ICF Core Competencies
Break down each of the 8 ICF Core Competencies:
Demonstrates Ethical Practice
Embodies a Coaching Mindset
Establishes and Maintains Agreements
Cultivates Trust and Safety
Maintains Presence
Listens Actively
Evokes Awareness
Facilitates Client Growth
🧱 ICF Core Competency #1: Demonstrates Ethical Practice
🌟 Definition
“Understands and consistently applies coaching ethics and standards of coaching.”
This first competency is foundational to the coaching profession and emphasizes that ethical behavior is not situational—it is embedded in every interaction, decision, and relationship.
📜 Core Behaviors
According to the ICF, a coach demonstrates ethical practice by:
- Maintaining confidentiality in line with client agreements and legal requirements.
- Clearly communicating roles, responsibilities, and boundaries in the coaching relationship.
- Maintaining agreements around coaching contracts and session logistics.
- Acting with integrity, including honesty about credentials and experience.
- Avoiding conflicts of interest, and disclosing them if they arise.
- Referring clients to other professionals when needed (e.g., therapy, consulting).
- Staying current with ICF ethical standards and legal obligations.
- Challenging unethical behavior when observed in oneself or others.
🧭 Practical Examples
- You are coaching a client who begins to share signs of trauma. You pause coaching and refer them to a licensed mental health professional.
- A former client asks for personal advice on a legal issue. You politely decline, redirecting them to the appropriate professional.
- You receive insider information during a session that could benefit your business. You uphold confidentiality and abstain from acting on it.
🛡️ Ethics vs. Morality
Ethics are professional standards set by ICF and apply regardless of personal beliefs. Morality is personal. A coach may personally disagree with a client’s lifestyle, but ethically they must still respect their autonomy and dignity.
🔎 The ICF Code of Ethics (Key Principles)
- Do No Harm – Prioritize the client’s well-being.
- Confidentiality is Paramount – Never share session content without explicit consent.
- Truthful Representation – Never exaggerate results or qualifications.
- Professional Conduct – Uphold the dignity of the coaching profession.
- Global Citizenship – Promote fairness, inclusion, and respect in all settings.
The full Code of Ethics is available at: https://coachingfederation.org/ethics
🧠 Self-Reflection Prompts
- Do I know when to refer a client out of coaching?
- Have I ever faced an ethical dilemma in coaching? How did I respond?
- Am I consistent with my contracts and agreements?
- How do I protect client data and privacy?
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
This competency ensures the coaching profession remains credible, respected, and safe. By demonstrating ethical practice, you build trust, protect your clients, and model the values that make coaching transformative.
🧠 ICF Core Competency #2: Embodies a Coaching Mindset
🌟 Definition
“Develops and maintains a mindset that is open, curious, flexible, and client-centered.”
This competency goes beyond technique—it’s about the coach’s way of being. It shapes how the coach shows up in every conversation: present, self-aware, and fully committed to the client’s growth.
💡 Key Elements of a Coaching Mindset
- Curiosity Over Judgment
Coaches suspend assumptions and invite exploration, not evaluation. - Presence Over Performance
Rather than planning the “right question,” the coach listens deeply and trusts the process. - Client-Centeredness Over Agenda
The client’s voice leads; the coach supports without directing or rescuing. - Openness to Learning and Unlearning
Coaches are lifelong learners who reflect, receive feedback, and adapt.
🔄 Supporting Behaviors
A coach who embodies a coaching mindset:
- Acknowledges that clients are responsible for their own choices.
- Engages in ongoing self-reflection to increase self-awareness.
- Regularly seeks supervision or mentor coaching.
- Develops sensitivity to cultural, contextual, and systemic factors.
- Is comfortable with not knowing—embracing the unknown as a place of discovery.
- Remains grounded and resourceful under pressure.
📌 Coaching in Practice
In a session:
- The coach resists jumping in with solutions—even when the path seems clear.
- If emotionally triggered, the coach notices it, manages it, and stays present with the client.
- The coach remains curious, asking, “What’s important about this for you?” instead of offering interpretations.
🔍 Reflection Prompts
- Do I truly believe my client is whole, resourceful, and creative?
- Where might my ego or need to perform be getting in the way?
- What biases or assumptions might I be bringing into sessions?
- How often do I pause to reflect on my own reactions and patterns?
