PCC MCC ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST - BEFORE, DURING & AFTER

Here is a complete PCC and MCC assessment checklist — everything you need before, during, and after your recording.

PCC & MCC Assessment Recording Checklist

PART ONE: BEFORE THE SESSION

SECTION A — SELECTING THE RIGHT CLIENT & SESSION

Choosing the Right Client

• The client is an actual coaching client — not a peer, colleague, friend, or practice partner playing a role

• The client has given informed written consent for the session to be recorded and submitted for assessment

• The client is emotionally stable and the session is unlikely to move into crisis or clinical territory

• The relationship has enough trust established for the client to go deep — not a first session unless you're very confident

• The client brings real, live issues — not hypothetical or intellectual topics

• The client is comfortable with silence, depth, and being challenged

• The client's topic has enough complexity and personal significance to allow a full coaching arc

• You have coached this client before and know how they work — their patterns, their language, their depth

• The client is not someone who will stay very surface — assessors need to hear real exploration

• You feel genuinely curious about this client and their situation — not managed or bored

Choosing the Right Session

• You are not choosing this session because the topic is interesting to you — you are choosing it because the coaching is strong

• The session is between 45 and 60 minutes — check your credential level requirements precisely

• The session is complete — it has a clear arc from contracting through to close

• The session has not been heavily edited or spliced — assessors can detect artificial breaks

• The audio quality is clear — both voices are audible throughout with no significant distortion

• There are no long unexplained silences caused by technical failure rather than coaching

• The session demonstrates your range — not just one or two competencies but all eight

• If you have multiple recordings, choose the one where the client did the deepest work — not the one where you felt most comfortable

• The session shows the client moving — arriving somewhere different than where they started

• You can listen to this session without cringing — it represents your genuine coaching at its current best

SECTION B — PREPARING YOURSELF

Inner Preparation

• You have reviewed the ICF core competencies recently and can hold them lightly — not as a checklist but as an internalized framework

• You understand the difference between PCC and MCC behavioral markers at the level you're submitting

• You have reviewed your previous assessment feedback if applicable and know your specific development areas

• You have done recent supervision on your coaching — you know your current patterns and blind spots

• You have been coached recently — you are in relationship with the experience of being a client

• You have listened to at least one of your own recordings in the past month with critical ears

• You have peer-reviewed at least one session with a colleague or supervisor specifically focused on assessment criteria

• You know which competencies you are strongest in and which you most need to demonstrate

• You have released the need for the session to be perfect — you are aiming for genuine, not flawless

• You trust your coaching enough to let it be recorded without trying to perform

Practical Preparation

• Your recording equipment is tested and working — audio is clear on both ends

• You know how to start and stop the recording without disrupting the session

• You have a quiet space with no interruptions for the duration of the session

• You have informed the client about the recording in advance — not sprung it on them at the start

• You have the consent form signed and stored

• You know the technical submission requirements — file format, file size, naming conventions

• You know the deadline for submission and have built in time for technical issues

• You have the written recording information form ready to complete after the session

• Your phone is on silent and all notifications are off

• You have done whatever you need to do to arrive present — walked, breathed, meditated, eaten

State Preparation — The Hour Before

• You have set aside the previous activity and created a transition into the coaching space

• You have reviewed the client's name, their current focus, and the previous session briefly — not to plan, but to hold them

• You have released any agenda for where this session should go

• You have released the need for this to be your best session ever — that need will make it worse

• You have checked your own emotional state — if something is activated in you, you have named it and set it aside

• You have grounded yourself physically — feet on the floor, breath full, body relaxed

• You have set a single intention — to be fully present and entirely in service of this person

• You have released the assessment from your awareness — for the duration of this session you are not being assessed, you are coaching

• You feel ready — not perfect, not certain, but ready

• You trust yourself

SECTION C — CONTRACTING WITH THE CLIENT ABOUT THE RECORDING

• You have explained clearly what the recording will be used for — ICF credentialing assessment

• You have explained who will hear it — assessors only, under confidentiality

• You have explained what will happen to it after assessment — how it will be stored or deleted

