Health & Wellness Coaching Core Competencies Evaluation

By Kimmer Collison-Ris

MSN, FNP-BC, WOCN, MS CAM

Instructions• ICF Core Competencies

– Review the ICF Core Competencies website at http://www.coachfederation.org/credential/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=2206&navItemNumber=576

– Assess your personal strengths & weaknesses based on your current experience & goals.

• Include a 300 to 500-word analysis of your strengths & weaknesses

• Outline steps you intend to take to develop your skills

Core Competencies• The ICF defines coaching as “partnering with

clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

• There are eleven core coaching competencies – these were developed to support increased

understanding re: skills & approaches used in coaching

– these are grouped into 4 clusters according to those that fit together logically

– are based on common ways of looking at competencies in each group• groupings & individual competencies are not

weighted as don’t represent specific hierachacalpriorities

– all should be demonstrated by the competent coach

http://www.3dcoaching.com/developing-coaching/benchmarking/icf-core-coaching-competencies/attachment/3d-coaching-icf-core-competencies

11 Core Competencies• A. Setting the Foundation

– 1. Meeting Ethical Guidelines and Professional Standards

– 2. Establishing the Coaching Agreement

• B. Co-creating the Relationship– 1. Establishing Trust and Intimacy with the

Client– 2. Coaching Presence

• C. Communicating Effectively – 1. Active Listening – 2. Powerful Questioning– 3. Direct Communication

• D. Facilitating Learning and Results – 1. Creating Awareness – 2. Designing Actions – 3. Planning and Goal Setting– 4. Managing Progress and Accountability

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Setting the Foundation • 1. As an ARNP I believe I am already held to and meet high

ethical guidelines & professional standards• Having been a medical professional since 1990, my

understanding of medical ethics is very similliar to coaching standards/ethics

• I always strive to apply them appropriately in all professional situations.

• As a licensed medical provider I communicate & distinquish between my role as an ARNP and MD.

• I already employ coaching & consulting in my practice, understanding that I am not licensed to perform psychotherapy; I also work to understand the roles/licensure of other support professions I work with.

• I feel I am good at referring clients to providers when necessary, recognizing my scope of practice and utilizing other professionals in my community.

Setting the Foundation…• 2. Establishing a Coaching Agreement is

similar to obtaining informed consent in providing medical care.

• I have created documents that detail the medical collaboration between client & myself. I will be incorporating specific coaching interaction agreements in my practice documents.– My practice documents lay out logistics, fees,

scheduling, and types of care I offer & what I refer for.

– These documents also explain our roles & responsibilities in a client/provider relationship.

– Typically I have the client determine if we are a match after the first couple of sessions. This is often not part of common medical practice & it leaves many clients feeling stuck with providers they feel dismiss them.

Co-creating the Relationship• 1. I feel that I am able to establishing trust & a

degree of intimacy with my clients. My office is designed to create a safe, supportive environment.

• 2. I have been practicing my “Coaching Presence” for years attempting to be fully conscious in my relationships with my clients. Most remark they feel at home with me and enjoy our visits (even though they are for medical purposes).– In addition to evidenced based medical practice, I

rely highly on my gut intuition ; trusting it. I am known for being a patient advocate when referring.

– I’ve been grooming my whole professional career to be a health & wellness coach; looking for effectiveways to inspire change.

– Working with my many adolescents, humor helps to infuse lightness & energy in sometimes darker moments.

– I feel confident most of the time and am comfortable with clients expressing strong emotions . I work hard to can self-manage and not be overpowered or enmeshed by my client's emotions.

Communicating Effectively • 1. Active Listening has been foundational in ARNP practice

as it collaborative.• I attempt to understand the client's goals and help them

work toward health/wellness; incorporating their concerns, goals, values & beliefs about what is and is not possible.

• I try to clarify and restate, modulating my tone of voice, and open body language that often mirrors back what client has communicated.

• I work hard to communicate encouragement, acceptance; allowing the client to explore & express their feelings, perceptions, concerns, & beliefs.

• As a provider, I am working towards integrating & building on my client's ideas and suggestions. This is a new skill.

• I believe I allow my clients to “feel what they feel” & vent without judgment

Communicating Effectively… • 2. I am learning Powerful Questioning. • My work with youth has me naturally asking questions that do reflect active

listening and I try to restate what they’ve expressed; but I am trying to listen even more.

• Even though I believe I was asking questions that challenged my youth’s assumptions, I do less of this professionally. Mainly because as a medical provider, the relationship is still a bit authoritarian.

• I am still learning to ask open-ended questions that create greater clarity, possibility and new learning.

• Until recently, I’ve struggled to ask questions that helped moved my youth toward what they desired, verses causing them to justify their thoughts & actions.

• 3. I’ve been known among the youth I work with for my direct Communication. In my practice, I’m more conservative, focusing on the client’s needs in a timely manner. Although I believe I have the ability to communicate effectively, coaching sessions are new to me. I believe I’ve been in more of a counseling role verses a true coaching one. I believe that our interactions are positive, and I’m clear and articulate, allowing the youth directly in share their thoughts but I’ve not solicited feedback.

Facilitating Learning & Results • 1. Creating Awareness• I have sought to integrate and accurately

evaluate all of the sources of information and to interpret what is truly going on to help my youths gain awareness but we haven’t ever formally agreed on specific results.

• When I work with students who have friends with ADD/ADHD I try to help them see different, interrelated factors that affect them and their behaviors .

• Lately, I’ve been applying what I’m learning to help my clients express insights that are useful and meaningful

• I’ve strive to help identify major client strengths generally helping them to identify what they consider is trivial, significant, situational and a recurring behavior.

• 2. I am learning to help design client actions that give them the ability to create opportunities for ongoing learning.

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Facilitating Learning & Results… • 3. Planning and Goal Setting has been a

part of my time working with youth but not my office clients. I see the value in this, and revisiting it. In medicine, there is always the goal to decreased weight, blood sugars, cholesterol, etc…but sometimes its not completely with client “buy in”. Working with youth it can be simply, sticking to a healthier schedule that includes routines, sleep, & proper nutrition.

• 4. Managing Progress and Accountability is also new for me. I believe that I haven’t considered my coaching/mentoring as formally and so I’ve not really stressed accountability. I believe that the focus has been about paying attention to what is important for the youth, and I’ve attempted to leave the responsibility with them to take action.

Bibliography• ICF (2015). Core Competencies. Retrieved from

http://www.coachfederation.org/credential/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=2206&navItemNumber=576