Coaching Fundamentals Practice Exam

Question 1 Coaching Fundamentals

What is self-awareness in coaching?

First-person: "I notice I feel defensive." Third-person: "That client felt defensive." Some coaches invite the client to describe themselves in the third person to gain perspective. Moving between abstract, big-picture language and concrete, sensory detail. Coaches help clients "chunk down" to specifics when abstract talk becomes foggy. Self-awareness is the client's clearer understanding of their patterns, emotions, assumptions, and choices. A complaint is what you don't want; a commitment is what you do want, owned and time-bounded. Coaching converts complaints into commitments.

Question 2 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "level 3 listening" in Otto Scharmer's framework?

Listening from the emerging future — listening to what wants to happen, not only what is already there. Requires the coach to suspend old habits and judgments. A question that asks two things at once (e.g., "What do you want and why?"). Coaches split it so the client can answer one part at a time. A question that explores relationships and patterns between people or parts of a system, e.g., "When your manager behaves that way, what does your team then do?" Rolling with resistance acknowledges and reflects the client's ambivalence; pushing creates confrontation. Coaches usually prefer the former because it preserves autonomy and trust.

Question 3 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "establishing the foundation" in ICF terms?

A perceptual position in which the client steps out of the situation and views it — and themselves — from a detached vantage point, often used to soften strong emotions. Demonstrating ethical practice, defining the coaching agreement, and partnering with the client and stakeholders on expectations. Single-loop: correcting an action to fix a problem. Double-loop: questioning the assumptions and mental models that produced the action. Coaching aims for double-loop change. A technique in which the coach briefly reviews what the client has said, often verbatim, to make sure they have been heard accurately and to anchor the next question.

Question 4 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the ICF Code of Ethics built around?

Professional conduct, conflicts of interest, professional development, and — most centrally — confidentiality and respect for client autonomy and dignity. Executive coaching is tied to a specific role and business outcomes. Leadership coaching focuses on the person's overall leadership capacity, identity, and presence, often beyond a single role. "What" questions (What happened? What matters most?) promote forward-focused thinking. "Why" questions can trigger defensiveness or rumination. Developmental coaching assumes the client is whole and focuses on growth. Remedial coaching focuses on fixing a specific gap or performance issue. The stance shapes the questions asked.

Question 5 Coaching Fundamentals

What is transactional analysis (TA) and how is it used in coaching?

A question that embeds the answer the questioner wants. Coaches avoid it because it shifts ownership from the client to the coach. The unspoken expectations of coachee, sponsor, and organisation. Misalignment here is a common cause of coaching engagements failing to land. TA is a psychological framework that describes ego states (Parent, Adult, Child) and patterns of interaction. Coaches use it to help clients recognize unhelpful communication patterns. Reflecting the felt sense of what the client said — naming the emotion, energy, or value beneath the words — to deepen the client's contact with their own experience.

Question 6 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "awareness–responsibility" axis in coaching?

Whitmore's view that the value of coaching is the product of how aware the client becomes and how much responsibility they take. Insight without action is incomplete. A structured coaching framework: Goal (what you want to achieve), Reality (current situation), Options (possible approaches), Will/Way Forward (specific actions to take). Feedback given by repeating the client's words exactly (often with a flag such as "and is there anything else about …?") to add a small, low-contamination reflection. Positive psychology studies well-being, strengths, and flourishing. It informs coaching by focusing on developing strengths and building engagement rather than only fixing deficits.

Question 7 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the difference between a problem-focused and a solution-focused coaching approach?

Problem-focused coaching explores causes and history; solution-focused coaching directs energy toward what the desired future looks like and how to get there. A process of helping the client name what matters most to them at a principles level, then auditing current choices against those values to reveal where action is misaligned. Rolling with resistance acknowledges and reflects the client's ambivalence; pushing creates confrontation. Coaches usually prefer the former because it preserves autonomy and trust. A set of conditions — attention, ease, equality, appreciation, encouragement, feelings, information, diversity, incisive questions — that produce independent thinking.

Question 8 Coaching Fundamentals

What is a "circular question" in coaching?

Structured input from a client's manager, peers, reports, and others, often anonymised, that surfaces blind spots and becomes raw material for coaching conversations. A question that explores relationships and patterns between people or parts of a system, e.g., "When your manager behaves that way, what does your team then do?" Listening from the emerging future — listening to what wants to happen, not only what is already there. Requires the coach to suspend old habits and judgments. The first session(s) where coach and client agree the focus, ground rules, logistics, confidentiality, and what success will look like at the end of the engagement.