• You have confirmed the client's consent is genuine and not given under any pressure

• You have given the client the opportunity to ask questions about the recording process

• You have confirmed the client can withdraw consent at any time before submission

• You have a signed consent document that meets ICF requirements

• You have agreed with the client how you will begin the recording — naturally, without a formal announcement that disrupts the session

• The client understands that the session is a real coaching session — not a demonstration

• You have checked that the client is comfortable and ready to proceed

PART TWO: DURING THE SESSION

SECTION D — CONTRACTING PHASE CHECKLIST

• You open with a question that invites the client to set the agenda — not you

• The opening question is clean, open, and one question only

• You establish what the client wants from this specific conversation — not the overall engagement

• You explore the significance of the topic — what's at stake personally, not just professionally

• You establish what success looks like for this session — what does the client want to leave with

• You confirm the contract in the client's language — not your summary of it

• You check that you've understood what they're bringing — "is that the heart of it?"

• You do not suggest topics, angles, or directions — the client holds all of that

• The contract is specific enough to anchor the session and flexible enough for the real topic to emerge

• You leave the contracting phase only when the client has a genuine and meaningful outcome articulated

PCC standard: Contract is clear, client-led, and outcome-focused. 

MCC standard: Contract is alive — you are already sensing the depth beneath the surface and the contract reflects both the presenting intention and the potential for more.

SECTION E — EXPLORATION PHASE CHECKLIST

• You follow the client's energy — not the logical structure of their story

• You use the client's exact language in reflections — not your paraphrase

• You ask one question at a time — always

• You hold silence after questions — you do not fill the pause

• You notice emotional shifts and name them — "something changed in you just then"

• You explore beneath the first answer — "what else?" "what more?" "what's underneath that?"

• You notice what the client is not saying and name it carefully

• You track patterns across the session — recurring words, themes, energy

• You explore the client's relationship to the situation — not just the situation itself

• You notice somatic language and work with it — "you said you can't stomach it — where do you feel that?"

• You do not give information, advice, or suggestions — even subtle ones

• You do not share your own experience or stories

• You do not teach, explain, or educate

• You stay genuinely curious — not performing curiosity

• You explore at least two of the following — emotion, belief, identity, values, pattern, body

PCC standard: Exploration is thorough, client-led, and covers multiple dimensions of the client's experience. 

MCC standard: Exploration goes to the level that matters — beneath the situation to the belief, beneath the belief to the identity, beneath the identity to the pattern. The client is somewhere unexpected within the first fifteen minutes.

SECTION F — AWARENESS PHASE CHECKLIST

• You do not hand the client the insight — you create the conditions for it to arrive

• When awareness begins to emerge you slow down — not speed up

• You name what you're observing with care — "I notice..." "I'm sensing..." "I want to name something"

• You check your observations with the client — "does that land?" "is that anywhere near true?"

• You ask about the significance of insights — "what does that mean to you?" not just "what will you do with that?"

• You stay with awareness when it arrives — you don't move to action prematurely

• You invite the client to deepen insight — "what's the insight beneath the insight?"

• You work at the level of belief — "what are you assuming that makes this feel true?"

• You work at the level of identity — "who are you being when you approach it this way?"

• You work at the level of pattern — "where else does this show up for you?"

• You evoke somatic awareness — "where do you feel that in your body?"

• You invite future-self perspective — "what would your wisest self say about this?"

• You name contradictions with care — "you said X and also Y — what's in that tension?"

• You ask the question the client most needs — not the most interesting question

• Awareness in the session is felt — visible in the client's voice, pace, silence

PCC standard: Awareness is skillfully evoked through precise questioning and reflection. The client arrives somewhere they couldn't have reached alone. 

MCC standard: Awareness dawns — the client has a genuine shift that is visible and felt. The session goes somewhere neither person planned. The client says something they have never said before.

SECTION G — EMOTION CHECKLIST

• You acknowledge every significant emotional shift — none pass unnoticed

• You name emotion directly and humanly — not clinically or at a distance

• You stay with emotion — you do not pivot to a cognitive question immediately after naming it

• You hold silence when the client is in emotion — you do not rush to fill it

• You explore what the emotion is carrying — "what's that feeling about?"

