The International Coach Federation (ICF) is a professional organization for business and personal coaches formed in 1995 by Thomas J. Leonard. Today, the ICF provides independent certification and networking for its 18,000 international members. The association is governed by a Board of Directors.

Credentialing

As coaching is an unregulated profession, the ICF established a credentialing program according to a list of "Coaching Core Competencies"
and guidelines regarding professional ethics

Professional ethics

Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals.- Professional ethics :Professional people and those working in acknowledged professions exercise specialist knowledge and skill...

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Now in its second decade of existence, the ICF Credentialing program provides three levels of credentialing for professional coaches: Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and Master Certified Coach (MCC). Each credential requires a specific set of required hours of coach-specific training and coaching experience of the applicant. Today, more than 8,000 coaches worldwide hold an ICF Credential.

Coaching Research

The ICF has commissioned several global research studies, including the 2007 ICF Global Coaching Study, 2009 ICF Global Coaching Client Study, 2010 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study and most recently, the 2011 ICF Global Coaching Study. The ICF also hosts a Research Portal on its website. The ICF Research Portal houses a database of articles, case studies, journal articles, and other coaching-related materials.

Awards

ICF Headquarters presents three international awards annually: the ICF President's Award, the ICF International Prism Award and the ICF Chapter Awards. Recipients of all awards are honored during special ceremonies during that year’s Annual International ICF Conference.

Past International ICF Prism Award recipients include JOEY RESTAURANT GROUP, BC Housing, Genentech, the TINE Group, Solaglas Windowcare, IBM.com North America, SYSCO Food Services of Canada, the BBC, MCI, University of Texas at Dallas, Verizon Business, IBM, NASA and Deloitte.

ICF Annual International Conference

Each year, ICF-branded conferences and events offer professional coaches new techniques and concepts through incredible programming, opportunities to network with other coaches and lots of fun. Coaches who attend these events have the opportunity to earn Continuing Coach Education Credits (CCEUs) for use toward ICF Credentials.