It's a group mentor coaching call, seven coaches on Zoom from seven corners of Dubai, and tonight it's Sunita's recording on the shared screen.
The mentor lets it run for a while. Then her client's voice says, almost in passing, "I don't think I've ever chosen anything for myself." There's a pause of maybe a second. Then Sunita's own voice, bright and helpful: "That's really interesting. So what would be a good first step this week?"
The mentor stops the recording and asks the group one question. "What did you hear?"
Nobody answers for a moment. Then someone says, kindly, "She said something huge, and we moved on."
Sunita feels her face go warm. She was there. She was listening. And she walked straight past the one sentence the whole session was sitting in, toward an action plan.
That's mentor coaching doing its job. Not telling her she's a bad coach. Showing her, in her own voice, a moment she couldn't see from inside it.
What is ICF mentor coaching?
ICF mentor coaching is ten hours of coaching and feedback, based on your own observed sessions, that develops your coaching against the ICF Core Competencies. It's required for the ACC, PCC and MCC credentials. The hours run over at least three months, and at least three must be one to one.
All ICF details in this guide come from coachingfederation.org, checked on 3 and 4 October 2026. ICF updates its requirements from time to time, so check the source before you apply.
What exactly does ICF require?
ICF's mentor coaching page (checked on 4 October 2026) describes it as "a collaborative process where coaches receive feedback based on observed sessions to refine their skills and style in alignment with the ICF Core Competencies."
Here's what that means in practice.
Ten hours. That's the minimum for an ACC, PCC or MCC application.
Over at least three months. You can't do it in a long weekend. ICF says the hours must occur over a three-month period or longer, so there's time to apply feedback and bring the next recording.
Three hours one to one. Of the ten hours, three must be individual. The other seven can be individual or in a group, and only groups of ten or fewer count.
Who can mentor you. Today, for an ACC application, your mentor needs a valid ACC, PCC or MCC credential, and an ACC holder must have completed at least one full credential cycle, with renewal, before mentoring. For a PCC application, your mentor needs a PCC or MCC. For an MCC, an MCC.
On the Level 1 and Level 2 paths, it's part of your programme. ICF says candidates on these paths have completed mentor coaching as part of their coach education programme. On other paths, you arrange it yourself.
Mentor coaching often gets confused with coaching supervision. They do different jobs, and we've set out the difference in coaching supervision vs mentor coaching. If you're working through the rest of the credential too, our guide to ICF ACC requirements has the full checklist.
If you'd like someone to look at where your own hours and credential plans stand, Sara, our veteran RS Method Master Coach, offers a free conversation on Zoom. You can book it through our apply page. Or read on.
What changes in 2027?
Two dates matter.
From 1 January 2027, new mentor coaching hours must be with a mentor coach who holds ICF's Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS). It's a specialization mentor coaches earn from ICF. On ICF's standard path, a mentor coach earns it through at least 41 hours of mentor coaching education aligned to ICF's Mentor Coaching Competencies. So from that date, a valid credential on its own is no longer enough to mentor you.
From 1 April 2027, on the Portfolio path, the performance evaluation is replaced by an enhanced mentor coaching requirement. By the same date, ICF's announcement says accredited programmes "must transition away from the Performance Evaluation requirement and adopt the MCS mentor coaching requirement". For candidates on the Level 1 and Level 2 paths, ICF says they "won't need to do anything differently".
What doesn't change: the ten hours, the three months and the three individual hours.
If you're choosing a programme now and your mentor coaching will run into 2027, ask the provider plainly how its mentor coaching will meet the MCS rule. A good provider will have a clear answer.
What does good mentor coaching actually catch?
The things you can't hear while you're coaching.
Sunita's moment is typical. In our experience, the same few moments show up in recording after recording. A coach asks three questions in a row without waiting for the first answer. A coach hears something tender and steers toward action. A coach fills a silence the client was about to use. A coach agrees with the client's story instead of getting curious about it.
A good mentor hears those moments, names them against the competencies, and helps you hear them yourself. That's real value, and it's why ICF requires it.
But notice what keeps happening. The same move turns up in the second recording, and the third. That's because feedback tells you what you did. It can't always reach why you did it.
Sunita didn't walk past her client's sentence because she lacked a skill. She walked past it because something in her flinched. Somewhere back there she learned that when someone shows you something painful, you help them fix it, fast. That rule is a thought fused to a charge, a memory with weight on it, and the charge fires faster than any feedback she's been given. A technique is only as good as the nervous system running it.
This is why RSCI is built on the Inner Work First Principle: the practitioner is transformed before the practitioner is trained. You do your own work first, inside the cohort, under supervision. When the charge under a habit comes off, the mentor's feedback finally has somewhere to land, and the same moment stops repeating.
If you've heard yourself in Sunita's recording, start with a free conversation with Sara. She'll tell you plainly whether we're the right fit. You can book it here.
How do I get the most from my mentor coaching hours?
Treat every recording as your teacher. Before each mentor session, work through these steps.
- Get your client's written consent to record. Tell them who will hear the recording and why. Never record without it.
- Record an ordinary session, not a showcase. The session you'd rather nobody heard is usually the one that teaches you most.
- Listen back within two days. Use a transcript if you can, so you can see the exact words.
- Mark three moments. One where you led, one where you rushed, and one where you went quiet or wanted to.
- Check each moment against the competencies. For example, "Maintains Presence" includes managing your own emotions and allowing space for silence. Ask which competency the moment touches.
- Bring one question about yourself, not the client. "Why do I speed up when clients talk about family?" is worth more than "What should I have asked?"
- Choose one change, and listen for it next time. Just one. Check the next recording for it before anything else.
Keep these notes beside your coaching log. Over ten hours, they'll show you the pattern underneath your patterns.
What should mentor coaching inside a training give you?
Ticking ICF's box is the minimum. Before you choose a programme, look for three things.
- The ICF requirements handled cleanly. Mentor coaching built into the programme, the accreditation stated accurately, and nobody implying they award the credential themselves.
- Feedback on your real sessions. Observed coaching with real clients, reviewed against the Core Competencies, as ICF describes it.
- Your own inner work alongside it. So that what your mentor catches can actually change, instead of turning up again in the next recording.
That's how we've built RSCI. RS Method Coach, at AED 18,000, includes ICF Level 1 education. RS Method Complete, at AED 35,000, includes ICF Level 2 education. Both prices include the mentor coaching, assessment and credential preparation components. The coach-specific education runs online at your own pace, and the live practitioner training happens in Dubai. The ICF-accredited education inside our programmes is designed, delivered and certified by the International Institute of Coaching & Mentoring (IICM), an ICF-accredited organisation. The ACC and PCC credentials are awarded only by the ICF. You can see how the two compare in ICF Level 1 vs Level 2, and read more on our accreditation page.
Our students' passing rate on the ICF ACC exam so far is 100%. That's a fact of record, not a promise.
A recording shows what a coach did. It can't show how deep the work underneath can go. In Tanja Volic's words: "Thank you, I healed my fibromyalgia." A mentor coach can't hand you that depth. Your own work does. Tanja reported that about her own life; it isn't a promise to anyone reading this, and anyone with a long-term condition should stay in the care of their doctor.
To see whether either programme fits you, have a free conversation with Sara. Book it through our apply page. You can see both programmes, and what each includes, on our life coach training page.
Robert Simic, training the next generation.
P.S. Somewhere in your next recording there's a sentence you'll walk past. If you'd like a training where you find it, and also find what's underneath it, start with a conversation. Book your free conversation with Sara.