MANILA, Philippines — Coaching in the Philippines is a burgeoning practice that opens a new pathway for Filipinos to develop their fullest potential, personally and professionally.

Professional coaching was introduced via ICF-Philippines chapter, founded by Julius Ordonez, the first and the only Filipino executive coach with an ICF designation of Professional Certified Coach (PCC). Fully operational in 2009, ICF-Philippines represents and administers ICF registered coaches in the country. It facilitates a wide range of services to member coaches, including training, events, group coaching sessions and more.

With ICF Philippines’ efforts in promoting coaching locally, the number of aspirants who train to be professional coaches and coaching clients has consistently increased. This indicates the growing appreciation and recognition of how empowering coaching can be for individuals and organizations.

Some of the forward-looking companies that have incorporated coaching in their development programs, with the help of local ICF coaches, include The World Bank, Abbott Laboratories, ABS-CBN, Monde Nissin, Lafarge, Kraft, Ayala Land, TNS, Philam Life, Prulife of UK, to name a few.

Ordonez related, “No doubt coaching can help propel anyone to an elevated level of competence and productivity. It also complements Filipinos’ innate talents, values and resilience. Our collective spirit, deeply imbedded within, provides a fertile ground for team coaching, which can make for a high performing organization.”

Coaching clients usually avail of business, leadership and executive coaching. They either engage external coaches to provide one-on-one coaching to their top level executives or implement internal coach training programs for their leaders and managers who will in turn coach their respective teams.

Those who have been coached reported positive results, if not-life changing, in terms of their working relationships, surpassing their goals and building an agile corporate culture.

There is however, a need for greater awareness and education to correct misconceptions that hinder the faster advancement of coaching in the Philippines. For one, many think that coaching is expensive deterring clients, especially medium and small scale organizations, from hiring external coaches. Others see coaching as a quick fix to behavioral or attitudinal problems, rather than a holistic developmental process.

Also, there is a dearth in formally trained and credentialed coaches. To date, there are only four ICF-certified coaches in the country – one with Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation, who completed 125 coach training hours, plus 750 hours of coaching experience; and three with Associate Certified Coach (ACC) designation.