The International Coach Federation released its new core competencies in November. I’ve spent some time studying them, and here’s what I like – and what I wish for.
What I like…
The distillation, down to eight competencies from eleven, has eliminated duplication and streamlined the expectations for coaches. That is going to help with the feeling of overwhelm that I often hear from coaches. The last three competencies, “designing actions”, “planning and goal-setting”, and “managing progress and accountability” are now one – “facilitating client growth”. “Powerful questions”, “direct communication” and “creating awareness” have also been distilled into one – “evoking awareness”. I agree with the last three being brought together as one, but to me, the compilation into “evoking awareness” feels a little too much slash and burn for such fundamental competencies.
There is one new competency, “embodying a coaching mindset”. This is a great addition, modelling what other coaching bodies expect of coaches, around their own reflective practice and seeking help from others (presumably this means supervisors, mentor coaches, coaches, therapists, though it’s not clear in the wording).
Some of the PCC markers have been brought into the core competencies, showing how powerful the markers are no matter which level of coaching we are operating from. I noticed this particularly in the extended “establishing and maintaining agreements” competency, which is now focused not only on the Big C contract, but also the little c contract for each session.
I notice that “trust and intimacy” has been changed to “cultivating trust and safety”. Given everything we are learning about psychological safety, this feels like a move in the right direction for sure.
What I wish for…
I am disappointed about some of the wording though. For example, in “cultivates trust and safety”, although it does start off by saying “partners with the client to create a safe, supportive environment….”, it then says “seeks to understand the client within their context….” To me, we don’t need to understand everything about the client – THEY need to understand themselves, so that they can make conscious choices based on who they are and what is important to them. So I’d prefer to see wording such as “Enables the client to understand their own context…..”
I’ve written before about the need to move from a service provider mentality to one of partnership, and the wording hasn’t quite achieved that for me, which really misses an opportunity to move our way of being.
Under “evokes awareness”, there is another example that doesn’t quite hit the mark for me: “considers client experience when deciding what might be most useful”. How about we ask them what would be most useful, rather than guessing!
Then there’s “integrates the client’s words, tone of voice and body language to determine the full meaning of what is being communicated.” It’s not down to us to determine the meaning, it’s up to them. Instead of us guessing the meaning, let’s ask them for example, “I notice x, y and z are not congruent; what’s the meaning of that for you?” Also “asks questions about the client, such as their way of thinking, values, needs, wants and beliefs” – yes, we should be doing that, but for their understanding, not ours. New coaches (and those who have lost their edge) need to see the difference clearly spelled out, in my humble opinion.
That’s my current thinking on the new core competencies. I Imagine I will notice more as I dig in further. I’m curious to know what you are noticing about the new competencies. What resonates with you? What feels like a missed opportunity? If you haven’t already seen them, you can find them here – and scroll down to see the new competencies.
Don’t panic, the old ones will be used for credentialing purposes until the start of 2021, so if you are on that journey, you have a year to complete before there will be changes in requirements.