• You go beneath the surface emotion — "what's underneath the frustration?"

• You ask about the body when emotion is present — "where do you feel that?"

• You do not fix, resolve, or reframe emotion before it has been fully felt

• You do not normalise emotion to close it down — "that's completely understandable" shuts doors

• You do not rescue the client from difficult emotion

• You stay completely present when the client cries, rages, or goes silent

• You use your own emotional reactions as data — naming them carefully when useful

• You know the difference between working with emotion and entering therapeutic territory

• The session includes emotional as well as cognitive content throughout

• The client feels met in their emotional experience — not managed

PCC standard: Emotion is consistently acknowledged, followed, and explored. The session honors the whole person. 

MCC standard: Emotion is the coaching. The coach goes toward the most difficult feelings with care and steadiness. The client feels genuinely witnessed — perhaps for the first time in this territory.

SECTION H — LISTENING CHECKLIST

• You are not planning your next question while the client speaks

• Your reflections use the client's exact language

• You catch the most important thing the client says — not just the most obvious

• You notice what the client almost said and name it gently

• You track patterns across the whole session

• You hold silence after significant statements

• You notice shifts in the client's energy, tone, and pace

• You notice somatic cues in the client's language

• You listen at multiple levels simultaneously — content, emotion, belief, identity, pattern

• Your questions arise from what the client just said — not from a prepared structure

• You notice when the client deflects and name it — "you moved away from something just then"

• You notice repetition — "this is the third time you've returned to this"

• You listen to what the client's energy is doing — not just their words

• You use your own inner experience as a listening instrument

• The client feels heard in a way they rarely experience

SECTION I — QUESTIONING CHECKLIST

• Every question is open — not yes/no, not multiple choice

• Every question is one question — not stacked

• Every question arises from what the client just said

• Questions are short — one clause, one focus, under fifteen words where possible

• You do not ask "why" questions about emotion or behavior

• You do not lead with your preferred answer inside the question

• You do not answer your own question when the client pauses

• You do not ask for information you don't need — no data-gathering for its own sake

• You range across cognitive, emotional, somatic, identity, values, and pattern levels

• You ask "what else?" regularly — not accepting the first answer as complete

• Your questions feel inevitable — they could only have been asked at this moment

• Your questions embed empowering assumptions — "what do you already know about this?"

• You hold silence after every question

• You follow the client's energy in your questioning — not your own curiosity

• The client's answers surprise you — because your questions opened real space

SECTION J — PRESENCE CHECKLIST

• You are not thinking about the assessment while coaching

• You are not following a plan or structure — you are following the client

• You are not performing coaching — you are doing it

• You are affected by what the client shares — genuinely moved

• You hold silence with ease — it does not make you anxious

• You release the session when it goes somewhere unexpected — with curiosity not anxiety

• Your own reactions in the session are noticed and used wisely

• Your presence is consistent throughout — not present at the start and distracted by the middle

• The client forgets they are being recorded — because the session feels completely real

• You forget you are being recorded — because you are completely with the client

SECTION K — ACTION AND COMMITMENT PHASE CHECKLIST

• You do not move to action before genuine insight has arrived

• You invite action with an open question — "what do you want to do with what you've discovered?"

• The client generates their own actions — you do not suggest, propose, or hint

• You explore the quality of the client's commitment — not just what they'll do but how much they mean it

• You notice low-energy commitments and name them — "that sounds like a should — what do you actually want?"

• You explore obstacles before the commitment is finalised

• You explore support — what the client needs and how they'll get it

• Actions are connected to the insight from the session — not generic next steps

• You do not impose accountability structures — they emerge from the client

• Action is specific enough to be real and personal enough to be sustainable

SECTION L — CLOSING AND LEARNING PHASE CHECKLIST

• You protect time for the close — at least ten minutes

• You invite the client to name their own takeaways — you do not summarise for them

• You close with a question that honors the whole session — "what are you leaving with?"