Question 9 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "logotherapy" lens in coaching?

A set of questions designed to recover deleted, distorted, or generalised information in a client's language — e.g., "What specifically?", "According to whom?", "How do you know?" A technique in which the coach briefly reviews what the client has said, often verbatim, to make sure they have been heard accurately and to anchor the next question. Frankl's view that humans are driven by a search for meaning. Coaches working in this lens help clients surface meaning even in suffering or setback. Rolling with resistance acknowledges and reflects the client's ambivalence; pushing creates confrontation. Coaches usually prefer the former because it preserves autonomy and trust.

Question 10 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "levels of evaluation" for coaching impact (Kirkpatrick-style)?

The coachee imagines themselves one step closer to their goal and describes what is different — perspective, environment, behaviours, feelings — to surface new actions. A collaborative, conversation-based process that helps individuals identify goals, overcome obstacles, and unlock their potential through guided questioning and reflection. Reaction (how the coachee felt), learning (what they learned), behaviour (what they did differently), and results (organisational outcomes such as engagement, retention, or performance). A model in which behaviour sits above the surface and patterns, structures, mental models, and beliefs sit below — coaching often works at the deeper levels.

Question 11 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "triple-loop" learning?

A technique in which the coach briefly reviews what the client has said, often verbatim, to make sure they have been heard accurately and to anchor the next question. Reframing is helping the client see a situation through a different, often more useful perspective. Examining how the learner learns — reflecting on the reflective process itself, and on the conditions that make reflection possible. A questioning technique that uses the client's own exact words and metaphors to explore their experience without introducing the coach's own language or assumptions.

Question 12 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the difference between ICF, EMCC, and AC?

Development coaching grows long-term capability and self-awareness; performance coaching targets specific near-term results in a current role. Executive coaching is tied to a specific role and business outcomes. Leadership coaching focuses on the person's overall leadership capacity, identity, and presence, often beyond a single role. ICF (International Coaching Federation), EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council), and AC (Association for Coaching) are the three largest global professional coaching bodies, each with its own accreditation framework. Teaching delivers content and evaluates the learner against a known standard. Coaching facilitates the coachee's own thinking; the answers belong to the client.

Question 13 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "rupture repair"?

A coach's process of noticing strain, naming it non-defensively, exploring it with the client, and restoring the working relationship. A perceptual position in which the client steps out of the situation and views it — and themselves — from a detached vantage point, often used to soften strong emotions. A limiting belief is an assumption about oneself or the world that restricts action or possibility. Demonstrating ethical practice, defining the coaching agreement, and partnering with the client and stakeholders on expectations.

Question 14 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "exception question" in solution-focused coaching?

Silence gives clients space to think, feel, and notice insights they might otherwise rush past. A coaching distinction between the things the client can directly control (their actions, attention, words) and the things they can only influence (others' behaviour, outcomes). Coaching aims energy at the controllable circle. Primary emotions are the initial felt response to a trigger; secondary emotions are reactions to the primary emotion (e.g., shame about feeling fear). Coaching often surfaces the primary layer. "When has the problem not been present, or has been less severe? What was different then?" It reveals existing resources and successful patterns.

Question 15 Coaching Fundamentals

What is a "metaphor" in clean language coaching?

A moment when the coaching relationship strains — the client withdraws, resists, or challenges. Ruptures, when repaired, often deepen the work. ICF requires a minimum number of mentor-coaching hours with a qualified mentor coach for credentialing at ACC, PCC, and MCC levels. The RAS filters sensory input and primes us to notice what we focus on. Goal-setting in coaching works partly by directing the RAS to notice relevant opportunities. A symbol or image the client uses to describe inner experience (e.g., "a dark cloud"). The coach explores the metaphor with clean questions rather than interpreting it.

Question 16 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the difference between coaching and therapy?

A set of questions designed to recover deleted, distorted, or generalised information in a client's language — e.g., "What specifically?", "According to whom?", "How do you know?" A Topic/Theme stage at the start: the coach and client agree the broad area of focus before narrowing into a specific Goal, giving the session a clear anchor. Listening not only to words but to tone, pace, body, emotion, and what is unsaid — and reflecting back what is heard without adding the coach's own material. Therapy often addresses clinical issues, diagnoses, and healing the past. Coaching is typically forward-focused on goals, performance, and development for non-clinical populations.

Question 17 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "stakeholder triangle" in workplace coaching?

