EP 5 - The Truth About Professional Coaching in 2025✨ Why You Need Your ICF Credential

What if I told you that coaching is not giving advice? Are you ready to shine? Come on, it's the Shiny One. You got this. Hello everyone, welcome back to the Shiny Minds Show. I am Dr Shiny Unsal, the proud creator of Neuroshine technology, the Shiny Minds Show, and ICF Master Certified Coach. Today we're going to talk about what coaching is, is not, and also 3 common mistakes about coaching. If you're ready, let's begin. Let's define coaching with the International Coaching Federation's definition. Here it is: coaching is partnering up with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process to inspire them to maximize their own personal and professional potential. What does that mean? It means that your job as a coach is not to solve your client's problems, is not to tell them what to do, is not giving them advice. It is instead having powerful transformational skills that will inspire them You need to have them go into their spirit within, and that way they will find their own power within. And with that inner light, they will shine their own neurons, in my language, find their own solutions to their own problems, and then feel so happy about it. So that is what coaching is in a nutshell. So now let's talk about 3 common mistakes that I keep seeing in the industry of coaching and how you can bust them. The first common mistake that I see in the world of coaching is that there is a common misconception that everybody can coach. Well, let me answer to that. It is yes and. Yes, because we all have the capacity to learn how to coach because it requires certain skills. According to the International Coaching Federation, you need to demonstrate 8 powerful coaching skills in order to become an elite world-class ICF credentialed coach. And those are the skills that I teach in my training programs. And if you are not able to demonstrate those skills, what you're doing is probably not coaching. Because I also meet so many people in places that I go, in the networking events, in conferences. And when they introduce themselves as a coach to me, obviously, naturally, I ask them, so what is your credential? Is it ACC, PCC, or MCC? And then they go, what are you talking about? And then I'm responding saying, well, I'm referring to your ICF credential. And then they ask me, what is ICF? And then at that point, like, we need to have a certainly different conversation. Because if you are this person who is introducing yourself as a coach to other people, to clients, to the world, basically. I invite you to pay attention to this misconception. Yes, you can coach, and yes, we all do that, and we all have those skills inside. And at the same time, we may not be aware of the professional requirements of what it really means to coach other people. So how are we going to bust this assumption? How are we going to bust the assumption of, hey, everybody can coach? Well, we are going to start with the definition of coaching, which I shared before. And we are going to bring that to your skill sets. And then you're going to ask yourself, well, the way that I do coaching, Is it falling into the definition of ICF's coaching? If it's not, how is it different and what can you improve? Why is it important for you to improve and be in compliance with the ICF's definition of coaching? Because in today's world, as of now, in January 2025. International Coaching Federation is the world's biggest organization that governs the world of coaching. And because coaching is not a government-regulated industry in the world, perhaps at least not yet, exceptional countries exist like my Turkish background, my Turkish home country, there is a certain governmental requirement for any coach to actually start their own coaching business. But apart from those exceptional countries, mostly in the world, coaching is not regulated. And because of that, it is super important for you to not only demonstrate the skill set and hold yourself up to higher standards and be in compliance with the world's gold standards and also do it well? What is really coaching? Because it is truly important when you come from the perspective of, wanting to make transformations, wanting to change lives, and wanting to, in my language, rewire people's neurons. Because coaching, in my language, is almost like an invisible brain surgery. You may not know what exactly you're doing with the words that you use because your words are going to create your worlds. Your words are gonna dictate your reality. Your words are gonna dictate your client's reality. Words are hypnotic programming. Words are what we use in this cosmic galactic universe to define and design reality. Dreams, goals, relationships, structures. That's how we create. That's what we have. Words are tools. And the way that you use those words are affecting people and affecting the way that they show up in life. So it is a huge responsibility. And so if you are coaching, if you are positioning yourself as a coach, please pay attention. Number 2. The second misconception that I get to witness in the world about coaching is that there is this limiting belief that some people say coaching is not for me. So let's bust this assumption. Why coaching is not for me statement is a limiting belief? Well, because first of all, this sentence, coaching is not for me, comes from the assumption that you are either