Holland is flying the flag in Europe for coaching standards – 1,400 of its coaches have gained the European Mentoring & Coaching Council’s (EMCC) European Individual Accreditation (EIA), and 39 at master practitioner level, the highest in any country.
The Dutch Association of Professional Coaches, NOBCO, is affiliated with the EMCC, and its board members also sit on EMCC-Holland’s (EMCC-NL) board. EMCC-NL is also one of the EMCC’s largest branch organisations with almost 2,000 members.
Eighteen months ago, coaches joining NOBCO were given two years to gain the lowest of the four EIA levels, Foundation, to remain as NOBCO members. When NOBCO/EMCC-NL announced it was to switch to the European system, it had a significant rise in numbers.
The success has been due, in part, to Charlotte van den Wall Bake, who headed up the transition last January. Van den Wall Bake said: “Lots of people embraced the idea because of the international environment. We’ve kept our members very well-informed.”
NOBCO/EMCC-NL has also been very active in other areas. It has a yearly conference, attracting around 300 delegates. It also makes YouTube videos and has developed an app, ‘My Coach’, which helps people map goals, develop action plans and connect with others.
The app has three functions: Coach Trip, an introduction to coaching; Find a Coach, and information about NOBCO (www.nobco.nl/app)
NOBCO has had a complaints procedure in place for six years. There have been 30 rulings – 60 per cent of which were founded. A common theme is breaking confidentiality.
There are EMCC organisations in 20 countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Spain, Serbia, Turkey, Czech Republic, UK, Sweden, Switzerland and Holland.