📚 Development Practices
- Journaling after sessions
- Peer or group supervision
- Mindfulness, breathwork, or grounding practices
- Cultural competency training
- Reading and engaging with diverse perspectives
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
This mindset is the engine behind transformational coaching. Tools and techniques fall flat without presence, curiosity, and humility. Embodying the coaching mindset enables coaches to become true thinking partners—mirrors, not maps.
🤝 ICF Core Competency #3: Establishes and Maintains Agreements
🌟 Definition
“Partners with the client and relevant stakeholders to create clear agreements about the coaching relationship, process, plans, and goals. Establishes agreements for the overall coaching engagement as well as those for each coaching session.”
This competency is about creating shared understanding and clarity. It covers both the big-picture coaching contract and the minute-to-minute agreements within each session.
📄 Two Types of Agreements
- Overall Coaching Agreement
This includes:- Roles and responsibilities of coach and client
- Session logistics (length, frequency, fees)
- Confidentiality terms
- Coaching objectives
- Duration and scope of the engagement
- Session-Specific Agreement
Every session must include a clear agenda set by the client.
The coach helps the client:- Identify what they want to work on
- Clarify the outcome they’re seeking from that session
- Establish success criteria (e.g., “By the end of this session, I’d like to…”)
🔍 Key Behaviors
A coach who demonstrates this competency:
- Explains what coaching is and isn’t
- Clarifies whether other support roles (e.g., mentor, consultant) are in play
- Ensures the client understands and agrees to the coaching process
- Revisits and adjusts agreements as needed
- Honors cultural, contextual, and relational dynamics in setting agreements
- Makes sure each session has a defined focus, chosen by the client
🧭 In Practice
At the start of a session, the coach might ask:
“What would make this a valuable conversation for you today?”
Later, if the session drifts off course, the coach can respectfully re-anchor:
“You mentioned wanting to explore your decision about switching roles—would you like to return to that or stay with where we are now?”
🛠️ Common Mistakes
- Skipping the agreement to jump into the “work”
- Driving the session without asking what the client wants
- Allowing vague intentions (e.g., “I just want to talk” without a clear goal)
- Making assumptions about the client’s agenda
💬 Reflection Prompts
- Do I consistently ask for the client’s agenda at the start of each session?
- How do I handle it when the session goes off track?
- Have I explained the coaching relationship clearly and transparently?
- Do my agreements account for cultural or contextual nuances?
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
Clear agreements empower the coaching process. They build trust, encourage client ownership, and provide a structure for meaningful progress. Agreements help coaching stay client-led—not coach-driven—and ensure accountability without control.
🛡️ ICF Core Competency #4: Cultivates Trust and Safety
🌟 Definition
“Partners with the client to create a safe, supportive environment that allows the client to share freely. Maintains a relationship of mutual respect and trust.”
This competency is about creating the emotional and psychological foundation for transformative coaching. When clients feel safe, respected, and unconditionally accepted, they can access deeper insight, vulnerability, and growth.
🤝 Key Behaviors
A coach who cultivates trust and safety:
- Shows genuine concern for the client’s well-being and future.
- Demonstrates respect for the client’s identity, perceptions, style, and language.
- Acknowledges and honors the client’s background, culture, and context.
- Creates an inclusive space where all perspectives are welcomed.
- Maintains confidentiality as agreed upon.
- Validates the client’s experience without judgment.
- Encourages risk-taking, honesty, and reflection.
🌱 What It Looks Like in Practice
- A client expresses fear of failure. The coach listens empathetically and reflects, “It sounds like this fear has a strong voice in your story—would it help to explore where it’s coming from?”
- The coach avoids giving advice, even when tempted, and instead trusts the client to generate their own solutions.
- When the client shares something vulnerable, the coach responds with curiosity, not shock or judgment.
🔐 Psychological Safety in Coaching
Psychological safety allows clients to:
- Explore fears and dreams openly
- Acknowledge failures without shame
- Challenge their own beliefs
- Try new ways of thinking and being
The coach nurtures this safety through consistent presence, compassion, and non-defensiveness.
🔍 Cultural Sensitivity and Inclusion
- Coaches must be aware of their own biases and cultural lens.
- Trust looks different across cultures—what feels supportive to one client may not to another.
- Ask, don’t assume. For example:
“Is there anything about your background or values I should understand to be a better partner to you in this space?”
