“I’ve been coaching people for twenty-five years. Why do I need a credential??”
Do you prefer a doctor who is board-certified in your specific need? In choosing a mechanic, will you select one certified in your vehicle or HVAC system?
A credential is a mark of credibility. It demonstrates quickly that you are qualified, invested in your field, and you are committed to delivering the very best product.
If you’ve spent decades in business, you may have developed the pattern recognition to understand root cause, the skill to sit with someone working through a difficult situation, and the practical knowledge the comes from delivering results and navigating failures again and again.
A program won’t bring you that experience – but experience alone won’t bring your clients the results they need. Lightning is far more powerful than the electricity flowing through your home, but it isn’t helpful in running your refrigerator. For experience to make a difference, it needs a conduit – a proven process and tools that turn power into functional electricity.
A strong credentialling program, helps you channel your unique experience into a process you can customize to fit your client base, support your clients in achieving sustainable results, and develop a thriving practice with a reputation that does your selling for you. You move from being an experienced mentor who does some coaching, to a highly skilled coach who can be counted on to produce results.
That’s the work the Registered Corporate Coach™ (RCC™) credential does. It’s the foundational credential from the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches™, and unlike most coaching certificates, it’s built specifically around coaching in business and organizational settings rather than coaching in general. It also requires a minimum of seven years of business and organizational experience — which is worth pausing on, because it means the credential is designed for people with a career behind them. You’re not starting over. You’re translating what you already know into a form the market recognizes.
Here’s the part I’d most want you to hear if you’re still employed: certifying now, while you’re still in the job, is a great way to build skills that you can use now and in the future. A steady paycheck means you won’t be pricing your first engagements under financial pressure, which is the fastest way to anchor a new practice too low. Many employers will fund the training as professional development. And you have something no newly retired coach has: a live environment full of real leaders, real stakes, and real coaching hours, where you can build the case studies and references you’ll want on day one of working for yourself. Treat the last few years of a corporate career as the runway, not the waiting room.
None of this makes certification a magic key. It won’t fill your calendar, it won’t do your business development for you, and it won’t make you an expert the day the certificate arrives — the credential opens a door you still have to walk through. What it will do is give you a floor to build on: a defined approach, a credential a buyer can check, and a cohort of peers who refer work to one another. That’s a considerably better place to start than sand. If that’s the practice you’re picturing for yourself, The Coach’s Road™ is our WABC-accredited program designed to get you there — it prepares you for the RCC™ credential, includes DISC certification, meets virtually, and keeps you connected through monthly peer group calls for a full year after the program ends.
