In the Coaching Café Podcast last week, we listened to the first half of a coaching demonstration focused on the PCC level of coaching competency. We invited you to tune in deeply—listening for presence, partnership, curiosity, evoking awareness, and how the coach explored thinking at a deeper level. 

This week, we will listen to the second half of the session and debrief what you heard. 

Join us as we reflect on the conversation and explore:
✔️ What coaching at the PCC level really sounds like 
✔️ How the ICF Core Competencies were demonstrated
✔️ What deep presence and partnership actually sounds like in practice 
✔️ How you can apply these insights to grow your own coaching 

Whether you’re preparing for a credential or simply want to take your coaching to the next level, this is a powerful learning opportunity. 

Let’s listen. Let’s reflect. Let’s grow—together. 

🎯 Continuing our professional development as coaches. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

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This week in the Coaching Café Podcast, we are continuing our deep dive into our coaching practice with another coaching demonstration—where we are particularly listening for PCC-level coaching competencies. 

This is your opportunity to listen again with intention and curiosity. What does it sound like when a coach truly demonstrates: 
🎧 Coaching presence 
🎧 Evoking awareness 
🎧 Digging under the surface 
🎧 Creating metaphors 
🎧 Exploring new thinking 
🎧 Partnering—not leading 

This week’s Coaching Café Podcast is another chance to listen deeply—not to judge, but to grow. We invite you to reflect on what you hear, observe how the ICF Core Competencies come to life, with a particular emphasis on identifying what raises a conversation to the PCC level. 

Join Natalie and Brigitte as we listen to the first half of the session and then debrief the session together. 

Next week, we’ll come together to listen to the second half of the session and discuss how to apply these insights in your own coaching. 

🎯 Continuing our professional development as coaches. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

Watch the webinar of this episode on YouTube or read the blog by visiting our website.

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Last week, we invited you to sit back, tune in, and listen to a coaching demonstration—a real conversation designed to bring the ICF Core Competencies to life. We listened to and debriefed the first half of the coaching session. 

This week, we listen to and debrief the second half of the session

Join us as we unpack the coaching conversation together and explore: 
✔️ How the ICF Core Competencies showed up in real time  

✔️ What stands out to you about presence, partnership, listening, or questioning? 
✔️ How did the coach uphold the ICF Core Competencies? 
✔️ Where are the opportunities to deepen the learning? 

✔️ What you can apply in your own coaching conversations? 

This Coaching Café is a hands-on learning opportunity for all coaches.  Let’s explore how we grow when we listen closely, reflect and debrief —together. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

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Over the past few Coaching Cafés, we’ve explored the ICF Core Competencies through the lens of assessment: what competent coaching looks like at ACC and PCC levels, and what can lead to an instant fail. 

Over the next few Coaching Cafés, we invite you to shift from talking about coaching… to experiencing coaching in action. 

This week join us for a recorded coaching demonstration, where you’ll have the chance to: 
🎧 Listen to a coaching conversation 
🎧 Observe how the ICF Core Competencies come to life in real time 
🎧 Reflect on what you notice about establishing the coaching agreement, partnership, and curiosity 

This is a valuable opportunity to tune in, compare your observations with ICF standards, and deepen your learning through listening to an experienced coach. 

A chance to listen deeply and then debrief together. 

This week we listen to half of the coaching session, then, we will debrief the session and unpack what you heard. The following week we listen to the second half of the session – so you don’t want to miss this one. 

🎯 Raising the bar for ourselves as coaches. 

Editor's note. Approx 2 mins of silence in total was removed. Natalie gave the coachee time to really contemplate their answers. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

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So far in this Coaching Café series, we’ve explored what competent coaching looks like at the ACC and PCC levels. In this Podcast, we’re flipping the perspective and asking an equally important question: 

What constitutes an instant fail in a coaching conversation—or during a credentialing exam? 

This Podcast is not about fear—it’s about sharpening our coaching awareness. 

✨ What are the behaviours that assessors flag as “not yet competent” right away? 
✨ What coaching practices break the partnership—or move away from core competency? 
✨ How can we tighten up our coaching approach to avoid these common pitfalls? 

Join Brigitte Calvert, Open Door’s Learning and Development Manager and long-standing ICF assessor, as she shares insights from years of assessing coaching conversations across all levels. 

Hosted by Natalie Ashdown, this Café is your chance to: 
✔️ Learn what leads to an instant fail in ICF credential assessments 
✔️ Spot these pitfalls in your own coaching practice 
✔️ Make small, powerful changes that protect the coaching partnership and elevate your competence 

Whether you're preparing for credentialing or simply want to coach with greater impact, this is a Coaching Café you won’t want to miss. 

Let’s raise the standard—together. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

Watch the webinar of this episode on YouTube or read the blog by visiting our website.

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Last week we kicked off our new Coaching Café season by exploring what competent coaching looks like at the ACC level. This week, we’re taking it up a notch as we unpack PCC-level coaching—and what it truly means to coach at that next level. 

✨ What distinguishes a competent coach from a PCC coach? 
✨ What does it sound like when you're coaching at the PCC level? 
✨ What are the most common things that hold coaches back from reaching PCC standards? 

Hosted by Paula Jones-Hunt, join us as Brigitte Calvert, Open Door’s Learning and Development Manager and long-time ICF assessor, shares her perspective from listening to and evaluating hundreds of coaching demonstrations at the PCC level. 

