Ready to Start Practicing?
Join a community of coaches who want the same thing you do: more opportunities to coach, learn and grow.
Coach Practice Exchange makes it easy to connect with other trained coaches for reciprocal coaching sessions. You’ll take turns coaching and being coached, giving both partners an opportunity to practice their skills while gaining valuable coaching experience.
Whether you’re working toward an ICF credential, building confidence after completing your coach training, or simply want to keep your coaching skills sharp, we’re here to help you practice consistently.
Create Your Profile &
Request a Match
Schedule Sessions with Your Assigned Partner
Practice and Repeat to Fulfill Your ICF Requirements
Ready? Here’s how to get started...
Step 1: Join Coach Practice Exchange
Choose your membership and create your account to become part of the exchange.
Your membership gives you access to peer coach matching, ongoing opportunities to request new partners, and our Coaching Practice Library of structured exercises designed around the ICF Core Competencies.
Step 2: Complete Your Coaching Profile
Once you join, you’ll complete a short profile that helps us understand who you are and what you’re looking for in a practice partner.
We’ll ask about things such as your coaching background, training and experience, time zone, language, availability and coaching interests.
The more we know about your preferences, the better we can match you with a compatible coaching partner.
Step 3: Request a Match Coaching Match
To get matched, we’ll use your profile and your answers to a few simple preference questions to match you with the most aligned coaching partner.
Once you’re matched, you’ll each be notified via email and in your Member Dashboard.
From there, you can use our internal messaging to decide if you’d like to accept the match. Once you’ve both accepted you will see each other’s full profile and contact information.
From there, you and your partner can schedule your first practice session.
Decide when you’d like to meet, how frequently you’d like to practice and which video platform you’d prefer to use.
Step 4: Coach — and Be Coached
This is where the real learning begins.
You’ll participate in reciprocal coaching sessions where each partner gets the opportunity to be both coach and client.
For example, you might schedule a 90-minute practice session and divide your time so that each person has an opportunity to coach and be coached.
This gives you experience from both sides of the coaching relationship. You’ll strengthen your skills as a coach while also experiencing what powerful coaching feels like from the client’s perspective.
Step 5: Practice With Purpose
Not sure what to work on during your session?
Your membership includes our Coaching Practice Library, a growing collection of downloadable exercises designed to help you intentionally practice different coaching skills and ICF Core Competencies.
Choose an exercise before your session, work through it with your partner and use the included reflection and feedback prompts afterward.
You can focus on areas such as active listening, coaching presence, establishing agreements, building trust, evoking awareness and facilitating client growth.
Practice. Reflect. Improve. Repeat.
Step 6: Keep Practicing
You don’t have to stop with one coaching partner.
Continue practicing with your current partner or request another match when you’re ready to gain experience coaching someone new.
Working with different coaches exposes you to different communication styles, personalities, goals and coaching situations — helping you become more adaptable and confident in your coaching.
The more conversations you have, the more opportunities you have to develop your skills and build meaningful coaching experience.
Working Toward an ICF Credential?
Coach Practice Exchange is especially useful for coaches who want opportunities to practice while working toward professional credentialing.
Your reciprocal coaching conversations can give you valuable experience applying the ICF Core Competencies outside the classroom while building your confidence as a coach.
Because credentialing requirements and what qualifies as eligible coaching experience can change, you are responsible for confirming that your sessions meet the current ICF requirements for the credential you’re pursuing and for maintaining any required records of your coaching experience.
Coach Practice Exchange is an independent peer coaching community and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Coaching Federation. However, all materials provided meet ICF standards.
What You’ll Need to Participate
Getting started is simple. You’ll need:
- Coach-specific education or current enrollment in a coach training program
- A reliable internet connection and access to a video conferencing platform (like Zoom)
- Time to both coach and be coached
- A commitment to confidentiality and professional conduct
- A willingness to show up, practice, and support your coaching partners
Most importantly, come ready to learn!
You don’t have to be a perfect coach to participate. That’s why we’re here — to practice.
Ready to Get Started?
Join Coach Practice Exchange today and have a practice partner by tomorrow.