As I go through the current training, I appreciate how much more complex it is – and am still trying to get my arms around the distinctions of the markers.
I don’t have answers yet, but the questions are front and center as we coordinate with ICF. Thanks for responding.
Very exciting Micki. I can’t wait to take the training. A real coup for the professional evolution for coaching. I hope ICF and ACTO PR committees go to town with publicity for this achievement.
Thank you for sharing,
Teri-E
Teri, thanks for your enthusiastic reply. Yes, this is all up side and many opportunities, for sure.
Good stuff, Micki! Thank you.
Thanks, Cynthia. It really is. The PCC Markers are such an improvement, and will give all of us a stronger foundation upon which to assess our own students.
Thanks, Micki, for this great information.
I am hungry for more details around the markers so I can share with our trainers. If ICF is implementing the markers as of this September, what can our trainers be doing NOW to best prepare our coaches-in-training? I notice you mentioned that there are 47 markers, but I don’t remember seeing nearly that many in the announcements I’ve seen so far. And one of my pressing questions is whether an applicant must demonstrate all 47 markers in order to pass or what the cutoff amount is.
Waiting is agony.
Thanks again,
Barbara
Barbara,
There are 47 markers – meaning with each of the 11 Core Competencies, the markers or behaviors are described. For example, one of the markers for Direct Communication is “Coach shares observations, intuitions, comments, thoughts and feelings to serve the client’s learning or forward movement.” You will notice that an observer could perceive evidence of this behavior from the coach.
No, an applicant need not demonstrate all 47 markers to achieve PCC. But we as school should be paying attention to all 47 of these markers as we give feedback to our students so they are prepared for success. If you study each marker, you probably already teach the behaviors, but now it is coming to light. In our school, we are asking students to study the markers, and as a paired exercise, practice the markers just in one competency at a time. Hopefully this is deepening their awareness of the 11 Core Competencies so they are prepared for the Coach Knowledge Assessment (multiple choice test that ICF is requiring of all credential candidates).
To give ICF its due, it is aspiring to take the subjectivity out of the assessment process, while tending to the myriad cultural differences among ICF members. Although the PCC markers may not be perfect, in my view they are a step in the direction for greater accountability, transparency, and clarity.
We have had conversations with ICF, and one of their objectives is to teach ACTP school directors the methodology for observing and assessing students. They expect to offer this in 2015.
Here is the link to the announcement regarding the Markers, as well as a link to download the Markers. http://coachfederation.org/newsdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=3542
I hope this helps.
Thanks Micki for sharing your update. It is my understanding that ICF is also working on MCC markers. These are welcomed big steps in removing so much of the subjectivity that has been used in assessing.
I am curious as to the relationship between the PCC markers that were ‘publicly’ distributed and how they might differ from what transpired in the assessor training.
Best regards,
Marion
Hi–
Are MCC markers available or other tools that match up to what an MCC assessor is evaluating?
I found my assessor’s cryptic MCC recording evaluation responses uninformative on my first submission of MCC recordings and would prefer not to hunt around getting obscurely different MCC opinions and varying view points based on style, culture, and niche applications.
Thank You!
Best Regards,
Rich