💬 Reflection Prompts
- Do my clients feel safe enough to be vulnerable?
- How do I respond to emotional expression—do I hold space or move on quickly?
- Do I acknowledge and explore cultural, contextual, or identity-based factors that shape the client’s experience?
- Am I willing to be uncomfortable or wrong, in service of trust?
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
Coaching doesn’t happen in pressure—it happens in presence. Without trust and safety, clients may withhold their truth or play small. Cultivating this environment is not just good practice; it’s the heart of impactful coaching.
🎯 ICF Core Competency #5: Maintains Presence
🌟 Definition
“Is fully conscious and present with the client, employing a style that is open, flexible, grounded, and confident.”
Presence is not about being prepared with the right technique—it’s about being deeply attuned to the client in the here and now. This competency is the essence of coaching in flow: fully engaged, unattached to outcomes, and responsive in real time.
🧘 Key Behaviors
A coach who maintains presence:
- Remains focused, attentive, and emotionally available.
- Manages distractions—internal (thoughts, judgments) and external (devices, noise).
- Demonstrates curiosity, without needing to steer or control the conversation.
- Confidently embraces silence, emotion, and uncertainty.
- Adapts style and direction based on the client’s needs in the moment.
- Trusts the coaching process rather than rushing toward solutions.
🛠️ What It Looks Like in Practice
- The coach pauses when a client shares something meaningful, allowing space instead of immediately responding.
- If the client becomes emotional or stuck, the coach stays grounded and supportive rather than rushing to fix.
- A client takes the conversation in a new direction; the coach follows with interest, asking,
“What feels important about this right now?”
🚧 What Undermines Presence?
- Pre-planning or scripting questions
- Worrying about doing it “right”
- Filtering or analyzing what the client says before they’ve finished
- Multitasking (even mentally)
- Over-identifying with the client’s story
🧠 Presence is a Skill—and a Discipline
It requires:
- Self-awareness (noticing internal reactions without acting on them)
- Emotional regulation (managing your own discomfort or uncertainty)
- Somatic grounding (using breath or body to stay centered)
- Intentional practice (through mindfulness, journaling, or supervision)
💬 Reflection Prompts
- What distracts me during coaching? How do I bring myself back?
- How comfortable am I with silence?
- Do I follow the client’s pace, or push toward action or insight?
- What do I do when I don’t know where the session is going?
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
When a coach is truly present, the client feels seen, heard, and valued. Presence builds trust, allows deeper insight to emerge, and creates the space for powerful transformation. The best coaching often happens not through doing, but through being.
👂 ICF Core Competency #6: Listens Actively
🌟 Definition
“Focuses on what the client is and is not saying to fully understand what is being communicated in the context of the client systems and to support client self-expression.”
Active listening in coaching is more than hearing words—it’s a full-bodied, empathic, and intuitive process. It involves tuning into not only what is said, but how it’s said—and what may be left unsaid.
🔍 Key Behaviors
A coach who listens actively:
- Listens without interruption or judgment
- Hears the client’s tone, pace, emotion, and energy
- Reflects or paraphrases to confirm understanding
- Seeks clarification instead of assuming meaning
- Notices inconsistencies or shifts in language or tone
- Hears the client’s values, beliefs, and patterns
- Responds to what the client is experiencing, not just what they’re describing
🛠️ What It Looks Like in Practice
- A client says, “Everything’s fine,” with a flat tone. The coach might ask,
“I hear you saying it’s fine, but something in your tone makes me wonder—what’s really going on?”
- A coach paraphrases:
“So what I’m hearing is that this decision feels both exciting and terrifying. Did I get that right?”
- Instead of giving advice, the coach reflects:
“You’ve mentioned the word ‘trapped’ a few times—what does that mean for you in this context?”
👂 Listening Beyond Words
Great coaching listens for:
- Themes and metaphors (e.g., “I’m running in circles”)
- Values and motivations (e.g., “I just want to make an impact”)
- Self-limiting beliefs (e.g., “I’ve never been good at that”)
- Somatic cues (sighs, long pauses, energy shifts)
- Unspoken needs or fears
⚠️ Common Pitfalls
- Listening to respond rather than to understand
- Jumping too quickly to a question or next step
- Ignoring emotional cues or energy shifts
- Over-relying on “active listening” phrases without real presence
💬 Reflection Prompts
- Do I reflect what I hear, or what I assume?
