How to Become a Certified Accountability Coach

accountability coaching certification

Do you have a natural talent for keeping people around you on track with their goals and cheering them on?

If so, you could make a fantastic accountability coach.

But what exactly is accountability coaching, and what qualifications do you need to practice it? 

Read on to learn the following:

  • What accountability coaching is
  • How to become a certified accountability coach
  • How to get your accountability coaching certification
  • The five best accountability coaching certifications you can take

What is Accountability Coaching?

Accountability coaching is a process where a coach helps clients set goals, stay committed, and follow through on their actions to achieve desired results.

All types of coaching involve some form of accountability, but this specialty places a bigger emphasis on this vital aspect of the client relationship.

Accountability coaches work with clients to establish specific, measurable goals and create actionable plans to achieve them. They provide continuous support and motivation, regularly checking in to monitor progress and address any chal arise.

By holding clients accountable for their commitments, they help ensure that clients stay on track and maintain the discipline needed to reach their objectives.

What are the 3 Levels of Accountability in Coaching?

The three levels of accountability in coaching are self-accountability, peer accountability, and coach accountability.

Self-accountability is about the client taking personal responsibility for their actions. They set their own goals and monitor their progress.

Peer accountability keeps them accountable to others with similar goals.

On the other hand, coach accountability helps them with regular check-ins, progress tracking, and constructive feedback.

How to Become a Certified Accountability Coach

Does keeping other people accountable on their path to success sound like an appealing career choice to you? If so, you can follow these steps to become a certified coach who specializes in accountability.

Though you don’t have to get certified to become an accountability coach, doing so will give you credibility and arm you with the coaching skills to support your clients.

1. Choose a Niche Within Accountability Coaching

Yes, accountability coaching is a niche in itself, but you can specialize further to serve a specific set of clients.

For example, you can specialize in:

  • The aspect of life in which you help people stay accountable, like career, parenting, or budgeting
  • The age group or gender of your dream clients
  • Overcoming specific pain points related to accountability
  • Helping clients with specific goals like getting a raise or finding a healthy relationship

For instance, you could niche down as an accountability coach who helps career-focused men over 35 achieve work-life balance. Or you could specialize in helping overwhelmed college students stay accountable on their fitness journey.

2. Get Trained

There are many coach training programs out there and the ones accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF) are some of the most popular. 

The ICF is one of the most widely recognized authorities in the coaching industry. If you get certified by this institution, you’ll have to choose between three credentials:

  • Associate Certified Coach (ACC): You must complete 60 hours of coach-specific education, plus 100 hours of client coaching experience.
  • Professional Certified Coach (PCC): You must complete 125 hours of coach-specific education, plus 500 hours of client coaching experience.
  • Master Certified Coach (MCC): You must already have your PCC Credential, complete 200 hours of coach-specific education, and accumulate 2,500 hours of client coaching experience.

To get your credentials, you’ll also need to complete 10 hours of mentor coaching, a performance evaluation, and a written exam. Application fees range from $175-625 depending on the type of program you choose, excluding your training fees.

accountability coaching certification

Here are five ICF-accredited certification providers that can help you boost your accountability coaching skills.

1. Coach U

The Coach U program has two phases:

  • Phase 1: Core Essentials: This phase lasts 78 hours and allows you to get ACC certification. You can take this track over 8 months or choose the fast track option, which can be completed in 6 months.
  • Phase 2: Professional Essentials: You’ll get an additional 72 hours of training to qualify for PCC certification. You can choose between a self-paced option to complete over 15 months or a 6-day intensive followed by 8 months of pre-post work.

The program focuses on the foundational coaching tools you need to help clients efficiently. It’s not restricted to accountability, but it covers it as a core coaching skill.

2. Co-Active Training Institute

The Co-Active Training Institute has trained over 130,000 coaches, including professionals from Fortune 100 companies.