An action commitment is the specific next step the client chooses to take after the session. Structured input from a client's manager, peers, reports, and others, often anonymised, that surfaces blind spots and becomes raw material for coaching conversations. The three-way relationship between the coachee, the line manager/sponsor, and the coach. Effective work requires explicit alignment of all three. Teaching delivers content and evaluates the learner against a known standard. Coaching facilitates the coachee's own thinking; the answers belong to the client.

Question 18 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "chunking" in coaching?

A structured coaching framework: Goal (what you want to achieve), Reality (current situation), Options (possible approaches), Will/Way Forward (specific actions to take). Values are directions you move in; goals are specific points you want to reach along those directions. A goal achieved without values often leaves the client feeling empty. Moving between abstract, big-picture language and concrete, sensory detail. Coaches help clients "chunk down" to specifics when abstract talk becomes foggy. Fixed mindset: abilities are static and innate. Growth mindset: abilities can be developed through effort, feedback, and good strategies.

Question 19 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the role of "non-violent communication" (NVC) in coaching?

NVC separates observations from evaluations, and feelings from needs, helping clients express themselves clearly and make requests that are more likely to be met. Self-awareness is the client's clearer understanding of their patterns, emotions, assumptions, and choices. The coachee imagines themselves one step closer to their goal and describes what is different — perspective, environment, behaviours, feelings — to surface new actions. Team development trains a group in skills. Team coaching works with the team as a living system — its relationships, purpose, and collective capacity — to shift how it functions.

Question 20 Coaching Fundamentals

What is a "blind spot" in coaching?

An area where the coachee lacks self-awareness — a pattern, belief, or behavior they cannot see without external reflection from a coach. Paraphrasing mirrors back a small piece of what was just said. Summarising gathers several points from a longer stretch to show the client the shape of their own thinking. "What" questions (What happened? What matters most?) promote forward-focused thinking. "Why" questions can trigger defensiveness or rumination. A tool for choosing next action: Act (if there's a clear next step), Drop (if the item no longer matters), or Commit (if the client needs to make a decision before acting).

Question 21 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "active ignoring" in coaching?

A deliberate choice not to pursue a thread the client raised because the energy in the room is going somewhere more useful. Used sparingly and with awareness. Frankl's view that humans are driven by a search for meaning. Coaches working in this lens help clients surface meaning even in suffering or setback. Associated: re-experiencing the moment from inside, in first person. Dissociated: viewing the moment from outside, on a screen. Coaches help the client choose the position that produces insight or calm. A tool for choosing next action: Act (if there's a clear next step), Drop (if the item no longer matters), or Commit (if the client needs to make a decision before acting).

Question 22 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "co-creating the relationship" in ICF terms?

A collaborative, conversation-based process that helps individuals identify goals, overcome obstacles, and unlock their potential through guided questioning and reflection. Will or Way Forward — the specific actions the coachee commits to taking, with timelines and accountability mechanisms. Reaction (how the coachee felt), learning (what they learned), behaviour (what they did differently), and results (organisational outcomes such as engagement, retention, or performance). Establishing trust and intimacy, coaching presence, and being open, flexible, and confident with the client.

Question 23 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "shadow coaching"?

Understanding the client and the coaching contract, co-creating the relationship, communicating effectively, cultivating learning and growth, achieving outcomes, evaluating practice, and reflective practice. Supervision focuses on the coach's practice, ethics, and client work. Mentoring focuses on the coach's career or business development. A coach (often external) observes live client meetings or conversations and gives the client targeted feedback afterwards on what they actually did versus what they intended. Single-loop: correcting an action to fix a problem. Double-loop: questioning the assumptions and mental models that produced the action. Coaching aims for double-loop change.

Question 24 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the role of silence in coaching?

ICF (International Coaching Federation), EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council), and AC (Association for Coaching) are the three largest global professional coaching bodies, each with its own accreditation framework. Treating oneself with the same kindness one would offer a good friend. Coaches normalise it as a counterweight to harsh self-judgment after a setback. A shared understanding between coach and coachee about what they are working on, what success looks like, and how they will work together during a session or engagement. Silence gives clients space to think, feel, and notice insights they might otherwise rush past.

Question 25 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "perceptual positions" in NLP?

A shared understanding between coach and coachee about what they are working on, what success looks like, and how they will work together during a session or engagement. Three classic positions: your own view, the other person's view, and a detached observer's view. Skilled coaches invite the client to take all three. Single-loop: correcting an action to fix a problem. Double-loop: questioning the assumptions and mental models that produced the action. Coaching aims for double-loop change. Reaction (how the coachee felt), learning (what they learned), behaviour (what they did differently), and results (organisational outcomes such as engagement, retention, or performance).

