The Coaching Cafe Podcast

This week on the Podcast! The new ICF Core Competencies have just been released, reflecting how coaching practice has evolved since the 2019 update. However, one word in the update is causing concern across coaching educators and practitioners, making social media light up! That word is: knowledge .  Whilst no new main competencies have been added, five new sub-competencies have been added along w...

In the Coaching Café Podcast last week, we listened to the first half of a coaching demonstration focused on the highest level of coaching competency - the MCC level of coaching . We invited you to tune in deeply—listening for presence, partnership, curiosity, evoking awareness, and how the coach explored thinking at a deeper level.  This week, we listen to and debrief the second half of the sessi...

This week on the Coaching Café Podcast , we are continuing our deep dive into our coaching practice with another coaching demonstration —this time we have the privilege of listening to coaching at the highest level of ICF credential, an MCC-level coaching demonstration .  This week’s Coaching Café Podcast is another chance to listen deeply —not to judge, but to grow. We invite you to reflect on wh...

In the Coaching Café Podcast last week, we listened to the first half of a coaching demonstration focused on the PCC level of coaching competency . We invited you to tune in deeply—listening for presence, partnership, curiosity, evoking awareness, and how the coach explored thinking at a deeper level.  This week, we will listen to the second half of the session and debrief what you heard .  Join u...

This week in the Coaching Café Podcast, we are continuing our deep dive into our coaching practice with another coaching demonstration —where we are particularly listening for PCC-level coaching competencies .  This is your opportunity to listen again with intention and curiosity. What does it sound like when a coach truly demonstrates:  🎧 Coaching presence  🎧 Evoking awareness  🎧 Digging under...

Last week, we invited you to sit back, tune in, and listen to a coaching demonstration —a real conversation designed to bring the ICF Core Competencies to life. We listened to and debriefed the first half of the coaching session.  This week, we  listen to and debrief the second half of the session Join us as we unpack the coaching conversation together and explore:  ✔️ How the ICF Core Competencie...

Over the past few Coaching Cafés, we’ve explored the ICF Core Competencies through the lens of assessment: what competent coaching looks like at ACC and PCC levels , and what can lead to an instant fail .  Over the next few Coaching Cafés, we invite you to shift from talking about coaching… to experiencing coaching in action .  This week join us for a recorded coaching demonstration , where you’ll...

So far in this Coaching Café series, we’ve explored what competent coaching looks like at the ACC and PCC levels. In this Podcast, we’re flipping the perspective and asking an equally important question:  What constitutes an instant fail in a coaching conversation—or during a credentialing exam?   This Podcast is not about fear—it’s about sharpening our coaching awareness .  ✨ What are the behavi...

Last week we kicked off our new Coaching Café season by exploring what competent coaching looks like at the ACC level . This week, we’re taking it up a notch as we unpack PCC-level coaching —and what it truly means to coach at that next level.    ✨ What distinguishes a competent coach from a PCC coach?  ✨ What does it sound like when you're coaching at the PCC level?  ✨ What are the most c...

After focusing on how we coach others in the past series, we’re now turning the lens inward. In this new Coaching Café series , we shift the focus to our own coaching development - starting with a deep dive into the ACC level of competency .  ✨ What does competent coaching look like, sound like, and feel like? ✨ What behaviours or practices might be deemed not yet competent under the ICF Core Co...

Over the past few weeks, we’ve focused our Coaching Café series on one of the most critical leadership and coaching opportunities: annual performance conversations .  We’ve explored:  ✔️ How performance conversations can build engagement  ✔️ How coaching shifts under-performance  ✔️ How to prepare better questions  ✔️ How to coach through the tricky conversations  ✔️ How strengths-based conversati...

Recently, during a workshop, a manager said what many others are thinking: “It’s not all rainbows and lollipops. What if they are under performing? What do you do then?”   The frustration was real, and it is common.  This was a manager doing their best to support an employee but unsure what else to try; and they needed more strategies, and wanted to understand how coaching might help.   With this...

