I’m proud to share that I was recently awarded the International Coaching Federation’s PCC credential - Professional Certified Coach. Some may know that I already was a certified coach before this, having my Associate Certified Coach credential. So what’s the big deal?
To be sure, they aren’t the same. PCC coaches have gone through more education, more evaluations and have spent hundreds more hours with clients doing real work. But for me, this change has other meaning.
My first coaching credential with the ICF represented the dissolution of a block which was in place for years - imposter syndrome in relation to entering the already crowded, often ineffectual personal growth space. Achieving it was the validation which would allow me to trust myself; it would allow me to simultaneously speak up to say “I can help” and also know through education and experience that I truly could. Any more advanced certifications would be mere gravy from there, I thought.
But as happens so often on a journey, I discovered new things along the way which I didn’t fully anticipate. Not only was I becoming a better coach, I myself was changing as a result of my work with others. It took quite a bit of self-coaching for this ACC coach to get himself to trust in the process which was beginning to envelop him!
Rather than a boastful representation of professional accomplishments, these new letters represent an obligation to uphold a higher standard - specifically in the area we coaches call “being” a coach. One can just “do” a job or they can embody it with the fullness of their being; that’s what being a coach is about. The letters PCC mean that I have grown a lot on the inside, not just since the start of my coaching journey but also during the time between ACC and PCC. I’ve seen firsthand the connection between my inner work and work with others... and vice versa. I enthusiastically accept the challenge of constant evolution which will give me the tools I need to show up authentically for each new client, new goal and challenge wherever they come from.
I’m proud to be able to use the letters PCC next to my name - not because of what I did, but because of what they remind me to do.