Question 26 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "emotional agility" (Susan David) and how does coaching apply it?

An open-ended question that provokes thought, uncovers assumptions, or creates new awareness — e.g., "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" How progress, themes, and outcomes are communicated back to the organisation funding the coaching. Must be agreed up front to protect confidentiality and trust. The ability to recognise, label, and choose response to emotions rather than being driven by them. Coaching builds it through noticing, normalising, naming, and acting. Goal — the specific outcome or target the coachee wants to achieve. Goals should be clear, meaningful, and ideally measurable.

Question 27 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in coaching?

Treating oneself with the same kindness one would offer a good friend. Coaches normalise it as a counterweight to harsh self-judgment after a setback. "What" questions (What happened? What matters most?) promote forward-focused thinking. "Why" questions can trigger defensiveness or rumination. Self-awareness is the client's clearer understanding of their patterns, emotions, assumptions, and choices. Intrinsic motivation comes from the activity itself (interest, purpose, mastery). Extrinsic motivation comes from outside rewards or pressures. Coaching tends to strengthen the intrinsic drivers.

Question 28 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "perfectionism paradox" in coaching?

A reflective practice where a qualified supervisor helps a coach review their cases, ethics, presence, and learning — comparable to supervision in counselling. Every strength has an over-used form. Curiosity can become nosiness, confidence can become arrogance. Coaching names both so the client can dial each up or down. The client believes that holding the highest standards is what produces the best results, but perfectionism often produces avoidance, procrastination, and burnout. Coaches help clients trade it for "excellent enough." The internal voice that generates self-doubt, harsh self-judgment, or resistance to change. Coaches help clients recognize and work constructively with this voice.

Question 29 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "achievable" criterion in a coaching goal?

Professional conduct, conflicts of interest, professional development, and — most centrally — confidentiality and respect for client autonomy and dignity. A coach (often external) observes live client meetings or conversations and gives the client targeted feedback afterwards on what they actually did versus what they intended. A questioning technique that uses the client's own exact words and metaphors to explore their experience without introducing the coach's own language or assumptions. SMART goals must be realistic enough to motivate rather than paralyse — too distant a goal triggers self-handicapping rather than effort.

Question 30 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "but–because" trap in coaching?

Treating the client as a peer whose thinking is at least as good as the coach's — no hierarchy of expertise, which keeps the coach's ego out of the conversation. A client (or coach) explaining failure with a cause ("but I was tired, because I had no time") that closes the conversation prematurely. Coaches reopen it by asking what the explanation leaves out. Demonstrating ethical practice, defining the coaching agreement, and partnering with the client and stakeholders on expectations. Moving between abstract, big-picture language and concrete, sensory detail. Coaches help clients "chunk down" to specifics when abstract talk becomes foggy.

Question 31 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "future pacing" in coaching?

NVC separates observations from evaluations, and feelings from needs, helping clients express themselves clearly and make requests that are more likely to be met. Open questions cannot be answered yes/no and invite exploration ("What's alive for you right now?"). Closed questions narrow and confirm ("Is this your top priority?"). Discover (what gives life), Dream (what might be), Design (what should be), Destiny (what will be) — a strengths-based change process applied to coaching. Asking the client to vividly imagine completing the action they have committed to — including what they will see, hear, do, and feel — to embed the intention.

Question 32 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "paraphrasing" vs "summarising" in coaching?

An area where the coachee lacks self-awareness — a pattern, belief, or behavior they cannot see without external reflection from a coach. Paraphrasing mirrors back a small piece of what was just said. Summarising gathers several points from a longer stretch to show the client the shape of their own thinking. Examining how the learner learns — reflecting on the reflective process itself, and on the conditions that make reflection possible. A question about the client's thinking process itself — e.g., "How do you know that's the real issue?" or "What is your thinking telling you right now?"

Question 33 Coaching Fundamentals

What is coaching supervision?

Counselling often explores emotional wounds and personal history to support healing. Coaching assumes psychological fitness and focuses on present and future action. A reflective practice where a qualified supervisor helps a coach review their cases, ethics, presence, and learning — comparable to supervision in counselling. Helping the client see a felt body sensation (e.g., tightness in the chest) as information, not as the problem — and exploring what the body is "saying" about the situation. Reflection builds the client's own judgment and ownership, which lasts longer than borrowed advice.

Question 34 Coaching Fundamentals

What is a strong coaching principle?