- How do I respond when the client’s words and energy don’t match?
- Do I leave enough space for clients to finish their thoughts—and their silences?
- What emotional or energetic shifts am I noticing?
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
Active listening builds trust, clarity, and insight. When a client feels fully heard, they can access deeper truth and possibility. By listening for the whole person, not just their words, the coach becomes a powerful mirror—supporting growth without directing it.
💡 ICF Core Competency #7: Evokes Awareness
🌟 Definition
“Facilitates client insight and learning by using tools and techniques such as powerful questioning, silence, metaphor, or analogy.”
This competency is the heart of transformational coaching. It’s about helping clients see themselves—and their challenges—more clearly and creatively. The coach doesn’t tell the client what to think, but helps them discover and name their own insights.
🧠 Key Behaviors
A coach who evokes awareness:
- Asks questions that challenge assumptions and reframe perspectives
- Uses observations, reflections, and metaphors to deepen understanding
- Encourages exploration of values, emotions, and patterns
- Creates space for the client to make sense of their experiences
- Uses silence and intuition to allow insights to emerge
- Explores the “who” (identity) behind the “what” (situation)
🛠️ What It Looks Like in Practice
- Instead of asking, “What will you do about this?” the coach asks:
“What belief might be keeping you from moving forward?”
- When a client repeats a pattern, the coach might reflect:
“This sounds similar to what you shared last time—how might this be a theme in your life?”
- The coach uses a metaphor:
“You described this as ‘dragging a heavy backpack’—what might be inside that backpack?”
🔎 Tools That Evoke Awareness
- Powerful questions (open-ended, forward-focused)
- Metaphors and analogies (client-created or coach-offered)
- Challenging the narrative (“What else could be true?”)
- Pattern spotting (language, themes, contradictions)
- Silence and pacing (to allow processing)
- Reframing (looking from a different angle)
🚫 What It’s Not
- Giving advice
- Problem-solving for the client
- Leading with assumptions
- Focusing only on surface-level actions
This competency isn’t about being clever—it’s about creating the conditions for the client to discover their own clarity.
💬 Reflection Prompts
- Do I give enough space for insight to emerge?
- Are my questions helping the client see in new ways—or just collecting information?
- How do I use silence and curiosity to deepen the conversation?
- What patterns do I notice in my client’s language or choices?
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
Awareness precedes action. A coach who evokes awareness helps clients shift from limitation to possibility, confusion to clarity. This opens the door to more meaningful action, change, and growth—on the client’s terms.
🌱 ICF Core Competency #8: Facilitates Client Growth
🌟 Definition
“Partners with the client to transform learning and insight into action. Promotes client autonomy in the coaching process and supports client progress toward their goals.”
This competency is about turning awareness into meaningful, sustainable change. It’s where coaching moves from reflection to forward momentum.
🚀 Key Behaviors
A coach who facilitates client growth:
- Collaborates with the client to set clear, realistic goals
- Supports the client in designing actions and strategies aligned with their values and vision
- Encourages accountability while respecting client autonomy
- Helps the client identify and leverage strengths and resources
- Explores potential obstacles and solutions
- Celebrates progress and learning, not just outcomes
- Adjusts plans as needed based on client feedback and experience
🛠️ What It Looks Like in Practice
- After insight emerges, the coach asks:
“What’s one step you feel ready to take before our next session?”
- When a client struggles, the coach explores:
“What has worked for you in the past when facing similar challenges?”
- The coach might say:
“How will you know you’re making progress? What will success look like to you?”
🧭 Balancing Support and Autonomy
Facilitating growth means walking the line between offering support and empowering the client to lead. Coaches:
- Avoid taking control or pushing solutions
- Help clients stay motivated and focused
- Encourage reflection on what’s working and what’s not
- Respect the client’s pace and readiness for change
🔍 Reflection Prompts
- How do I help clients translate insight into action?
- Do I encourage realistic goal-setting and follow-through?
- How do I support clients in navigating setbacks or resistance?
- Am I comfortable with the client’s pace, even if it’s slower than I’d like?
🧩 Why This Competency Matters
Coaching’s power lies in creating transformation, not just conversation. Facilitating client growth ensures coaching delivers real-world results while honoring the client’s unique path. It cements coaching as a catalyst for lasting personal and professional development.