About the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies

Mentor coaching is particularly unique — you’re helping fellow coaches refine their skills, prepare for performance evaluations, and align with the ICF Core Competencies.

This Mentor Coaching Competency framework has been developed to formalize, support and contribute to the professionalism of this work, resulting in six competencies for effective mentor coaching. Underpinning this framework are ICF’s gold-standard ethical and reflective learning practices, ensuring that mentor coaches serve as role models while elevating the coaching profession.

The Mentor Coaching Competencies:

  • Define your role as a mentor coach.
  • Enhance your ability to empower those you mentor.
  • Equip you to support the development and advancement of your coach, all for the benefit of their clients.
  • Provide guidelines for skill-focused feedback.
  • Enable you to mentor a client for credential preparation and continuous development.
  • Ensure transparent, high-quality mentor coaching consistent with industry standards.
Explore ICF Mentor Competencies

Development of the Model

Creating a competency model means so much more than just writing down what we already know about mentor coaching.

It requires a thorough, rigorous process that’s meant to build a solid foundation of mentor coaching that’s grounded in data. In partnership with the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), ICF conducted extensive research in the form of a job analysis to identify the specific tasks, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics necessary to be an effective mentor coach. This analysis included the following:

  • Literature review to identify key concepts and competencies from existing mentor coaching research.
  • Workshops with experts that explored specific tasks and skills of mentor coaches.
  • Surveys to collect additional insights.

Using this qualitative and quantitative data, ICF and HumRRO developed and refined the final model. It consists of six core competencies (and many sub-competencies) to ensure that mentor coaching is guided by clear, evidence-based standards that align with current practices.

Application of the Model

The ICF Mentor Coaching Competency Model provides real-world insights that can help you empower, enhance, and grow your practice as a mentor coach.

Here are just a few ways it can make a difference:

  • Education and Certification: Use the model to design robust education and certification programs, ensuring mentor coaches have the skills needed for effective mentoring and high standards.
  • Self-Improvement and Reflective Practice: Mentor coaches can use the model for self-assessment and reflection, identifying areas for growth, pursuing targeted training, and continuously improving their practice.
  • Structured Feedback: The competencies provide a clear framework for mentor coaches to offer specific feedback on coaching sessions to help mentor coaching clients refine their skills and align with the ICF Core Competencies.
  • Credentialing Preparation: Ensures mentor coaches adequately prepare their mentor coaching client for ICF credentialing by focusing on the competencies needed for successful performance evaluations.
  • Consistency: Ensure uniformity and high-quality standards in mentor coaching practices across different settings and organizations. The competency model can also be adopted as a benchmark for internal mentor coaching programs, furthering the uniform approach to mentoring. 
  • Increase Understanding: The model helps coaches understand mentor coaching roles and expectations, helping them choose the right mentor coach for their needs. This builds trust, as clients understand the qualifications and skills of their mentor coaches.
  • Innovation and Research: Use the model as a foundation for developing new coaching approaches and tools. The model can also provide a basis for studying and evaluating the effectiveness of mentor coaching practices.
  • Ethical Standards: Emphasize ethical practices, guide mentor coaches to uphold high standards, and encourage mentor coaching clients to do the same.
  • Peer Collaboration: Create a common framework for mentor coaches to share experiences, solve challenges, and learn from one another.

The ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies Model

Explore the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies, which outline six essential skills for effective mentor coaching. These skills fall into four domains, each of which align with the ICF Core Competencies while incorporating specific nuances needed in mentor coaching.

Review the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies

Ethical Foundations for Mentor Coaching

In every interaction as a mentor coach, you model ethical standards and encourage your client to do the same. You build foundational trust with your client by creating clear agreements about the coaching relationship, process, plans, and goals. 

Manage the Process and Co-Create the Environment

Alongside your client, you co-create the learning environment, process, and development plans to ensure a successful partnership. 

Knowing Where to Start and How to Help Your Client Grow

When you begin your mentor coaching interaction, you evaluate the degree to which your client's coaching aligns with the ICF Core Competencies or the skill level required for a specific credential level. From there, you support your client's development of coaching skills and unique coaching style. 

Mentor Coaching in a Group Setting

If you're a mentor coach who offers group coaching services, you'll need to know specific nuances for how to effectively manage the group mentor coaching process.