Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC)

The ACTC builds on the coaching foundation you've already established through your ICF credential, helping you develop the specialized knowledge and skills needed to coach teams effectively.

The most direct path to meeting the education requirement is through a program that holds the ICF Advanced Accreditation in Team Coaching. These programs are specifically designed to align with the ICF Team Coaching Competencies and include the required team coaching education.

You may also use team coaching education completed through other qualifying programs. In addition, Continuing Coach Education (CCE) courses focused on team coaching may count toward the education requirement.

Additionally, if you have extensive team coaching experience, you may be able to count previous work with teams as partial education credit via the Credit for Prior Learning application path.

Here is a breakdown of the education requirement by application path.

Team coaching requires you to navigate group dynamics, foster shared accountability, and help teams align around common goals. That level of skill is developed through experience. Working with real teams gives you the opportunity to apply the ICF Team Coaching Competencies in complex situations, adapt to evolving team needs, and support lasting change over time.

To apply for the ACTC, you must have completed at least five team coaching engagements within the past five years. A team coaching engagement includes all activities and sessions related to a team coaching agreement, including ensuring participants set the agendas and that there is real-time (synchronous) interaction between you and the participants.

While other team development activities — such as team training, consulting, or team building — may be part of an engagement, the engagement must include actual team coaching sessions to qualify.

The Credit for Prior Learning Path recognizes experienced team coaches who have developed their expertise through extensive practice. Through this path, eligible applicants can receive 30 hours of education credit for prior team coaching experience, along with credit for additional coaching supervision.

• At least five team coaching engagements completed within the last five years prior to the date of application creation.
• At least three engagements completed five or more years prior to the date of application creation.
• The remaining two engagements can be completed any time prior to the date of the application creation.

This combination of recent and long-term experience helps demonstrate both current practice and sustained expertise in team coaching.

As part of your ACTC application, you'll need to verify your team coaching experience. This helps demonstrate that you've applied team coaching principles in real-world settings and meet the experience requirements for certification.

For two of your required team coaching engagements, you'll need to submit a verification letter from one of the following:

• A team member
• A team leader.
• An authorized representative from the sponsoring organization.
• Or a third-party coaching body.

Letters should be signed, submitted on company letterhead (unless prohibited by a confidentiality agreement), and include the following elements:

Authorized representative’s name, contact information, and role within the organization or team.

• Your name as the ACTC applicant.
• Total hours of the team engagement.
• Start and end dates of the engagement.
• The number of team members.

Additionally, your application may be randomly selected for an audit. Because of this, we recommend obtaining and documenting clients’ consent to store their contact information, have a policy on how that information will be protected and maintained, and have a system in place for tracking relevant data.

Team coaching requires you to navigate complex group dynamics, multiple perspectives, and evolving team needs. Ongoing development can help you strengthen these skills and continue growing as a coach.

While mentor coaching is not required for the Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC), many coaches find it valuable for deepening their understanding of the ICF Core Competencies and refining their coaching practice.

Coaching supervision is a required component of the ACTC. To apply, you must complete at least five hours of coaching supervision with an eligible coaching supervisor. Through coaching supervision, you can reflect on your team coaching practice, explore challenges, gain new perspectives, and strengthen your effectiveness when working with teams.

Depending on your team coaching education program, the required coaching supervision may already be included in your training. If not, explore the coaching supervision requirements and resources available to help you meet this requirement.

Explore Coaching Supervision