ICF Acknowledges a Rise in Specialty Coaching

What It Means for Retirement Life Coaches

The coaching profession is growing, adapting to rapid technological change, and embracing more niche or specialty coaching. At the same time, the field continues to establish clear, research-based standards of practice with this change and growth.

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) recently released its 2025 update to the Core Competencies. This is part of a regular job-analysis process to ensure that the competencies continue to best reflect current coaching practices. While there are no new Core Competencies and many of the updates are minor changes, there are several new sub-competencies reflecting shifts in the profession over the last few years. Specifically, the updates reflect:

• advances in technology

• a growing interest in somatic approaches

• greater attention to client readiness, and

• the expanding role of specialty coaching or mixed-modality work.

What this means for Certified Retirement Life Coaches™?

Certified Retirement Life Coaches follow a client-led approach that provides specialized support in key areas of retirement adjustment and wellbeing. This may include social, emotional, and identity shifts that occur before and after retirement. Coaches in this niche hold space for self-discovery while integrating research-based insights about the retirement transition.

For Certified Retirement Life Coaches, the ICF Core Competency updates reflecting a rise in specialty coaching are particularly relevant. With this, the ICF reinforces an approach that remains client-led and non-directive, while still allowing the thoughtful use of knowledge, frameworks, and resources that can genuinely support clients in what often feels like uncharted territory.

Certified Retirement Life Coaches may offer research, models, and perspectives that help clients reframe ideas, explore new angles, or consider aspects of retirement wellbeing that the client may not otherwise consider or come up with on their own. Clients are invited to indicate whether they want the information in the first place and to reflect on what it means to them. In this way, client autonomy and agency remain central to the process. This practice is now clearly incorporated into the ICF Core Competencies.

How does the ICF Core Competency update recognize a rise in specialty coaching?

Within Competency 7: Evokes Awareness, ICF introduced a new sub-competency:

7.11 – Shares observations, knowledge, and feelings, without attachment, that have the potential to create new insights for the client.

This addition has generated discussion because it touches on the long-standing effort to maintain coaching as a non-directive, client-led process. However, the ICF continues to emphasize that information should be shared without attachment, and in ways that preserve the non-directive nature of coaching.

The revision does not blur the lines between coaching and consulting or mentoring. Rather, it clarifies how coaches can thoughtfully offer information, without stepping outside the boundaries of coaching. It acknowledges that there is a place for information, knowledge, and resources that may support the client in their goals, provided it is offered in a way that protects client choice and ownership.

The key distinction here is in how information is offered.

In a coaching conversation, it is important to:

• Seek permission before offering an observation or resource.

• Present information neutrally, not as advice.

• Allow space for the client to reflect on how useful the information is for them.

• Invite the client to reflect on what resonates, or does not resonate for them and why.

This supports client autonomy while allowing the coach’s expertise to potentially foster new insights for the client.

What are clients wanting?

We always begin by understanding where the client is. What do they hope to gain from the session? What type of support are they looking for? Is their request within the scope of coaching?

Many clients, especially those navigating retirement, are seeking resources, information, and reflective tools that expand their awareness and support them into what can feel like a journey into the unknown. For some, outside perspectives are part of what they want as they explore their identity, purpose, and wellbeing. In these cases, sharing information with permission can meaningfully support their growth.

For coaches who are not yet specializing, these updates may open new pathways. Retirement is one of the most significant transitions clients seek support for, and coaches with training in this area are well positioned to help clients navigate purpose, identity, and wellbeing in later life. The updated competencies offer clarity on the potential to integrate expertise in a client-led way. Our certification program is designed specifically for coaches who want to provide more targeted support for clients in this emerging specialty, perhaps bring in other skills and coaching modalities, and still take a client-led approach.

What else changed with the ICF Competencies?

Another notable change appears in Competency 2: Embodies a Coaching Mindset, where the ICF now emphasizes the importance of a coach’s ongoing learning related to technology. This reflects ICF’s recognition of how rapidly the coaching environment is evolving.

This amendment help to acknowledge that: 

• Virtual coaching is now a part of the coaching landscape,

• AI is influencing learning, development, and reflection practices, and

• Remaining aware of how technology impacts ethics, privacy, and the client experience is part of best practice for coaches.

For Certified Retirement Life Coaches, integrating new technologies may take thoughtful consideration. While technological tools can support the coaching process, we must consider the client experience as well. Clients vary widely in their comfort with digital tools, making thoughtful use of technology part of ethical and inclusive practice.

We will be exploring this topic, with the use of AI, more deeply in an upcoming 2026 webinar within the Retirement Life Coach Community.

Why This Update Matters for Retirement Life Coaches

The 2025 updates reflect ICF’s continued commitment to setting clear professional standards while acknowledging meaningful shifts in how coaching is practiced.

For Certified Retirement Life Coaches, the changes validate that sharing frameworks, theories, or psychological insights can be appropriate when done with permission, without agenda, and in service of the client’s own reflection and goals. Most importantly, the updates reinforce that client autonomy and agency remain at the heart of effective coaching.

For coaches exploring or considering this specialty, these updates underscore that there is increasing space in the profession for coaches who combine strong coaching skills with evidence-based understanding of major life transitions. Continued learning, community, and reflective practice remain essential as the coaching landscape continues to evolve. If you’re exploring this specialty or want a structured pathway into it, the Retirement Life Coach Certification program provides research-based training and community support for coaches who want to deepen their practice.