On April 1, 2025, updates to the International Coaching Federation (ICF) Code of Ethics took effect. The code is designed to guide ethical decision making, guide the ethical training of coaches, uphold ethical standards, and provide regulatory oversight. This article...
Category: U #1 – Demonstrates Ethical Practice
Understands and consistently applies coaching ethics and standards of coaching.
Updates to ICF credential exams
As part of the ICF Credential application process, each coach applicant needs to pass a knowledge exam about coaching. This exam was previously called the āCoach Knowledge Assessment" and more recently the "ICF Credentialing Exam." On November 18, 2024, ICF...
Engaging in ethics clarifying conversations
One of the things we coaches need to become masterful at is the ability to have conversations with potential clients, as well as at any time within a coaching session with a current client, about the boundaries of coaching. I...
How realistic is it to do pure coaching?
Mentoring clients studying coaching skills in my mentoring programs often ask whether doing āpure coachingā sessions is a realistic expectation. Pure coaching refers to when the coach stays in ācoaching mindsetā through an entire coaching session, refraining from giving unasked-for...
Coaching Client Identity
Especially in recent years, thereās been heightened focus on Identity. Yet Identity has been part of societies for every generation, in all cultures of the world. Whether itās based in political, religious, racial, gender or age differences (to name a...
Coach behaviors which influence their client
Coaching as a professional conversation differs from other conversations because the mindset of the coach and client is one of Partnership; keeping the client "in the spotlight" as it's the client-desired outcome that the coach is there to serve. A...
The flow of a coaching conversation
A coaching conversation is a conversation with a purpose, being a client-determined topic and outcome for each coaching session. Professional Coaches are trained in how to structure a coaching session, so there is maximum opportunity for the client to gain...
Educate your coaching client on how to use you well
As Professional Coaches, we have a unique opportunity to work deeply with a wide range of people, with different domains of expertise, from different cultures and life experiences. Clients may have technical expertise, be project managers, engineers, or be managing...
Refrain from giving unsolicited suggestions
It can be tempting for a coach to believe their "value" to a client is in the sharing of resources, such as a framework, model or book suggestion for the client. We've been conditioned to believe that our answers are...
Keep your Coaching Hat On
Coaching skills are a powerful set of behaviors based in a belief that every person being coached has more wisdom about themselves and their circumstances than they may realize. And that with well-structured questions, and observations, offered to the person...