We continue our focus on annual performance review season in this week’s Coaching Café Podcast and how these conversations can build engagement in the workplace. So far, we’ve shared frameworks and tips to set up conversations for success . Now it’s time to talk about the trickier conversations .  A frustrated manager recently asked us: “What do you do about people who think they’re meeting expect...

Performance conversations aren’t just a HR requirement – they are an opportunity to drive real engagement.   Research shows that when managers focus on strengths during performance conversations , it can lead to a 36.5% uplift in performance . That’s not all - engagement increases , productivity rises , and absenteeism drops .  When we first came across this data years ago, we said, “Tell us more!...

International Coach Week: Your chance to hear from an inspirational leader   This year, the  International Coaching Federation (ICF)  marks its  30th anniversary  – 30 years of inspiring change through coaching and setting the standards for our profession.  It’s the perfect week to  celebrate who we are as coaches  – and to recognise the difference each of us makes as part of the  Open Door Alumni...

Is the annual performance conversation season a chance to turn around engagement?   Last week kicked off our new Coaching Café Podcast series by unpacking the newly released Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report for 2025 .   But the headlines are hard to ignore:  Is the global workplace at breaking point?  Employee engagement on the brink (of collapse)  Management engagement falls from 30% t...

The Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2025 report has just landed.  Call us nerds, but we dropped everything to download it. Like many, we hoped to see improvements in global workplace engagement . After all, increasing engagement feels like a shared crusade among leaders, coaches, and organisations alike.  Now join Natalie and Paula as they kick off a new series of Coaching Cafe Podcasts . Thi...

This week Natalie reflects on ANZAC day.  For those unfamiliar with the day, ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and the day commemorates the 25th of April 1915, the day the Anzac's landed in Gallipoli in the 1st world war. While the day was originally intended to honour the over 8,000 lives lost in the campaign, the day now honours all service people who have lost their li...

Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored ethics in coaching through the lens of the ICF Core Competencies - not just as a checkbox for membership renewal, but as a lived practice .   We’ve explored:  ✔️ Our own ethical decision-making as coaches ✔️ Stakeholder agreements & confidentiality ✔️ The ethical use of AI in coaching   Now join Natalie and Paula our final Coaching Café Podcast in this s...

AI in Coaching – A Practical Demonstration   Following our thought-provoking discussion on the ethical use of AI in coaching last week , it’s time to take the conversation further.  Can AI really improve coaching?   Can it assess coaching conversations against the ICF Core Competencies ?   Can it even coach us on a topic?  In this Coaching Café Podcast, Natalie and Paula will move beyond theory an...

Ethical use of AI in Coaching – is it cheating?   I had just finished writing the new coaching assignment Ethical Use of AI in Coaching for our Certificate IV in Workplace and Business Coaching (11314NAT) program . The assignment requires students to analyse a transcript using an AI tool with the aim of improving the coaching.   And suddenly, the thought hit me: is this cheating?   As professional...

The meeting was between myself, the HR Manager and the coachee’s manager and I was taking a brief about a potential coaching opportunity. The question was asked ‘so what kind of reporting do you do?’. I offered my standard response regarding confidentiality and who reports the outcomes of the coaching to whom .  But to be frank, since we have our standard responses, it is not something that we spe...

You can’t coach everyone! Maintaining the distinction between coaching and other services   ‘Coaching’s fine. And I’m not trying to be controversial. But you can’t coach everyone. I reckon most of my team I have to mentor them. And tell them what to do, because they have no idea.’   The comment was in response to a question I asked a group of managers, as part of our discussion about ‘what is coac...

Many of us have received the ICF membership renewal email . The process is simple: click the link, accept the terms, select your currency and branch, and pay . If everything runs smoothly, it takes about five minutes —as long as you remember your password and don’t overthink “What do I get for my money?” (That’s a topic for another day! ) However, we encourage you NOT to just tick the box on the t...

At Open Door we get a lot of questions about the ICF Credential Exam.  The Exam is an important component of applying for an ICF credential and all candidates for ACC, PCC or MCC are required to pass the Exam. The Exam is a tool to measure a coach’s knowledge of the ICF definition of coaching, ICF Core Competencies and ICF Code of Ethics. According to the ICF, in 2023, 9,795 coaches sat the ICF Cr...