Sample ICF recording review report
MCC accreditation review
These recordings are ready to submit at MCC. Four of the five assessors would pass them.
- Reference
- Sample
- Assessed against
- Master Certified Coach
- Submission
- 2 recordings
- Reviewed by
- 5 assessors and an MCC
Verdict
Submit
4 of the 5 assessors would pass this submission at MCC.
The panel at a glance
| Competency | Partnership | Outcomes | Markers | Mentor | Mastery | Gary Malcolm | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Demonstrates Ethical Practice | Meets | ||||||
| 2. Embodies a Coaching Mindset | Meets | ||||||
| 3. Establishes and Maintains Agreements | Meets | ||||||
| 4. Cultivates Trust and Safety | Meets | ||||||
| 5. Maintains Presence | Borderline | ||||||
| 6. Listens Actively | Borderline | ||||||
| 7. Evokes Awareness | Meets | ||||||
| 8. Facilitates Client Growth | Meets |
Meets MCC requirements Borderline Below requirements
Where this submission stands
Six of the eight competencies meet the MCC standard, and the assessors mostly agree on them. Your biggest strength is how you work with your clients as equal partners. You agree clearly on what each client wants from the session, and when the session changes direction, you check that agreement again. Two competencies are borderline: Maintains Presence and Listens Actively. Both have the same cause. When a client pauses mid-sentence, you sometimes finish the sentence for them. The Partnership Assessor sees this as serious and would not pass the recordings. The other four assessors see it as something that happens only now and then. It is worth working on before you submit, but on this evidence it should not stop you passing.
- Your agreements with clients are the strongest part of both recordings.
- Both clients reach their key insight themselves, near the end of the session.
- You sometimes finish your client's sentences. This one habit keeps two competencies at borderline.
The sessions
In session one, a senior leader has been asked to lead a restructure they think is wrong. They start by asking how to plan the announcements. At about 24 minutes, they admit they disagree with the restructure and have told no one. The rest of the session works on that. They leave with a decision to speak up, and no longer need a communication plan. In session two, a founder is handing over the day-to-day running of the company he built. He starts with the practical steps of the handover. In the middle of the session he realises the real question is who he is without the company. In both sessions the client chooses their own next step. In both, the most important moment starts as a small comment the client makes almost by accident.
Each session starts with about 90 seconds of greetings before you confirm consent. This is normal, and it does not affect your assessment.
Competency by competency
1. Demonstrates Ethical Practice
Meets MCC requirementsPartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
All five assessors found no problems here. You confirm consent at the start of each recording, and you do not assume it from an earlier conversation. In session one, the client asks for your advice twice. Both times you politely hand the question back, so the client keeps doing the thinking. In session two, the founder asks what you would do about his successor. You make it clear that the decision is his, even when he asks again.
Before we start, can I check again that you are happy for me to record this and share the transcript with the ICF?
00:00:27 · you · Session one
I could tell you what I might do, but I think you already know what you would do. What is it?
00:21:20 · you · Session one
2. Embodies a Coaching Mindset
Meets MCC requirementsPartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
You stay curious in both sessions, and you are open to being wrong about where each one is going. At MCC level, this is what assessors look for. Four of the five assessors pass it clearly. They point to a moment in session two when you say out loud that you have an assumption, and check it with the client before you go on. The Mastery Assessor has one concern. When a client hesitates, you sometimes move to fill the pause instead of leaving it open.
I notice I have an assumption about where this is going. Can I check it with you before I go any further?
00:12:40 · you · Session two
Take your time. There is no hurry here.
00:33:02 · you · Session one
The stronger move
You handle the long silence at 33:02 in session one well. Do the same with the shorter pauses. Wait a little longer, and let the client decide what to do with the space.
3. Establishes and Maintains Agreements
Meets MCC requirementsPartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
This is the strongest part of both recordings, and all five assessors agree. In the first four minutes of each session, you ask what the client wants, how they will know they have it, and why it matters to them. At 24 minutes in session one, the conversation changes direction. You stop and ask whether the original agreement still fits. Then you let the client set a new one. MCC assessors look for exactly this kind of partnership, and it is the most convincing part of your submission.
By the end of our time, what would you want to be walking away with, and how would you know you had it?
00:03:55 · you · Session one
We agreed to work on the sequencing. That is not where we are now. Where would you like to put the rest of our time?
00:27:40 · you · Session one
4. Cultivates Trust and Safety
Meets MCC requirementsPartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
Both clients tell you something they say they have not told anyone else. A client only does that when they feel safe. In session one, the big admission at 24 minutes comes after you handled a smaller one well, eight minutes earlier. You did not judge it, and you did not rush past it. In session two, the founder admits he has not told his board how unsure he feels about stepping back. You stay calm, and you do not rush to reassure him. All five assessors pass this clearly.
I have not said this out loud to anyone. I think the whole thing is wrong.
00:24:18 · your client · Session one
I have not admitted that to the board. Honestly, I am not sure I have admitted it to myself.
00:18:05 · your client · Session two
5. Maintains Presence
BorderlinePartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
The assessors disagree most on this competency. A few times, you finish a sentence the client has started. Twice, the client accepts your ending and moves on, so your words set the direction instead of theirs. The Partnership Assessor marks this below the standard, and three others call it borderline. The Mentor Assessor passes it, because your presence is strong in the last third of both sessions. The clearest example is at 16:30 in session one. The client starts to say they are not sleeping, and your ending turns it into a point about workload.
I have not been sleeping, which I suppose is just the...
00:16:30 · your client · Session one
The pressure, yes, and it will build before the announcements.
