This month in the CAM Community of Coaches, we are giving attention to getting your PCC.  The PCC is the designation for “professional” coaches, and I think it’s a great goal for every coach to offer professional-level quality to every client.  This may or may not mean you go through the process of becoming an actual Professional Certified Coach (PCC).

Should you go for PCC?  In my opinion, certification of any sort boils down to 2 things:

1. Do you need to demonstrate your credibility to those who are deciding whether or not to work with you as a coach?  Many organizational clients and some individual clients only work with PCC’s.
2. Do you know for sure that you’re providing professional-level coaching to your clients?  For some coaches, certification is a huge boost to their confidence.  Confidence is the dimmer switch on your competence, so it’s important to keep your confidence appropriately high.

I’m curious about your experience with PCC.

• Have you already earned it? If so, what was the process like?
• Are you considering it? If so, what are the main factors in your thought process?
• Have you decided not pursue it? If so, what was your reasoning?

Please share your experience in the private Facebook group.  Not on Facebook?  Email your experiences to our Community Coordinator Martin Torres and he’ll post them for you.

One of the things I address in my book The Language of Coaching is the topic of coaching models.  Models deserve some attention because they are helpful.  And they are helpful in at least three ways, which is why there are 3 basic types of models:

1. Conversation Models – these represent an entire coaching conversation and point out the steps, stages, or phases of the conversation. The GROW and Hourglass models are examples.
2. Awareness Models – these represent a truth that sheds light on something important to the coaching client. These are “lessons” the coach might share.  For example, Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence model represents the distinction between that which concerns us and that which we can influence.
3. Behind the Scenes Models – these are truths that frame how we (as the coach) see and organize the world, which thereby informs our coaching. For example, while I rarely administer the Myers-Briggs assessment, the MBTI framework informs a lot of my coaching efforts.

This month in the CAM Community of Coaches, we are giving attention to coaching models.  I’d love to hear from you what are some of your favorite, most helpful coaching models.  Please share your coaching models in the private Facebook group for the Community.  (Not on Facebook?  Email your examples to our Community Coordinator Martin Torres and he’ll post them for you).

In the CAM 506 class (Life and Personal Coaching) we cover some topics and tools that help people get just a bit more out of life.  One of those topics is “boundaries.”  We address boundaries alongside the topic of “standards.”  A standard is an expectation you have for yourself while a boundary is an expectation you have for others.  It’s important to note the difference.  You can’t hold someone else to your standards, but you can establish a boundary around what you permit others to do in relation to you.

One boundary I have is that I do not answer phone calls that I am not expecting.  Maybe you have this or a similar boundary in order to guard your time and allow you to be at your best.  I hate interruptions, so hearing the phone ring unexpectedly no longer interrupts me because I know ahead of time that I am not going to answer it.  That’s why God invented voicemail!

Join me and the rest of the CAM Community of Coaches this month as we explore how coaches can support client success via boundaries.  And be sure to share your own boundary examples in the private Facebook groups for the Community.  (Not on Facebook?  Email your examples to our Community Coordinator Martin Torres (martintojr@gmail.com) and he’ll post them for you).