ICF Credentialing Exam (PCC/MCC) cheat sheet

The ICF Code of Ethics rests on four core values: Integrity, Excellence, Collaboration, and Respect.

The Code is organized in four parts: Responsibility to Clients; Responsibility to Practice and Performance; Responsibility to Professional Standards; Responsibility to Society.

Confidentiality may be disclosed when there is imminent risk of serious harm to the client or others, or when disclosure is legally required.

Coaching is distinct from therapy, counseling, consulting, mentoring, and advice-giving; ethical practice requires the coach to name and hold that distinction.

Decision rule: when client material exceeds the coach's competence (clinical, legal, financial), the coach refers out rather than continuing to coach that material.

Coaches must represent their qualifications, credential level, training, and experience accurately in all marketing and public statements.

Sexual or romantic relationships with current clients, sponsors, or their family members are prohibited under the Code.

Conflicts of interest must be disclosed and resolved; if a conflict cannot be managed, the coach withdraws from the engagement.

Records and client data are kept per the coaching agreement and applicable law, and clients are told how data is stored, used, and retained.

The mindset holds that the client is creative, resourceful, and whole, and is responsible for their own choices, learning, and outcomes.

Competency 2.2 requires ongoing learning and development through education, training, supervision, and reflection.

Reflective practice means examining the coach's own identity, beliefs, and reactions so they are not projected onto the client's agenda.

Competency 2.7: the coach mentally and emotionally prepares for each session before it begins.

The coach uses awareness of self and intuition as data, holding it tentatively rather than as fact about the client.

The coach develops the capacity to regulate their own emotions so they remain objective, grounded, and non-reactive.

The coach remains open to the influence of context and culture on the client's experience and on the coaching relationship.

Decision rule: an insight belongs to the client only if the client articulated it; the coach's own hypothesis is offered tentatively or withheld.

The coach seeks outside help or referral when a situation exceeds their personal or professional capacity.

The coaching agreement covers the relationship, process, plans, schedule, fees, logistics, and boundaries.

The coach explains what coaching is and is not, and what the client can expect, before or at the start of the engagement.

Informed consent requires the client to understand format, confidentiality and its limits, fees, and the coach's approach.

Contracting extends to sponsors and stakeholders, specifying what information is exchanged and what remains confidential.

Decision rule: when the client's stated goal conflicts with the sponsor's expectation, the coach clarifies and renegotiates rather than choosing a side.

Agreements are revisited whenever goals, context, or scope change; re-contracting is continuous, not a one-time event.

Each session opens with a short agreement confirming the topic and outcome the client wants to work on that day.

Boundary agreements specify session frequency and duration, mode, between-session contact, and cancellation terms.

Trust begins with the coach seeking to understand the client's identity, environment, experiences, values, and beliefs.

The coach acknowledges the client's unique talents, insights, and work rather than treating the client as a problem to fix.

The coach shows support, empathy, and concern for the client's wellbeing as a person, not only as a performer.

Respect for autonomy: the coach does not impose their own agenda, answers, values, or solutions.

Confidentiality is the structural foundation of safety; an unexplained breach undermines every later intervention.

The coach maintains clear boundaries and consistent agreements so the relationship remains predictable.

Decision rule: when strong emotion appears, the coach acknowledges it and stays with it rather than redirecting to a task.

The coach partners with the client to create a safe, supportive environment in which the client can be fully heard without judgment.

Presence means being fully conscious and creating a spontaneous relationship with the client, adapting in the moment.

The coach stays observant and responsive to the client rather than executing a pre-planned sequence of questions.

The coach manages their own emotions and stays grounded while the client experiences distress or strong emotion.

Comfort with not knowing allows the coach to tolerate ambiguity instead of rushing to answers or conclusions.

The coach permits silence and space for reflection rather than filling pauses with words.

Curiosity signals presence; a scripted or leading question signals that the coach has left the moment.

Rehearsing the next question while the client is still speaking is a marker of lost presence.

Decision rule: when the coach notices their own agenda arising, they name it internally and return full attention to the client.

Active listening integrates the client's words, tone, pace, body language, and shifts in energy.

The coach reflects and paraphrases what the client says, and summarizes, to ensure clarity and alignment.

The coach listens for what is not said: omissions, avoided topics, and unexpressed feelings.

Changes in emotion, energy, and nonverbal cues are noticed and shared as observations the client can confirm or reject.

Using the client's own language and metaphors demonstrates accurate listening more than polished coach phrasing does.

The coach notices trends in the client's behavior and thinking across sessions, not only within one conversation.

Decision rule: reflect before inquiring; a paraphrase precedes a question so the client feels heard first.

Listening is contextualized in the client's identity, culture, and circumstances rather than against a single standard of normal.

Awareness is evoked through powerful questions, silence, metaphor, and analogy rather than through coach-supplied answers.

Questions explore the client's values, needs, wants, beliefs, and assumptions.

The coach challenges the client's limiting assumptions without arguing, correcting, or prescribing a replacement belief.

The coach invites exploration of new or broader perspectives and of interconnections the client had not noticed.

The coach helps the client identify patterns across situations and see how those patterns serve or limit them.

Observations and feedback are offered briefly and tentatively, then handed back to the client for meaning-making.

Decision rule: yes/no and 'why' questions tend to narrow awareness, while open 'what' and 'how' questions tend to widen it.

After an insight, the coach asks what it means for the client rather than supplying the meaning.

Growth is completed when new awareness becomes action the client owns and can sustain.

The coach partners with the client to design goals, actions, and accountability measures rather than assigning them.

The client is invited to identify resources, support, and potential barriers to moving forward.

The coach recognizes and champions the client's progress, naming specific gains and celebrating success.

Learning is integrated by connecting insight to real decisions, relationships, and behavior outside the session.

The coach supports the client in designing their own measures of success rather than importing external metrics.

Decision rule: the client selects the action; the coach never assigns homework without the client's agreement.

Closure is planned: progress is reviewed, learning consolidated, and the ending of the coaching relationship discussed.