Staying Sharp
Practical skills, techniques and insights that enhance coaching competence.
In my mentor coaching groups and 1-1s, I often suggest smushing summary together with a question rather than summarising first (or only).
It’s a slang term for blending the two together.
I learnt this idea from Tara Nolan, MCC through my own mentor coaching four or five years ago. It makes a difference to the quality of the thinker’s thinking and feeling and sensing.
The main reason is that it’s more succinct and you can get out of the thinker’s way sooner, handing back the thinking to them.
A summary alone puts the brakes on their thinking as they listen to you to check your correctness.
There is so much more ease and flow to this smushing approach (once you get the hang of it).
Start with a question frame that will evoke more awareness, eg start with “what…” or maybe “how”, then blend the last couple of words of their last sentence into the question, or a phrase that they used into the question.
It takes practice when you’ve been taught to summarise first. It definitely took me a while to break the habit of a coaching lifetime. But, no matter how far into your coaching journey you are, it’s worth listening back to yourself to find places where you could get out of the way by smushing. And if you need/want another expert listening ear, you know where I am!
Staying Safe
Ethics, boundaries, professional standards, risk management.
These timings for changes to mentor coaching requirements, according to ICF Global will be useful to you if you did your training a while back and wish to become ICF-aligned in 2026.
2026:
Mentor coaching hours may be delivered under current requirements. Mentor coaching hours completed in 2026 will continue to count toward the total hours of mentor coaching required for an initial credential or credential renewal—these hours do not expire. If a candidate submits an ACC or PCC Portfolio application on or after April 1, 2027, however, additional mentor coaching documentation will be required, as outlined below.
January 1, 2027:
Any mentor coaching that takes place on or after January 1, 2027, must be conducted by a mentor holding the Mentor Coach Specialisation.
January 1 through March 31, 2027: Transition Window:
ACC and PCC Portfolio candidates will have a choice in the application process:
- The current performance evaluation process (submission of recordings and transcripts), or
- A new Portfolio – Mentor Coaching pathway. Those who apply through the new MC path will need to submit a competency review form completed by an MCS with their application in lieu of a performance evaluation.
April 1, 2027:
All ACC and PCC Portfolio applications will submit a competency review form completed by an MCS with their application, in lieu of a performance evaluation recording(s) and transcript(s). For candidates who completed mentor coaching in 2026, those hours will still count toward the required 10 mentor coaching hours. However, candidates applying after April 1, 2027, will need an MCS to complete the competency review form. In practice, this may require only a small amount of additional 1:1 mentor coaching—potentially as little as one session—to confirm readiness.
If selected for audit, the candidate will be required to submit the session observation forms for any sessions referenced in the Competency Review form.
Those who completed mentor coaching prior to January 1, 2027, but who do not submit their application in 2026 may only need to complete one additional hour of mentor coaching to validate their coaching skills. In this case, the mentor coach would complete one session observation form for the session and a Competency Review form that documents the skills the client demonstrated in that single session. The client would submit the Competency Review form with their ACC or PCC Portfolio application.
Credential renewal applicants will not be required to submit any Competency Review or Session Observation forms as part of their renewal application, regardless of when the mentor coaching was completed.
If a coach plans to apply for a higher-level credential in the future and wishes to count those mentor coaching hours, they should retain copies of any completed forms for their records, as they will need them at that point.
Staying Sane
Self-care, sustainability, emotional resilience, perspective
I’m hosting two free love-led hours, for humans only.
No slides. No model. No recording, no notetakers, no AIs in the room. Just an hour to slow down and feel what changes in your coaching when love is present.
If you’ve ever sensed there’s something underneath your competence that the frameworks can’t quite name, this is an hour to meet it.
We’ll ground, we’ll sit with a poem and some music, we’ll turn toward the fear we all carry into our sessions, and we’ll leave with a small promise made to ourselves. That’s the whole hour. Spacious on purpose.
It’s a taste of my book, Reclaiming Love in Coaching, and a doorway to the human connection day I’m hosting with UK ICF in September 2026 and the Coaching from Love retreat I’m holding in 2027.
🗓️ Date: 20th July, ⏰ Time: 17:00 BST: Link to register for 20th July
🗓️ Date: 4th September, ⏰ Time: 14:00 BST: Link to register for 4th September
All sessions will be on Zoom. You are welcome to come to 1, 2 or 3 sessions. Each will be the same, but you will arrive differently and receive it differently each time.
There is no charge for the sessions, and I look forward to seeing you there.
That is it for this month. I hope there is something here that sparks a reflection, a conversation with a peer, or a small experiment in your next session.
If you would like this delivered directly to your inbox each month, along with a few personal updates and upcoming events, you can sign up for the newsletter via Mailchimp using the link below. It is the same content, with a little extra warmth around the edges, and you will not have to rely on the LinkedIn algorithm to find it.
Until next time,
Clare