00:16:34 · you · Session one
The stronger move
At 16:34, say nothing. The client was close to naming what was keeping them awake. Your words took the session back to planning for several minutes. If you had waited, the real issue would probably have come out eight minutes earlier.
6. Listens Actively
BorderlinePartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
You listen closely to what clients say, and you reflect it back accurately, often in their own words. The Outcomes and Mentor Assessors both give you credit for this. You are less consistent with side comments: the half-sentences a client drops on the way to something else. In both sessions, the most important moment started as a side comment. In session one you noticed it, and the session changed direction. In session two you missed it. The founder says, almost as a joke, that he built the company so it would not need him, and you move on. Three assessors hold this at borderline because of that one miss.
Say that again.
00:24:22 · you · Session one
Which is funny, really, because I built it so it would not need me.
00:09:15 · your client · Session two
The stronger move
You already know how to do this. At 24:22 in session one, you said "Say that again", and it opened up the whole session. The same three words at 09:15 in session two would have done the same. You could also have asked: "What is it like to have succeeded at that?"
7. Evokes Awareness
Meets MCC requirementsPartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
Your questions are short and clear. You ask each one once, and you do not explain it or soften it. Four of the five assessors pass this clearly. They point to your question at 35:20 in session one. The client thinks about it for several seconds, and their answer changes how they see the problem. In both sessions, the client reaches the key insight on their own. The Partnership Assessor calls this borderline. Twice, you follow a strong question straight away with a second, easier one, and the client answers the easier one.
What does it cost you to stay quiet about it?
00:35:20 · you · Session one
If the company no longer needs you, what do you need?
00:26:10 · you · Session two
The stronger move
Ask your best question, then stop. The question at 26:10 in session two is a strong one. Do not add a second question after it. Give the client time with the first.
8. Facilitates Client Growth
Meets MCC requirementsPartnership Outcomes Markers Mentor Mastery Gary Malcolm
Both clients choose their own next step. In session one, the client decides who they need to talk to, and when. You do not add to it. Then you check what they are leaving with against what they wanted at the start. In session two, the founder decides what he will tell his board, and when. Four assessors pass this clearly. The Partnership Assessor marks it below the standard, because you do not ask either client how they will make sure they follow through.
I need to have that conversation before the board papers go out. Not after.
00:38:45 · your client · Session one
I will tell the board on Thursday. All of it, not the tidy version.
00:41:30 · your client · Session two
The stronger move
After the client names their action, ask one more question: "How will you make sure you do it, and who will you tell?" It takes 30 seconds, and it answers the one concern the strictest assessor raised.
Strengths of this session
Agreements that change when the session changes
At 03:55 in session one, you agree clearly with the client on what they want, how they will know they have it, and why it matters. At 27:40, the session has moved somewhere new. You stop and agree a new direction with the client. It shows the assessor that the client's agenda leads the session.
Clients find their own insight
The key moment in each session belongs to the client. You ask the question at 35:20 in session one, and the one at 26:10 in session two, only once. Each client answers with something they had not said before. You do not explain or sum up their insight for them. Four of the five assessors give you credit for this.
Comfortable with silence
At 33:02 in session one, you stay silent for nine seconds. The client uses that time to ask the question the whole session was building towards. It is the most useful moment in the recording, and it happens because you wait. Many coaches find this hard. Keep doing it.
Endings that link back to the agreement
At 41:10 in session one, you close by checking what the client is leaving with against what they wanted at the start. This shows the assessor that the agreement was met. It also gives the recording a clear beginning and end.
Recommended areas to be developed
Let clients finish their own sentences
This happens a few times across the two recordings, and twice it changes the direction of the session. It is the only reason Maintains Presence and Listens Actively are borderline. It is also why the Partnership Assessor would not pass the submission. It is a habit, so it changes quickly once you notice it. When you feel the urge to finish a client's sentence, wait instead.
Follow up on side comments
In both sessions, the most important moment started as a small side comment. You noticed one and missed the other. Try listening for these comments as closely as you listen to the main topic. The founder's remark at 09:15 in session two is a good example to practise on.
Ask how the client will follow through
Both clients leave with a clear action they chose themselves. In neither session do you ask how they will make sure it happens. The strictest MCC assessors want the client to own the follow-through as well as the decision. One question at the end of the session would fix this.
Let a strong question stand on its own
Your best questions are very good. Twice, you follow one straight away with a second, softer question. That gives the client an easy way out. Ask the first question, then wait for the answer.
What to do next
- Listen again to 16:30 in session one. Write down what you would do differently now.
- In your next three sessions, wait at least three seconds after every pause before you speak. Notice what your clients do with that time.
- Keep a note of the side comments your clients make. Follow up at least one in every session.
- End each session with one question about how the client will follow through on their action.
- When you ask your strongest question, stop, and wait for the answer.
- Submit these recordings. The panel and the reviewing MCC both judge that they meet the MCC standard.
Submission requirements
- Both recordings are between 20 and 60 minutes long, as the ICF requires.
- The transcripts are word for word, show who is speaking, and have a timestamp at every change of speaker.
- Both sessions are in English, so no translation is needed.
What only you can confirm to the ICF
- That each recording is one continuous take with no edits. We found nothing to suggest otherwise, but only you can confirm it.
- That each client has given written consent for their recording to be used in your ICF application.
Gary Malcolm
Master Certified Coach (ICF). He has read and reviewed this report himself.
This review compares your recording with the published ICF standards. ICF assessors are people, and their experience and judgement can change a result, so no review can guarantee an outcome. If we advise Submit and the ICF finds that same recording below the standard, your next review is free.
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