This article has been updated in 2023. In order to explain the structure of a coaching session, I’ve observed there are roughly three phases to every coaching session; a Beginning Phase, a Middle Phase and an End Phase. (Okay, so...
Category: #9 – Designing Actions
Part 2 – Distinctions on coaching session structure for ICF credential success
To read part 1 of this article, go here Managing Session Progress Once you’ve established the coaching session agreement and invited the client to choose where to start exploring, you use your coaching skills to the best of your level...
Allow space for insights to fully emerge
Besides creating a listening space where your client can speak freely and be truly heard, coaching aims for the client to self-create insight around their presenting situation, and especially about themselves. I think of insight or new awareness as the...
Creating Awareness and links to learning
I’m currently in an inquiry to more deeply understand the Creating Awareness PCC Markers because I notice that these markers are often missing when I assess coaching recordings, and they are also very relevant for MCC skill level. As an...
The Difference between a Teacher and a Coach
by Karen Boskemper, PCC, Co-Leader of The Mentor Coaching Group, and ICF Assessor I was recently reading a Facebook post by spiritual teacher, educator and writer, Nithya Shanti (http://www.lovingsilence.org/), whose life work is committed to supporting those who wish to...
Ways a Coach completes a session
My last blog article was on “When a coaching session really begins.” In this article, I want to address the ways a coach completes a coaching session with their client. Here are five of the main ICF core competencies most...
Who is Holding Who Accountable?
The purpose of any coaching session is to support a client to find their way to closing a gap between where they are now and where they want to be. The natural output of the coaching process is discovery, which...
What Managing Progress and Accountability Really Means
ICF core competency #11 – Managing Progress and Accountability – is an often misunderstood competency. There are two parts to this competency: 1. Managing Progress The first part of the ICF definition of this competency relates more to Managing Progress;...
The coaching skill of requests
A skill that coaches often use with clients is making a Request, which is based on the coach hearing or perceiving something that would be of use for the client to consider doing. The ICF core competencies of Direct Communication...
The most misunderstood coaching competency
Of all the ICF Core Coaching Competencies, I think that the last competency is one of the most misunderstood. I'm talking about competency #11: Managing Progress and Accountability. There are two very different aspects to this competency: what happens in...