A question that explores relationships and patterns between people or parts of a system, e.g., "When your manager behaves that way, what does your team then do?" "Given that the problem exists, how have you managed to cope?" It surfaces resilience and competence the client has overlooked. Trust the client's capacity while helping them think more clearly than they could alone. Treating oneself with the same kindness one would offer a good friend. Coaches normalise it as a counterweight to harsh self-judgment after a setback.

Question 35 Coaching Fundamentals

What is deep listening?

Asking the client to vividly imagine completing the action they have committed to — including what they will see, hear, do, and feel — to embed the intention. Follow-up turns intentions into observable behavior and creates learning even when the client did not follow through. Managing uses positional authority to direct work and accountability. Coaching uses inquiry and partnership; the coachee — not the manager-as-coach — owns the outcomes. Listening not only to words but to tone, pace, body, emotion, and what is unsaid — and reflecting back what is heard without adding the coach's own material.

Question 36 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "sponsor reporting" in workplace coaching?

Stepping back from a thought so that it is experienced as a thought, not as a literal truth — e.g., "I notice I'm having the thought that I am not good enough." Fixed mindset: abilities are static and innate. Growth mindset: abilities can be developed through effort, feedback, and good strategies. How progress, themes, and outcomes are communicated back to the organisation funding the coaching. Must be agreed up front to protect confidentiality and trust. A symbol or image the client uses to describe inner experience (e.g., "a dark cloud"). The coach explores the metaphor with clean questions rather than interpreting it.

Question 37 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "cognitive defusion"?

Being fully conscious and present with the client — bringing open, flexible, confident attention to the interaction without judgment or a pre-set agenda. Open questions, Affirmations, Reflections, Summaries — a conversational toolkit used both in MI and in coaching to deepen and direct the conversation. The client believes that holding the highest standards is what produces the best results, but perfectionism often produces avoidance, procrastination, and burnout. Coaches help clients trade it for "excellent enough." Stepping back from a thought so that it is experienced as a thought, not as a literal truth — e.g., "I notice I'm having the thought that I am not good enough."

Question 38 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the ICF definition of coaching?

The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as "partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential." Will or Way Forward — the specific actions the coachee commits to taking, with timelines and accountability mechanisms. Primary emotions are the initial felt response to a trigger; secondary emotions are reactions to the primary emotion (e.g., shame about feeling fear). Coaching often surfaces the primary layer. Coaching focuses on helping someone find their own answers through questioning; mentoring involves sharing experience and advice. Coaches don't need to be subject-matter experts.

Question 39 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "SFBT" 10-session typical structure?

Rolling with resistance acknowledges and reflects the client's ambivalence; pushing creates confrontation. Coaches usually prefer the former because it preserves autonomy and trust. A question that asks two things at once (e.g., "What do you want and why?"). Coaches split it so the client can answer one part at a time. Open, blind, hidden, and unknown quadrants describe what is known to self/others. Coaching expands the open area by reducing blind and hidden spots, often using 360° feedback. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is often brief by design — even one or two sessions can produce a useful shift because it focuses on goals and exceptions, not on analysing the problem in depth.

Question 40 Coaching Fundamentals

What is scaling in solution-focused coaching?

An open-ended question that provokes thought, uncovers assumptions, or creates new awareness — e.g., "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" Examining how the learner learns — reflecting on the reflective process itself, and on the conditions that make reflection possible. Supervision focuses on the coach's practice, ethics, and client work. Mentoring focuses on the coach's career or business development. The client rates their current state on a 0–10 scale toward the goal, then is asked what would make the number go up by one — surfacing the smallest useful next step.

Question 41 Coaching Fundamentals

What is a "stretch goal" in coaching?

A goal that sits deliberately beyond current ability to provoke new learning, while still being meaningful and (in the client's view) just possibly achievable. A framework (Peter Hawkins) that moves through seven "eyes" of attention: the client, the coach's interventions, the coach–client relationship, the coach's process, the wider system, the supervisor–coach relationship, and the supervisor's process. Consultants diagnose problems and prescribe solutions from their expertise. Coaches ask questions and facilitate the client's own discovery and problem-solving. A question that asks the client to rate something on a numeric scale and then explore what would shift the number — useful for clarity and small-step action.

Question 42 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "act–drop–commit" decision tool?

Creating awareness, designing actions, planning and goal-setting, and managing progress and accountability. The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as "partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential." Asking the client to vividly imagine completing the action they have committed to — including what they will see, hear, do, and feel — to embed the intention. A tool for choosing next action: Act (if there's a clear next step), Drop (if the item no longer matters), or Commit (if the client needs to make a decision before acting).