too special or too amazing, not needing anything to work on, anything to improve, or you are not good enough, and even the help of transformational coaching is not enough to help you be normal. Okay, we live in the world of duality, and those are two options. You either believe you're too special and there is no room for you to grow, which is super false, or you believe that you suck and nothing can help you, including transformational coaching, which is even more false. So in both situations, you are limiting yourself because if transformational coaching is helping hundreds of thousands of people around the world, it can also work for you and it will work for you. What is not working for you right now, and I know it's going to it may sound a bit harsh, that you are not working for the coaching to work for you just yet, okay? And allow me to explain what I mean by that. When we come from the core belief that, oh, it won't work for me, you are literally creating a mental barrier for any activity for any modality, for, for any tool to get into your world, you are actually like stopping yourself. You're preventing yourself from rising up to higher levels. And this is your self-limitation. And then this is how you are programming yourself. And then your neurons are like, okay, 'Your wish is my command,' and then they are totally limiting any modality, any tool to get inside you. And they're also working with you because you're ordering them with the belief set that you have. 'Hey, it's not gonna work for me.' And then your neurons are like, 'Okay, we're gonna make sure that it's not gonna work for you. Not a problem.' All right, because I'm telling you, I've been there, done that. And then I have my mother. If you haven't listened to my previous episodes before, please go ahead and listen to it, especially my previous episode where I talked about how I transformed my mother and how it was absolutely mind-blowing to see her go from black to white after the age of 60 with my Neuroshine moments, with my Neuroshine technology. It was absolutely mind-blowing. Please listen to episode number 4 and see how your thinking is gonna revolutionize the way you live your life, okay? I know I'm using very, very powerful words like revolutionizing, but I've seen it. I've experienced it. Okay? So it will work for you. And let me actually break down the benefits of coaching to you. Number 1, you are going to experience mental clarity. According to the ICF global coaching surveys, Communication effectiveness is one of the top benefits of working with a coach. Do you know why? Because your coach is going to keep asking you, what exactly do you want as an outcome? What do you want to work on? What specifically would you like to achieve? So you're going to keep hearing all these questions again and again and again. And that is going to reprogram the way that you think and your neurons carry information, and that's going to shape the way you look at life. And that is going to help you become a more clear person. Clarity is number 1 in the pocket. Number 2, because you're going to have a limited amount of time to have a coaching session with your coach, you will need to become super efficient in your thinking and in your communication delivery. That is going to make you a communication master. Okay, number 3, it is absolutely going to improve the way that you think, you talk, and you lead others. Your leadership development is a beautiful side effect. And then number 4 is I can see whoever is actually graduating from my coaching education program, they actually tell me that they have become a better version of themselves. It's beyond coaching. It's beyond creating a coaching business. It's beyond leadership skills, or it's beyond communication. It's, it's about becoming a more delicious version of yourself. And it is going to show up in every single part of your life, in every area of your life. You're going to become a better parent because you're going to understand what your kids, what your kids mean. You're going to become a better leader because you will improve your empathy. You will be able to understand your team's needs. You will become a better partner because relationships are all about emotional intelligence, and then they are all packed inside your coaching skills. You're going to become a better self, better version of you, because you're going to understand yourself better. You're going to take care of your own needs. And you are absolutely going to be on fire with what you can achieve with your skills. You're going to, you're going to love creating magic with yourself. I mean, if these are not enough, I'll tell you one more benefit of coaching. Again, according to the ICF Global Coaching Survey reports, another top benefit of working with a coach is accountability. You are absolutely going to improve your accountability, not only to your own goals and dreams and actions, but also to other people. Whatever you say you're gonna do, you're gonna do it. Whatever you are gonna say you're gonna deliver, you're gonna deliver. Whenever you say you're gonna do it, you will do it. That is integrity. That's accountability. And that is priceless. Don't you agree? I mean, don't we need more of us to, to be more accountable, to have higher standards when it comes to integrity? Yes, we do. I know I'm using very harsh words, and I'm behind all of that. I constantly push myself to keep my word, my