This session will help you: 
✔️ Understand the jump in depth and complexity expected at PCC 
✔️ Recognise how mindset, presence and partnership evolve at this level 
✔️ Identify your own development priorities if you're working toward PCC—or want to deepen your coaching 

Whether you're actively preparing for your credential, mentoring other coaches, or simply want to elevate your coaching practice, this Coaching Café is packed with insights. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

Watch the webinar of this episode on YouTube or read the blog by visiting our website.

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After focusing on how we coach others in the past series, we’re now turning the lens inward. In this new Coaching Café series, we shift the focus to our own coaching development - starting with a deep dive into the ACC level of competency. 

✨ What does competent coaching look like, sound like, and feel like?
✨ What behaviours or practices might be deemed not yet competent under the ICF Core Competencies? 
✨ Would your coaching be assessed as competent against international standards? 

This week, you’ll have the unique opportunity to learn from Open Door’s Learning and Development Manager, Brigitte Calvert. 

With over 20 years of experience as an ICF assessor, Brigitte brings expert insights from listening to and giving feedback on hundreds of coaching demonstrations. Along with insights from Paula Jones-Hunt, you’ll get clear, practical insights into what makes a coach competent - and what doesn’t. 

Whether you’re working toward your ACC or want to refine your coaching at any level, this session will help you: 
✔️ Understand how coaching is assessed at ACC level 
✔️ Recognise the difference between competent and not-yet-competent coaching 
✔️ Identify a few key areas to focus your own development 

🎯 Let’s start the new season by raising the bar for ourselves as coaches. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

Watch the webinar of this episode on YouTube or read the blog by visiting our website.

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Over the past few weeks, we’ve focused our Coaching Café series on one of the most critical leadership and coaching opportunities: annual performance conversations. 

We’ve explored: 
✔️ How performance conversations can build engagement 
✔️ How coaching shifts under-performance 
✔️ How to prepare better questions 
✔️ How to coach through the tricky conversations 
✔️ How strengths-based conversations can create a 36% uplift in performance 

Now it’s time to bring it all together. 

This Coaching Café is your chance to take stock, reflect, and finish strong. Whether you’ve already had your conversations, are still in the middle of them, or are preparing for future discussions - this session will help you refine your approach and apply the coaching mindset with confidence. 

Join Natalie and Paula as they share: 
💬 Key takeaways from the Coaching Café series 
💬 The biggest lessons for making performance conversations meaningful 
💬 Practical coaching reminders you can apply year-round 
💬 How coaching conversations are the key to building ongoing engagement and performance 

Let’s bring home performance season strong - and set your coaching conversations up for success all year long.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

Watch the webinar of this episode on YouTube or read the blog by visiting our website.

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Recently, during a workshop, a manager said what many others are thinking: “It’s not all rainbows and lollipops. What if they are under performing? What do you do then?” 

The frustration was real, and it is common.  This was a manager doing their best to support an employee but unsure what else to try; and they needed more strategies, and wanted to understand how coaching might help.  

With this in mind, we continue our focus on annual performance review season in this week’s Coaching Café Pocast.   

So far, we’ve explored how these conversations can build engagement in the workplace; frameworks and tips to set up conversations for success; strengths-based conversations and the trickier conversations. 

This week, join Natalie and Paula as we explore one of the most challenging topics: how a coaching approach can shift under performance. 

You’ll walk away with: 

• A coaching mindset/approach to address under performance constructively 
• Strategies for reframing these conversations to build ownership 
• Practical tools from Open Door you can use immediately 

Whether you’re designing performance conversations, coaching managers, or coaching an employee – you will benefit from learning how to coach around under performance. 

If you are a regular, you know the vibe and the great contribution that you make to our discussions; so we look forward to welcoming you back and offering you a value-packed 30 minutes each Tuesday. 

If you’ve not joined us for a Coaching Café Podcast, now is your opportunity to schedule this time for your professional and personal development.    In no time at all, you’ll be looking forward to Tuesdays, just like we all do! 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

Watch the webinar of this episode on YouTube or read the blog by visiting our website.

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Thanks for listening!

We continue our focus on annual performance review season in this week’s Coaching Café Podcast and how these conversations can build engagement in the workplace. So far, we’ve shared frameworks and tips to set up conversations for success. Now it’s time to talk about the trickier conversations. 

A frustrated manager recently asked us:
“What do you do about people who think they’re meeting expectations, but they aren’t?
Or worse, they don’t have goals. They’re not engaged. They’re just working to retirement. You still have to write something on the form!” 

We hear this all the time and it’s exactly where coaching can help. 

This week, join Natalie and Paula as we explore how a coaching approach can shift even the most challenging performance conversations. 

You’ll walk away with: 

• An understanding of how/why conversations become difficult 
• Strategies for reframing these conversations 
• A practical tool from Open Door you can use right away 

Whether you’re designing performance conversations, coaching managers, or facing your own review – you will benefit from learning how to coach through the difficult conversations. 

If you are a regular, you know the vibe and the great contribution that you make to our discussions; so we look forward to welcoming you back and offering you a value-packed 30 minutes each Tuesday. 

If you’ve not joined us for a Coaching Café Podcast, now is your opportunity to schedule this time for your professional and personal development.   In no time at all, you’ll be looking forward to Tuesdays, just like we all do! 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other listeners.

Watch the webinar of this episode on YouTube or read the blog by visiting our website.

Want to join us live on Friday? Register Here!

Engage with The Coaching Café Podcast

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Thanks for listening!