Mentor Coaching Specialization | International Coach Academy

If you mentor coaches, or are thinking about becoming a mentor coach, then there is change on the horizon. As of January 2027, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) is introducing Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS). It will change who is eligible to provide mentor coaching for ICF credentialing purposes or in ICF Accredited Coach Training.

Definition of Mentor Coaching

ICF defines mentor coaching as a collaborative learning process in which a coach receives feedback on observed or recorded sessions to help develop their coaching skills in alignment with the ICF Core Competencies. It’s not about mentoring a coach on building their practice, or their work-life issues. It’s about developing their coaching skill.

Mentor coaching sits in its own space between traditional mentoring and professional coaching: more directive than a coaching conversation, but still grounded in coaching skill and a partnership dynamic. Specialisation will be required for every ICF credential level – ACC, PCC, and MCC.

Three levels of MCS

MCS mirrors the existing credential structure, with a specialization tied to each level:

• MCS-ACC – Requires the Mentor Coach to hold a renewed ACC Credential (can mentor coaches at ACC Level)
• MCS-PCC – Requires the Mentor Coach to hold a PCC Credential (can mentor coaches at PCC Level)
• MCS-MCC – Requires the Mentor Coach to hold an MCC Credential (can mentor coaches at MCC Level).

What this means for you as a Mentor Coach?

If you’re a working mentor coach: Your current credential alone won’t be enough to serve credential candidates after January 2027. You’ll need to pursue the MCS at the appropriate level(s) to continue offering mentor coaching for ICF credentialing purposes.

If you’re considering becoming a mentor coach: Build your plan around MCS from the start. Rather than qualifying informally through your credential level, you’ll be working toward a defined specialization with its own competency framework and evaluation training.

If you’re a coach seeking mentor coaching for your own credential: Expect that, starting in 2027, your mentor coach will need to hold the relevant MCS — worth confirming as you select who you’ll work with, especially as the transition date approaches.

 

Applying for Mentor Coaching Specialization

Coaches are beginning to ask ‘ how do I actually apply, and which path fits my background?’ It’s a great question. The ICF has built two distinct routes to the MCS.

Whether you apply through the Standard Path or the Credit for Prior Learning Path, you end up with the same MCS designation, the same digital badge, and the same listing on ICF’s Mentor Coach Registry. The difference is in *how* you demonstrate you’re ready for it.

Pathway 1 – Standard Pathway

This is the pathway for anyone who is early in their mentor coaching journey or do not yet have an extensive track record of mentor coaching clients This pathway is built around substantial and structured education.

To apply to the ICF you will need the following

1. Mentor Education
   At least 41 hours of mentor coaching education aligned with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies, covering things like formative evaluation methods, feedback practices, and how to support a client’s skill development. 50% of the training must by synchronous
2. Skills Evaluation Training
   Complete the relevant coaching-skills evaluation training for each level you’re pursuing (ACC BARS Training, PCC Markers Training, or MCC BARS Training)

Pathway 2 – Credit for prior learning pathway

This is the pathway for experienced Mentor Coaches who have helped clients achieved ICF Credentials, or have delivered Mentor Coaching in an ICF Accredited Program.

To apply to the ICF you will need the following

1. Mentor Education
   Complete at least 10 hours of mentor coaching education aligned with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies (synchronous or asynchronous — no live-instruction minimum here).
2. Skills Evaluation Training
   Complete the same coaching-skills evaluation training required on the Standard Path.
3. Experience
   Demonstrate mentor coaching experience with at least five individuals, drawn from either:
   – Independent mentor coaching clients who earned a new ICF ACC, PCC, or MCC credential within the past three years, or
   – Students you mentored within an ICF-accredited Level 1, 2, or 3 education program in the past three years

Important to note is that you only need pay your application fees once (for first submission), and the pricing is discounted until March 2027. Your specialization must also be renewed every 3 years. Refer to Sample Application Process 

Mentor Coaching Competencies

A. Foundation

• Models and Promotes Ethical Practice
• Establishes and Maintains Mentor Coaching Agreements

B. Process Management

• Manages the Mentor Coaching Process

C. Client Development

• Conducts Formative Appraisals
• Facilitates Client’s Skill Development

D. Group Mentor Coaching

• Manages Group Mentor Coaching

Mentor Coaching Framework

The following parameters govern Mentor Coaching and support a formative feedback cycle.

