Can agile coaching hours count towards ICF credentialling?

Hi Tisha,

Good question and thanks for asking.

Short answer is mostly not. My understanding is that, you most likely won’t be able to count agile coaching hours in a blanket manner towards ICF credentialling hours. Here’s my interpretation:

The definition of coaching is wide and deep. However, ICF’s definition of coaching is specific.

• The easiest to understand that definition is to use the ICF PCC marker:
• Current: https://coachingfederation.org/app/uploads/2020/12/Current-PCC-Markers-v0.01.pdf
• Updated, pending effect: https://coachingfederation.org/app/uploads/2021/06/Updated-ICF-PCC-Markers_English_Brand-Updated_Final.pdf

• The ICF Core Competencies mentioned in the PCC marker are here:
• Current: https://coachingfederation.org/app/uploads/2021/02/Current-ICF-Core-Competencies.pdf
• Updated, pending effect: https://coachingfederation.org/app/uploads/2021/02/Updated-ICF-Core-Competencies.pdf

In a typical coaching session that can count towards ICF credentialling, we open with a coachee’s goal setting of the session (coaching agreement), active listening throughout, holding up the mirror (evoking awareness), supporting ideation of actions, and closing with the coachee’s accountability for a chosen action. In the meantime, ICF Core Competencies obliges the coach to maintain trust and coaching presence.

Some agile coaching sessions may indeed follow such flow, and if so, it’s your discernment to include them into ICF credentialling hours. Judgement is yours – if in doubt follow the ICF Code of Ethics (https://coachingfederation.org/ethics/code-of-ethics).

However, most agile coaching sessions will follow a different objective and flow. For example, coaching Backlog refinement and facilitating Scrum events (maybe Sprint Retrospectives can be an exception, but maybe…) clearly won’t fit such flow. And of course, teaching and training won’t count as coaching in the ICF definition.

And then, you also have the complexity of team coaching:

• The bulk of agile coaching is team coaching, so in addition to observing the ICF Core Competencies, we will need to observe the ICF Team Coaching Competencies for such hours to count towards credentialling hours:
• https://coachingfederation.org/app/uploads/2021/10/Team-Coaching-Competencies_10.4.21.pdf

Compared to non-agile coaches, we hybrid agile and ICF coaches can’t rack up the ICF hours as fast as our ICF practice only compatriots. But that doesn’t make us any less of a coach. Again, coaching is wide and deep. In fact, it’s not just agile coaching and ICF coaching. Any practice of influencing people for their betterment probably can qualify as coaching in the broadest sense. What is a good coach? That’s for you to define – in fact, it’s sacred to you, so aim high, strive high.

Hope this helps.

Warmly,

Coach Takeshi