Mónica Pérez-Zorrilla has just been awarded the title of Master Certified Coach (MCC) by ICF, a milestone that reflects her extensive experience in coaching, demonstrated through more than 2,500 hours of practice and which places Mónica among the most qualified professionals at the Escuela Europea de Coaching. Monica is the ninth person to achieve this accreditation at EEC worldwide, the seventh in Spain and the second in Barcelona. This is her testimony on becoming acquainted with MCC.

"Our work is more about illuminating than shining".

Congratulations Monica, how do you feel, what does it mean to you to be MCC?

I am very happy. For me, having achieved this accomplishment has to do with two types of motivation, a more intrinsic one that connects me with an important personal effort: putting in the hours, working in depth on the standards that ICF requires of us and going through a process of several milestones that are being met until we reach the end has been challenging and at the same time satisfying.

And, on the other hand, and I think more importantly, there is another more transcendent motivation, connected with purpose, since having reached this point means having worked all these years for others, and that makes me feel even more grateful.

What would you highlight about the road to becoming a MCC?

The road to get here has been a learning experience for me. Even though I had already gathered coaching hours for many years, it is clear that this is not enough and requires dedication and commitment to high quality standards.

I believe that, in this respect, ICF is a very good guarantor of our profession, with a very well-defined and structured code of ethics and key competencies that ensure that our work is of quality.

I believe that an MCC coach embodies a mindset; is not make coaching as a MCC, it is about be a coach who has an inbuilt set of beliefs that allow him or her to work on another level. This involves knowledge, practice, focus, commitment....

What has been the most difficult thing in your coaching career? The most beautiful, the best?

I would say that my career as a coach has been and continues to be challenging rather than difficult. I have always been very interested in surpassing myself, in achieving new challenges, in evolving and I think this connects with the best.

In my career as a coach I have learned to learn, to develop a learner's mindset. Moreover, I believe that this is the essence of coaching as a learning process, from there, the coach becomes a mirror and a catalyst for change in the service of the clients and himself and, without a doubt, this has been the best thing.

What have you learned in this process, what do you know now as a MCC that you didn't know before?

I know now that I know more than I did before, although I probably still don't know anything... but that's OK. Our work has more to do with illuminating than shining and that implies a commitment to having the ego well managed and be very aware that we are vulnerable and that, at some point, we will make mistakes.

Every opportunity is a unique opportunity to learn and, in a more practical sense, preparing to become a MCC has meant being dedicated to deepening my knowledge of the competencies in order to integrate them into the sessions and gain in effectiveness and, of course, being consistent with my commitment to continue training and growing as a professional in order to offer the best version of myself to my clients.

What does the MCC allow you to do?

I believe that, like any other level of accreditation, it allows us to be guarantors of the values of the profession.

This means working with our clients with high standards of professional competence and a commitment to continuous learning, ability to create trusting environments (in ourselves, in the client and in the profession) to be able to offer the best quality to our clients, a high level of integrity, professionalism and humanity in our work.

Why coaching today?

I believe that, at last, society and, in turn, organizations are becoming increasingly aware that people's well-being is fundamental. We cannot be good parents, good partners, good friends, good professionals if we are not well balanced internally.

Coaching, as a creative and continuous process of self-knowledge, allows us to continue to develop as people in a more conscious way and to achieve extraordinary results in both our personal and professional lives.

What would you like to leave as your legacy?

I believe in people and, evoking Viktor Frankl, I think we all have the power and freedom to choose how we want to live.

I want to be a witness who silently accompanies the growth of others, in that connection with one's own power, thus contributing to the well-being of all those whom life has given me the opportunity to meet.