Core Coaching Competencies presented at the 2008 ICF Annual Conference
by Laila Beaudoin
One of the components of the 2008 ICF Conference was a series of workshops entitled Wisdom Circles. Each workshop focused on one of the following core coaching competencies : Establishing the Agreement; Trust, Intimacy and Coaching Presence; Active Listening; Powerful Questions; Direct Communication; Designing Actions, Managing Progress & Accountability; and Ethics. Detailed descriptions of the competencies at the ACC, PCC and MCC level were handed out to the workshop attendees. Less detailed general information about these is available on the ICF website at the link given below.
http://www.coachfederation.org/ICF/For+Current+Members/Credentialing/Why+a+Credential/Competencies/
The workshops were lead by a pair of MCC credentialed coaches, who were also ICF assessors-an added bonus for those embarking on the credentialing path or simply getting a refresher course on the core elements of fine coaching.
Each session started with a brief review of the core competency in question, and a discussion of the distinctions between the ACC, PCC and MCC levels. In all of the Wisdom Circle workshops there was at least one coaching demonstration by the workshop leaders, and, at times, even a coaching demo done to demonstrate the competency at each of the three credential levels.
If we consider one in the series of these workshops, for example, the competency of establishing trust and intimacy with the client’, according to the ICF this competency requires a ‘genuine concern for the client’s welfare and future; the demonstration of personal integrity, honesty and sincerity; that the coach establishes clear agreements and keeps promises; demonstrates respect for the client’s perceptions, learning style and personal being; that the coach provides ongoing support for and champions new behaviors and actions, including those involving risk-taking and fear of failure; and that the coach asks permission to coach client in sensitive new areas’.
The key skills evaluated for this competency are 1) coach’s depth of connection to the client; 2) the coach’s depth of demonstration of trust in the client and the client’s processes of thinking, creating; and 3) the coach’s willingness to be completely comfortable with their own authenticity with the client.
To receive a passing score for this competency at the ACC level requires that ‘the coach demonstrates a genuine concern for the client and is attuned to the client’s perceptions, learning style and personal being at a basic level. The coach must also demonstrate an ability to provide ongoing support for new behaviors and actions at a basic level.
This competency at the PCC level requires skills referred to at the ACC level above, in addition to the requirement that the coach shows a good degree of connected relationship to the client and provides an invitation to the client to participate in the development and creation of those new behaviors.
The MCC level includes and builds upon the ACC and PCC competency levels and requires that the coach demonstrates complete trust in the client and the process. Such trust and intimacy will be evidenced by the equality between coach and client in the conversation, the coach’s comfort with not knowing as a state to expand awareness in, and the coach’s willingness to be vulnerable with the client and have the client be vulnerable in return.
The coaching demonstrations were followed by observations from the group at large, followed by smaller group deeper discussions, and a final summarization of our learning made by the smaller groups to the group at large.
For added value, these workshops and all other conference sessions were recorded and available for purchase by participants and non-participants alike. This was a most welcome feature and benefit of attending the conference, since it is impossible to attend all sessions due to the extensive number and choices available.
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