promises as I make them. If I am not going to deliver it, I am not making promises. That's it. If you are saying something, you're going to do it. This is priceless. We need more people with more accountability, with more self-accountability. Don't you agree? Yeah, this is just a side effect. It's just one of the benefits of working with a coach or even better, becoming a coach. So now let's go and talk about the third common misconception about coaching, almost like an assumption that we can bust together. Which is I don't need a credential. You know, like, I, I can coach anybody. I can create my coaching business. I don't need any ICF credential. Those are fancy papers like I have on my wall. Let's bust that assumption. When you go to a doctor, You want to make sure that they studied anatomy, your body. They understand how your human system works so that they can actually point somewhere for you to look at, right? So they, they know the human body. They studied it. They studied medicine. They studied human body and medicine. So they know how that whole, whole thing works, right? So you expect that, correct? In the pocket. When you work with an accountant, you expect them to understand numbers, taxation, and finance, correct? Otherwise, like, why would you need them? Why would you pay an accountant, right? You need, you expect that from them in the pocket. When you hire a house cleaner, a maid, okay, somebody who's going to help you clean your house, you expect them to have done cleaning before, right? That, that's a skill. That's a certain skill. Even at that point, you have expectations. So I guess I made my point. When somebody comes to you and offers you, hey, I have my coaching services and here's what I'm going to deliver for you. And then you're like, oh, sure. But then do you check what kind of skills that they have, what kind of education they have done, what kind of skill sets that they can demonstrate, what is even needed to become a coach? Because it's not regulated, you wouldn't even know where to begin. Right? You wouldn't even know what to look in a coach. So that's a problem because that's exactly why if you are a coach, you need a credential. And if you are going to hire a coach, you absolutely want to ask for their ICF credential. And then there are so many papers out there in the world, or I am this, I am that from this association, that blah, blah, blah. No. So you, if you are someone who is a world citizen, who has high expectations, who has value for who you are and what you're going to do and what you're going to put out to the world, you definitely need to look for ICF credential, and you need that because in today's world, let's put it in a more professional context, in today's world, if you want to offer your coaching services and if you knock on the doors of the corporations, just expect to hear this question: what is your ICF credential level? Okay, it's not even like, do you have credential. The question is, what is your credential level? Is it ACC, the basic level, the entry level? Is it PCC, the professional gold standard level? Or is it even like mastery MCC, like I have here in my background, right? So you do need a credential because you want to provide better services, high quality. You want to get approval, high standards, and you want to work with the people who understand the value of your high-quality work. And if you're on the other side receiving services, well, game over, because in today's world, corporations, they're not even gonna hire anybody in the corporate world without ICF credentials. As a coach. It's just not going to happen. In today's world, you need your coaching credential, your ICF credential, to get a job, to hire somebody with a credential. So in both ways, you absolutely need your ICF credential, and it is only going to set you apart from the crowd who has not invested in their training, their education, their mentoring, their performance evaluation, their skill sets, and the way that they show up in the world as a coach. So there you have it, 3 common misconceptions about coaching that we busted together. Everybody can coach. Coaching won't work for me. And As a coach, I don't need a credential. So we busted all of them, and now it is your time to shine, in my language. And I'm going to give you my website address, shinyunsal.com. When you go there, when you just like on my home page, scroll a little bit down under my logos, you will see that I have a free PDF guide for you. And that guide is going to teach you in 3 steps how to become a coach. So if you are interested in becoming a coach and sharing your gifts and your skills in the world, making a difference in some people's lives, I'm here for you. Okay? I would love to share my resources and please get the guide and also join my world, and then let me know how you are creating transformations as a coach and how ICF credentialing is going to make a difference in your life and how you are going to become a more delicious version of yourself with your ICF credential as a coach. So there you have it, my beautiful shiny mind. I hope you loved this episode. If you did, please put a like it, share it with others, and subscribe to my channel, my podcast, because this is a purpose, this is a mission. And then we are on a mission together to make this world a better place with more love and shiny minds. Until next time, keep shining. No, it's all about you. You got this.