Question 43 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the difference between "primary" and "secondary" emotions?

Reflecting the felt sense of what the client said — naming the emotion, energy, or value beneath the words — to deepen the client's contact with their own experience. Trust the client's capacity while helping them think more clearly than they could alone. Primary emotions are the initial felt response to a trigger; secondary emotions are reactions to the primary emotion (e.g., shame about feeling fear). Coaching often surfaces the primary layer. The first session(s) where coach and client agree the focus, ground rules, logistics, confidentiality, and what success will look like at the end of the engagement.

Question 44 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the difference between "executive coaching" and "leadership coaching"?

A set of conditions — attention, ease, equality, appreciation, encouragement, feelings, information, diversity, incisive questions — that produce independent thinking. A coaching session outcome is the practical clarity, insight, or commitment the client leaves with after the conversation. Executive coaching is tied to a specific role and business outcomes. Leadership coaching focuses on the person's overall leadership capacity, identity, and presence, often beyond a single role. Open questions, Affirmations, Reflections, Summaries — a conversational toolkit used both in MI and in coaching to deepen and direct the conversation.

Question 45 Coaching Fundamentals

What is a "scaling question"?

Outcome (desired end state), Scaling (numerical self-rating of progress), Know-how (resources and skills available), Affirm & Action (commit to the next action), Review (look back on what changed). A tool for choosing next action: Act (if there's a clear next step), Drop (if the item no longer matters), or Commit (if the client needs to make a decision before acting). A question that asks the client to rate something on a numeric scale and then explore what would shift the number — useful for clarity and small-step action. Options — brainstorming possible strategies, solutions, or approaches without filtering or judging them initially.

Question 46 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "values clarification" in coaching?

Listening not only to words but to tone, pace, body, emotion, and what is unsaid — and reflecting back what is heard without adding the coach's own material. A process of helping the client name what matters most to them at a principles level, then auditing current choices against those values to reveal where action is misaligned. A collaborative, conversation-based process that helps individuals identify goals, overcome obstacles, and unlock their potential through guided questioning and reflection. A question that explores relationships and patterns between people or parts of a system, e.g., "When your manager behaves that way, what does your team then do?"

Question 47 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the "observer position" in NLP?

Goal — the specific outcome or target the coachee wants to achieve. Goals should be clear, meaningful, and ideally measurable. Supervision focuses on the coach's practice, ethics, and client work. Mentoring focuses on the coach's career or business development. A perceptual position in which the client steps out of the situation and views it — and themselves — from a detached vantage point, often used to soften strong emotions. Counselling often explores emotional wounds and personal history to support healing. Coaching assumes psychological fitness and focuses on present and future action.

Question 48 Coaching Fundamentals

What is the difference between coaching and facilitation?

The ability to recognise, label, and choose response to emotions rather than being driven by them. Coaching builds it through noticing, normalising, naming, and acting. Facilitation guides a group process to achieve a shared output. Coaching focuses on the individual's thinking, awareness, and action. Problem-focused coaching explores causes and history; solution-focused coaching directs energy toward what the desired future looks like and how to get there. A question that explores relationships and patterns between people or parts of a system, e.g., "When your manager behaves that way, what does your team then do?"

Question 49 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "alliance rupture" in coaching?

Silence gives the coachee space to think, reflect, and reach their own insights. Comfortable silence is a sign of skillful coaching, not awkwardness. The collaborative bond: a felt sense of being on the same side, with mutual trust, agreed purpose, and emotional safety. Considered the most reliable predictor of coaching outcomes. ICF (International Coaching Federation), EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council), and AC (Association for Coaching) are the three largest global professional coaching bodies, each with its own accreditation framework. A moment when the coaching relationship strains — the client withdraws, resists, or challenges. Ruptures, when repaired, often deepen the work.

Question 50 Coaching Fundamentals

What is "ACT" (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and how does it touch coaching?

How progress, themes, and outcomes are communicated back to the organisation funding the coaching. Must be agreed up front to protect confidentiality and trust. Examining how the learner learns — reflecting on the reflective process itself, and on the conditions that make reflection possible. Whitmore's framing of coaching as unlocking potential and responsibility, with the GROW model as the central tool and awareness + responsibility as the twin outcomes. ACT uses acceptance, defusion, present-moment contact, values, and committed action. Coaches borrow its defusion techniques (e.g., naming the inner critic) without being therapists.