• You invite identity-level reflection — "what shifted in you today?"

• You connect the close back to the contract — "we said you wanted X — what did you actually get?"

• You invite transferable learning — "what does this tell you beyond this situation?"

• You invite the client to name their own growth — "what are you most proud of in how you showed up?"

• You close at the level of being as well as doing

• The client does the majority of the talking in the closing phase

• The session ends with the client's voice — their words, their learning, their commitment

PART THREE: AFTER THE SESSION

SECTION M — IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SESSION

Technical

• Stop the recording correctly — confirm the file has saved

• Check the audio quality immediately — both voices clear, no significant gaps

• Save a backup copy of the recording in a second location

• Name the file correctly according to ICF submission requirements

• Note the exact duration of the recording — confirm it meets requirements

• Complete the written recording information form while the session is fresh

• Store the consent form with the recording file

Self-Reflection — Before Listening Back

• Note your immediate sense of the session — what felt strong, what felt uncertain

• Note the moments you felt most present and most distracted

• Note the moments where you felt the urge to advise, fix, or lead — and whether you acted on it

• Note where the client seemed to go deepest — what preceded it

• Note what you would do differently

• Note what you are genuinely proud of

• Avoid judging the session before you've listened back — your immediate impression is often wrong in both directions

SECTION N — LISTENING BACK TO THE RECORDING

First Listen — Full Session Without Pausing

• Listen as if you are the assessor — not as the coach defending their choices

• Notice your overall impression — does this session demonstrate all eight competencies?

• Notice whether the client did the work or the coach did the work

• Notice the ratio of coach talking to client talking — the client should be talking significantly more

• Notice whether the session has a clear arc — contracting, exploring, awareness, action, learning

• Notice where the energy peaks — where the real coaching happened

• Notice where the energy drops — where the coaching lost its way

• Notice your emotional response to the session — pride, cringe, uncertainty — all are data

Second Listen — Competency by Competency

Use this pass to evaluate each ICF competency specifically.

Competency 1 — Demonstrates Ethical Practice

• Confidentiality and consent handled appropriately

• No dual relationships visible in the session

• Coach maintains appropriate boundaries throughout

• Client's agenda is honored — no hidden coach agenda present

Competency 2 — Embodies a Coaching Mindset

• Client is held as resourceful and whole throughout

• Coach demonstrates genuine curiosity — not performed curiosity

• Coach is open to not knowing — no agenda for where the session goes

• Coach's presence is consistent — not demonstrating coaching but doing it

Competency 3 — Establishes and Maintains Agreements

• Clear outcome established at the start — not just a topic

• Significance of the topic surfaced

• Contract revisited when the session direction shifts

• Close connects back to the original contract

Competency 4 — Cultivates Trust and Safety

• Client takes real risks in the session — shares something significant

• Client's language is honored — not upgraded or changed

• Emotion is welcomed and held safely

• The coaching space feels genuinely safe — visible in the client's willingness to go deep

Competency 5 — Maintains Presence

• Coach is following the client — not a plan

• Questions arise from listening — not from preparation

• Silence is held throughout — not filled

• The coach is genuinely affected by what the client shares

Competency 6 — Listens Actively

• Client's exact language is used in reflections

• The most important thing the client says is caught and followed

• Patterns across the session are tracked and named

• Emotional content is heard as clearly as cognitive content

Competency 7 — Evokes Awareness

• Questions go beyond the situational to the emotional, belief, and identity levels

• Awareness arrives — the client discovers something rather than being told something

• Direct communication is used — observations named with care

• The client says something in the session they have never said before

Competency 8 — Facilitates Client Growth

• Action is client-generated and connected to insight

• Obstacles and support are explored

• The client names their own learning in the close

• The client leaves different — not just informed

SECTION O — DECIDING WHETHER TO SUBMIT

Submit this recording if:

• All eight competencies are present and consistent throughout

• The client did the real work — the coach made it possible

• The session has a clear arc from contracting to close

• There is genuine awareness in the session — not just cognitive exploration

• Emotion is present, honored, and worked with

• Questions are consistently open, clean, and client-led

• The ratio of client talking to coach talking is strongly in the client's favor

• You can hear the client arriving somewhere they couldn't have reached alone

• The session represents your genuine coaching — not a performance of coaching

• You would be comfortable having any assessor listen to this session

Do not submit this recording if:

• There is no clear contract or the contract is coach-led

• The coach talks more than the client across the session

• Advice is given — even subtly — at any point

• Emotion is consistently avoided or pivoted away from

• Questions are frequently stacked, leading, or generic

• The client does not appear to move — they end where they began

• The coach is visibly following a model or framework

• The recording quality makes it difficult to hear both parties clearly

• The session was a demonstration rather than a real coaching conversation

• Something significant goes wrong that you cannot explain or justify in the written form

SECTION P — COMPLETING THE WRITTEN RECORDING INFORMATION FORM

The written form is your opportunity to show the assessor that you understand what happened in the session — that you have self-awareness and reflective capacity. It is not the place to defend or justify — it is the place to be honest and insightful.

• Describe what the client wanted from the session in the client's words — not your summary

• Describe what actually happened in the session honestly — including what didn't go as planned

• Name the moments you felt most present and most effective — and why

• Name the moments you felt least effective — and what you understand about them now

• Identify which competencies you believe are most strongly demonstrated

• Identify which competencies you would develop further based on this session

• Be specific — assessors read many forms and generic reflections are visible immediately

• Do not over-explain or over-justify — confident, concise reflection reads better than defensive elaboration

• Write as someone who knows their coaching has value and is also committed to ongoing development

• Read the form back as if you are the assessor — does this coach know what they're doing and why?

SECTION Q — FINAL SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

• Recording file is the correct format — check ICF technical requirements

• Recording file is the correct duration — check your credential level requirements

• File is correctly named according to submission requirements

• Audio quality is clear on both sides throughout

• Written information form is complete, honest, and specific

• Consent form is signed and stored

• Submission is within the deadline

• You have kept a copy of everything submitted

• You have noted your submission date and reference number

• You have released the outcome — you have done what you can do, the rest is not in your hands

SECTION R — AFTER SUBMISSION — REGARDLESS OF OUTCOME

If you pass:

• Celebrate genuinely — this represents real development, not just a bureaucratic achievement

• Re-listen to the recording with fresh ears — notice what you can now see that you couldn't before

• Continue supervision — credentialing is the beginning of mastery, not the end

• Hold your credential lightly — the best coaches are still students of the work

• Pass forward — mentor, support, and develop other coaches

• Recommit to your own coaching — being coached, peer practice, ongoing learning

• Notice what the assessment process revealed about your coaching that you want to develop further

• Update your professional development plan with what comes next

• Let the credential settle — then keep growing beyond it

• Remember that PCC and MCC are not destinations — they are waypoints on a lifelong journey

If you do not pass:

• Read the feedback carefully and fully before reacting — sit with it

• Get support — supervisor, mentor coach, or peer — to process and understand the feedback

• Do not collapse into self-criticism — a failed submission is information, not a verdict on your value

• Identify the two or three most important development areas the feedback names

• Make a specific development plan — not a vague intention to do better

• Get more recorded practice — with feedback — specifically targeting your development areas

• Consider working with a mentor coach who has experience preparing coaches for ICF assessment

• Give yourself time — rushing back to submission without genuine development produces the same result

• Trust that the coaches who grow most from this process are often the ones who didn't pass first time

• Remember why you became a coach — and let that be what drives the development, not the credential

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING ON THIS ENTIRE CHECKLIST

Before, during, and after — the single most important thing is this:

Coach the client in front of you.

Not the assessor listening later. Not the version of yourself you want to be seen as. Not the competency framework. Not the credential.

The client in front of you, in this moment, with what they brought today.

Everything else on this checklist is in service of that one thing. The preparation, the reflection, the submission, the form — all of it exists to support one human being sitting down with another and doing the most honest, present, courageous, and caring work they are capable of.

Do that — genuinely, cleanly, and completely — and the assessment will take care of itself.