As part of my coaching practice, I mentor coach a good chunk of coaches who are seeking to acquire the Associated Certified Coach ACC or Professional Certified Coach PCC certification.
At times certain mentees equate mentor coaching to include honing their coaching skills, practice building, personal development, etc.
This is not the case.
The ICF explicitly states the following definition for Mentor Coaching:
For purposes of credentialing, Mentor Coaching means an applicant being coached on their coaching skills rather than coaching on practice building, life balance, or other topics unrelated to the development of an applicant’s coaching skill.
The requirement also says you must work with the mentor coach for 10 hours on coaching skills.
My Mentor Coaching Program is focused on exploring the ICF Core Competencies. We do this by studying the ICF Core Competencies Rating Levels Table, ICF Code of Ethics, as well as the PCC Markers over a 10 hour period.
To achieve certification, you’ll be required to take the Coach Knowledge Assessment (CKA) currently comprising 155 questions on the ICF Core Competencies and Ethics.
The CKA includes:
The test content covers five broad domains: setting the foundation, co-creating the relationship, communicating effectively, facilitating learning and results, and coaching foundations and knowledge base. All questions are based on the ICF Core Competencies, ICF Code of Ethics and ICF’s Definition of Coaching. Questions are of varying levels of difficulty with some intended to assess awareness of a concept or skill while others may present a scenario that requires deeper understanding.
A few weeks ago I outlined what it takes to build a successful business and/or life coaching practice. One of the pillars of a coaching business is to deliver high quality coaching for your clients.
There’s no better place to begin laying the foundation for your business than having a thorough understanding of the ICF Core Competencies.
Best of luck on your coaching journey!