ICF Credentialing Exam (PCC/MCC) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

ICF Code of Ethics core values

Integrity, Excellence, Collaboration, and Respect. These four values underpin all ICF ethical standards and are named in the preamble of the ICF Code of Ethics.

Confidentiality exceptions in coaching

Coaches may disclose confidential client information when there is imminent risk of serious harm to the client or others, or when disclosure is required by law.

Scope of practice

The boundaries of a coach's competence. Issues requiring clinical, legal, or financial expertise are referred to qualified professionals rather than addressed inside the coaching conversation.

Conflict of interest disclosure

Coaches must disclose any personal, professional, or financial interest that could bias the coaching relationship, and resolve it or withdraw if it cannot be managed.

Coaching mindset

A way of being that assumes the client is creative, resourceful, and whole, and is responsible for their own choices, learning, and outcomes.

Reflective practice for coaches

Ongoing self-examination of the coach's beliefs, reactions, and biases so that they are less likely to be projected onto the client's agenda.

Session preparation

Competency 2.7: the coach mentally and emotionally prepares for each session, arriving focused and ready to be fully present with the client.

Intuition in coaching

A coach's felt sense or hunch about what is happening. It may inform a question but must be offered tentatively and never treated as fact.

Coaching agreement elements

The terms of the engagement: what coaching is and is not, process, schedule, fees, logistics, boundaries, confidentiality limits, and any sponsor's role.

Informed consent in coaching

The client's agreement to coaching after understanding its nature, format, confidentiality limits, fees, and the coach's approach, given without coercion.

Re-contracting

Revisiting and revising the coaching agreement when the client's goals, context, or scope of work change during the engagement.

Session agreement

A brief, explicit confirmation at the start of each session of the topic and outcome the client wants to work on that day.

Trust and safety

A coaching environment where the client feels respected, heard, and free to be vulnerable, built through confidentiality, clear boundaries, and non-judgment.

Client autonomy

The client's right to make their own choices. The coach respects it by not imposing advice, values, or solutions on the client.

Cultural context in coaching

The client's identity, culture, values, and environment, which the coach seeks to understand in order to build trust and avoid assumptions.

Boundary management

Keeping clear limits around time, contact, roles, and dual relationships so the coaching container remains safe and predictable for the client.

Coaching presence

Being fully conscious and present with the client, observing and responding in the moment rather than following a scripted plan.

Comfort with not knowing

The coach's ability to tolerate uncertainty and stay curious instead of rushing to answers, allowing the client's own meaning to emerge.

Productive silence

A deliberate pause that gives the client space to reflect and feel. The coach resists filling it with words or questions.

Coach self-regulation

Managing one's own emotions, reactions, and agenda during a session so they do not distort or take over the client's process.

Active listening

Listening focused fully on the client, integrating words, tone, pace, and body language, and reflecting back what is heard to confirm understanding.

Listening for what is unsaid

Noticing omissions, avoided topics, and unexpressed feelings, then inquiring about them so the client can decide whether to explore them.

Paraphrasing

Restating the essence of what the client said, often in the client's own words, to confirm accuracy and deepen clarity.

Summarizing

Condensing several statements or a whole session into key themes, offered to confirm alignment and consolidate the client's learning.

Powerful questioning

Open questions that provoke insight by exploring the client's values, beliefs, assumptions, and possibilities rather than gathering information for the coach.

Evoking awareness

Using questions, silence, metaphor, and observation to help clients generate their own insights rather than receiving the coach's conclusions.

Challenging assumptions

Respectfully inviting the client to examine a belief they treat as fixed, without arguing or telling them that they are wrong.

Metaphor and analogy

Figurative language offered or echoed by the coach to help the client see a situation from a new angle and access fresh awareness.

Action design

A collaborative process in which the client, not the coach, decides the goals, steps, timeline, and accountability that follow a session.

Championing client progress

Recognizing and naming the client's growth, effort, and successes so that gains are acknowledged, reinforced, and carried forward.

Integrating learning

Helping the client connect new awareness to real-life decisions, relationships, and behavior so insight translates into sustained change.

Coaching closure

Partnering with the client to review progress, consolidate learning, celebrate gains, and plan the ending of the coaching relationship.