The ICF Core Competencies 2025: Why It Matters for the Way We Coach

If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the ICF Core Competencies, you're not alone. Whether you're just starting your coaching journey or looking to deepen your existing practice, understanding these competencies can feel like navigating a complex roadmap.  What we find in our Stellar mentoring is that once you break them down, they become a really valuable guide to great coaching.

The ICF Core Competencies aren't just a tick box exercise, they can be a foundation for meaningful, transformative coaching that creates real impact in people's lives.

2025 Update

The International Coaching Federation recently refined its Core Competencies framework. The 2025 updates build thoughtfully on the solid 2019 foundation. We are thrilled to see clearer language, less jargon and enhanced guidance that reflects how coaching has evolved these last few years.

The ICF takes an evidence-based approach to the updates and has gathered input from coaches across the world and analysed comprehensive research. This process happens every five to seven years, ensuring the framework stays relevant.

There are four domains to the ICF framework. The eight core competencies are organised into four interconnected domains that build upon each other naturally.

Domain A is the Foundation. This is your coaching foundation and key part of coaching conversations. It's built on two essential competencies that help set the tone for everything else.

Competency 1: Demonstrates Ethical Practice

This competency is about integrity, professionalism and ethics. You'll demonstrate honesty in your interactions, remain sensitive to your clients' identities and experiences and use respectful language that honours everyone involved.

You'll also maintain clear boundaries between coaching and other professions.  Knowing when to refer clients to therapists, consultants, or other specialists shows professional maturity, not bad coaching!

Competency 2: Embodies a Coaching Mindset

The wording of this competency has changed to include the requirement that as coaches we engage in continuous learning including mentoring and supervision, we are delighted to see this addition. It also states that you maintain curiosity, openness, flexibility and genuine client-centeredness. We often say at Stellar that if you bring a coaching mindset to your conversations you’re halfway there.

Coaches must acknowledge that people (clients / thinkers / thinking partners) are responsible for their own choices, coaching isn't about fixing people. Developing self-awareness, managing your emotions effectively, and maintaining your own well-being are essential for coaches who want to do their best work.

Domain B is Co-Creating the Relationship. This domain focuses on the relational foundation that makes transformative coaching possible.

Competency 3: Establishing and maintain agreements

Here coaches partner with thinking partners and others who might be involved, to create clear agreements about the coaching relationship, what will happen and how it will work. You’ll establish agreements for the overall coaching engagement as well as those for each coaching session. Take time here to uncover the best ways of partnering with the thinker, and how you can do great work together, checking in on learning styles and preferences.

Competency 4: Cultivates Trust and Safety

Co creating psychological safety is essential for people to share openly and explore deeply. You'll partner with thinkers to build an environment where they feel genuinely supported and respected.

This means being curious to understand coaching partners within their complete context, including their identity, experiences, values, and beliefs.

Remember you're not just coaching a problem or an outcome. You are coaching a whole brilliant human being with a rich, complex life experience.

Show genuine respect and support, acknowledge their unique talents and insights, and remain open and transparent. Trust builds through consistent, authentic interactions.

Don’t assume that it feels like a safe space for the person you are in conversation with. Our idea of safe isn’t always theirs. Sometimes coaches will say something like “this is a safe space for you.” In our training we encourage them to ask, “how can we make this a really great / safe space for you to do your best thinking?”

Competency 5: Maintains Presence

Presence in coaching is about being fully conscious and engaged with thinking partners, employing a style that's open, flexible, grounded, and confident. This doesn’t mean that you might be feeling super confident, especially if you’re just starting out, but it means that the space created is a competent one that you are holding confidently as a human.

You'll remain focused and responsive while managing your own emotions to stay present. This includes becoming comfortable with uncertainty and not knowing. In our experience this not knowing can feel unsettling at first and we practice getting uncomfortable in our training. We often wonder how many important conversations are avoided every day due to discomfort, we are here to change that.

Creating these spaces for silence, pause and reflection takes practice. In our fast-paced world, the gift of unhurried attention is increasingly rare and wonderfully valuable.

Domain C is Communicating Effectively and includes two competencies.

Competency 6: Listens Actively

Great coaching revolves around listening, not just to what's being said, but to what remains unspoken. Through active listening, you'll notice emotions, body language, and nonverbal cues that reveal a bigger picture than what’s been spoken. As coaches we listen for insights, patterns and possibilities. Listening like this supports thinking partners to gain clarity about their own thoughts and feelings.

Competency 7: Evokes Awareness

Coaches co create conditions for deeper insight and learning. Through thoughtful questions, metaphor, and silence, the thinker can discover something new or gain insight or a fresh perspective. This can be really powerful. As coaches we can ask questions that help thinking partners move beyond their current thinking or patterns.

When thinking partners see something they hadn’t seen before; a belief, a pattern or a hidden resource, the coaching conversation can really awaken new possibilities. This is where growth, autonomy and meaningful change really begin.

Domain D is Cultivating Learning and Growth where thinker’s insights transform into sustainable growth.

Competency 8: Facilities Client Growth

You'll partner with thinkers to really surface the learning from a conversation and support them to integrate new learnings and design next steps. Remember the word here is "partner." You're not directing the action; you're supporting people to uncover what works for them and ensure the growth achieved during coaching sessions carries forward into post session change. This might be as simple as asking people what they have learned in the conversation and how they will take this learning forward.

Some coaching tips

Be aware of the Competencies

Print them or have them close by and read over them before or after a coaching conversation. See what you are already doing and where you might improve.

Start Where You Are

You don't need to be perfect at all eight competencies before you can be an effective coach. Professional development is exactly that, development. Start by assessing where you are now and identifying one or two areas for your growth.

Integration Over Perfection

Remember, the competencies work together. Improving presence will enhance your listening skills, which enables you to more effectively facilitate growth.

Seek Support and Feedback

Many coaches work with mentor coaches or supervisors to deepen their professional practice. This is best practice and sometimes we absolutely recommend at Stellar Conversations. We offer both supervision and mentoring to individuals and organisations.

Practice with Purpose

Look for opportunities to practice these competencies intentionally. Whether you're in formal coaching sessions, or more informal conversations, you can develop these skills consistently.

Be Culturally aware and adaptable

As you develop your practice, remain mindful of how cultural context influences your work and adapt your approach accordingly.

Your Path Forward

By understanding and aligning to the eight competencies, you're positioning yourself to deliver meaningful, person cantered coaching.  Whether you're pursuing ICF credentials, deepening an existing practice or just beginning your coaching journey, these competencies can provide structure and inspiration. They remind us that coaching isn't about having all the answers, it's about presence, exploration and partnering with people as they discover their own wisdom.

Good luck and warm wishes. The world needs more ethical and excellent coaches who are committed to growing themselves as they help others grow.