Their program is divided into the following:

  1. Co-Active Fundamentals: You’ll get introduced to the Co-Active coaching model via experiential participation. You’ll practice your new coaching skills and get direct feedback.
  2. Intermediate Co-Active Coach Training: This phase consists of four courses, each exploring an essential coaching principle: Fulfillment, Balance, Process, and Synergy. 
  3. Certified Professional Co-Active Coach: Over 6 months, you’ll deepen your coaching skills and get ready to earn your certification with the ICF. You’ll also learn how to build your coaching business.

If you want to learn more about Co-Active coaching, you can take one of their free webinars.

3. Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)

Training with iPEC will earn you 320 hours of practical coach training and 200 ICF-accredited training hours, making you eligible for PCC certification.

You’ll first learn about the fundamentals and later specialize in your chosen coaching niche.

While there’s no accountability coaching specialization, you can choose from the following:

  • Life coaching
  • Health and wellness coaching
  • Executive leadership development coaching
  • Sports and performance coaching

4. Coach Training World

Coach Training World’s program is grounded in science and psychology, earning you a Whole-Person Certified Coach and ICF credentials.

The program is divided into four steps:

  1. Discovering your ideal niche
  2. Core training as a whole-person coach
  3. Earning your ICF credential, and optionally
  4. Taking CoachPreneur Academy to learn how to launch your business.

You’ll get access to 400 hours of in-depth learning to master your coaching skills.

5. World Coach Institute

The World Coach Institute is another reputable organization that can provide you with world-class training to help you master coaching. You can choose between the self-study program or taking the 8-week online training.

Upon completion, you can take an additional program in the niche of your choice, including:

  • Relationship coaching
  • Wellness coaching
  • Business coaching
  • Christian coaching
  • Spiritual coaching

World Coach Institute programs provide certifications of their own. If you also want to earn ICF credentials, you must apply for them independently.

3. Apply for Your Certification

To get certified with the ICF, you’ll need to do the following:

  • Pay application fees
  • Submit your coaching log to show proof of your experience
  • Undergo mentor coaching (some programs include it)
  • Go through performance evaluation
  • Take your written exam

4. Create a Coaching Offer

Your coaching offer is a promised outcome that people can expect when they hire you. Your coaching packages are the “containers” you’ll use to deliver that promise, describing exactly what’s included in your program.

For example, you may offer your accountability coaching clients to help them find their life’s purpose in 90 days.

A coaching package that can structure this offer could include:

  • 90 days of unlimited email support
  • 12 weekly 60-minute coaching sessions
  • Voxer support during office hours

You may price this package at $5,500 when paid in full and offer 3 monthly payments of $1850.

Make sure your coaching packages include all the details a client needs to know before working with you. 

5. Land Your First Accountability Coaching Client

To get your first clients, you can reach out to your existing network. Evaluate who would be a good fit for your coaching program and ask for referrals

Free coaching directories like CoachCompare are also a great way to feature your profile and get new clients organically.

To validate your first coaching offer, focus on no-spend or low-spend ways to get clients. Gather feedback to tweak your process and collect testimonials to help promote your services in the future.

6. Build an Audience

To keep your client flow sustainable, you’ll need to build an audience that sees you as an expert in your niche.

Here are some of our favorite ways to do this:

You don’t need to use all of these marketing strategies at once. Instead, focus on one at a time until it works effectively. This way, you’ll avoid spreading yourself too thin and get the best results.

Level Up Your Coaching Business

If you follow all these steps, those coaching clients will start pouring in very soon.

Before that happens, ensure you have the right systems in place to manage them.

Paperbell helps you automate your contracts, payments, bookings, and other administrative tasks to keep your coaching practice organized and free up time for your sessions.

Try Paperbell for free with your first client.

accountability coaching certification

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2023 and has since been updated for accuracy.

By Charlene Boutin
Charlene is an email marketing and content strategy coach for small business owners and freelancers. Over the past 5 years, she has helped and coached 50+ small business owners to increase their traffic with blog content and grow their email subscribers.
June 24, 2024

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