• 3 month rule (at least 12 weeks between the first and last mentoringsession) 
• a minimum of 10 hrs mentoring is required for mentor clients to apply their mentoring towards certification or credentialing
• the 10 hrs must include 3 hrs one on one mentoring and 7 hours group mentoring

Formative Feedback

Mentor coaching is “Formative Evaluation” where a coach (client) benefits from developmental feedback. It draws on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle (1975) which describes learning as a four-stage process:

1. concrete experience 
2. reflective observation 
3. abstract conceptualization
4. active experimentation. 

Applied to mentor coaching, the coaching session becomes the concrete experience. The feedback conversation is where reflective observation happens. The coach then abstracts that into something they intend to try differently and carries that intention into the next coaching session as active experimentation.

Listening is not the same as Observing 

Observing a coaching session is not the same as listening to one. As a mentor coach, you are attending to two tracks simultaneously, and that split attention is a skill that has to be built deliberately.

• Track 1 is the coach: their presence, how they listen, how they construct questions, whose agenda they are following, and how they manage the arc of the session.
• Track 2 is the standard: in real time, you are mapping what you hear against the ICF Core Competency markers for the relevant credential level.

Most people who are new to mentor coaching collapse these two tracks into one. They listen as they would to any coaching session, absorbed in the content, moved by the client, tracking the narrative. That is natural, and it produces impressionistic feedback.

“She was really present.”
“He seemed to rush at the end.”

These are observations, but they are not evidence.

ICF Feedback Forms

The ICF are introducing two standardized forms to support formative evaluation. These don’t take effect until 2027 and are not yet finalised, but below is an introduction to how it is intended these forms will be used in Mentor coaching. 

These forms require behavioural specificity: a moment, a quote, a competency.

• Session Observation Form (SOF)
  The purpose of the SOF is to capture strengths and growth areas from a single session, grounded in behavioral evidence. The SOF is aligned to the ICF Core Competencies and the Minimum Skills Requirements at the coach’s target credential level. The SOF becomes the preparation for the session conversation. The mentor coach’s notes from the form shape the debrief. The form does not replace the dialogue, it informs it. Refer to ICF Resource for ACC Session Evaluation form and PCC Session Evaluation form
• The Competency Review Form (CRF)
  The CRF is completed in the closing session. Its purpose is to synthesise the mentor coach’s observations across all sessions in the engagement into a cumulative developmental picture. Where the SOF captures a single session, the CRF captures the full arc: what consistent patterns were observed, how the coach developed across the engagement, and where gaps remains. Refer to ICF resource for ACC Competency Review and PCC Competency Review.
• The 67% Threshold
  To successfully complete mentor coaching, the coach must demonstrate a minimum of 67% proficiency in each competency area as evidenced on the Competency Review Form. This threshold applies per competency, not as a global average across all competencies. A coach who meets the threshold overall but falls below 67% in one competency area has not met the requirement for that area.

 

The Client

Effective mentor coaching begins with conditions the mentor coach creates, the quality of listening brought to the session and the depth of client knowledge all shape what becomes possible in the mentor coaching relationship. No two mentor clients will have the same needs, values, experience, or aspirations. Each will also have their own unique cultural or contextual lens that influences how they learn, how they receive feedback, and even how they coach. 

Group Mentoring

Group mentor coaching is a distinct modality with its own design requirements, its own learning mechanisms, and a range of approaches that serve different learning purposes. This guide covers what group mentor coaching is, the ICF requirements that govern it, how to set up agreements for the group context, the approaches available, and how to manage the dynamics that arise when multiple coaches develop their practice together in the same space.

One of the key benefits of group mentor coaching is that it creates a learning opportunity that is completely different from individual mentoring. Group participants watch other coaches work, and in doing so, they get to observe different styles, different instincts, and different levels of experience. This experience – observing coaching from the outside – enables group participants to see what moves a client’s thinking forward and what keeps them stuck and to notice which coaching strategies work and which fall short. 

 

DOWNLOAD GROUP MENTOR COACHING MODULE

ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies

ICF Evaluation Feedback Guide

Mentors Who Coach (CollectiveED)

ICF mentor Coaching Handbook