Keeping track of your coaching hours is a necessary requirement for most coaching certifications, whether you’re applying for an ICF credential or getting certified with another organization. Your client coaching log needs to document all your paid and pro bono coaching sessions so that your application qualifies.

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) can also conduct periodic audits to verify your coaching experience, so it’s important to keep this information handy even after your credentials are granted.

In this article, we’ll lead you through the entire process of documenting your coaching sessions correctly, so that you can complete your ICF credential application and finally become a certified coach.

Who Needs To Submit A Client Coaching Log?

Every coach who completes a certification program and wants to become certified with the ICF needs to submit proof of their practical experience in order to get their credentials. 

At the International Coaching Federation, there are three levels you can get certified in. These levels will grant you the following credentials:

• Associate Certified Coach (ACC): A strong foundational certification to help you start your coaching business or add more credibility to your existing practice
• Professional Certified Coach (PCC): For coaches who have significant experience and want to showcase their mastery of life coaching skills
• Master Certified Coach (MCC): For coaches who not only have deep expertise, but have demonstrated they can help clients achieve transformational results

Each of these certification programs consists of training and practical application. The practical implication, in this case, means coaching groups and individuals.

At each level, you’ll need a varying amount of:

• Total coaching hours
• Paid coaching hours (counted towards your total)
• Coaching clients

Those hours must specifically be coaching sessions with a client who has hired you to be their coach.

[ Read: The Top 6 Coaching Organizations And Exactly What They Do For Coaches ]

ICF Coaching Log Requirements For ACC Level

Coaches who apply to be Associate Certified Coaches need to complete and document:

• 100 hours of coaching in total
• At least eight separate coaching clients
• 75 hours of paid coaching

Keep in mind that 25 of your 100 hours, paid or unpaid, have to be completed within 18 months before you submit your application.

ICF Coaching Log Requirements For PCC Level

Professional Certified Coach candidates are required to complete and document:

• 500 hours of coaching in total
• At least 25 coaching clients
• 450 paid coaching hours

A minimum of 50 coaching hours from your log should take place within 18 months of your application.

ICF Coaching Log Requirements For MCC Level

If you’re applying for a Master Coach Certification, you need to complete and document:

• 2,500 hours of coaching in total
• At least 35 coaching clients
• 2,250 paid coaching hours 

At the MMC level, there are no restrictions as to how recent your coaching hours need to be.

Documenting hundreds or even thousands of coaching hours is almost impossible if you don’t start keeping track of them at the very beginning of your practice. It’s best to start logging these hours right from the first session and keep this information in a safe place.

Pro Tip: Paperbell automatically generates a coaching log with all your sessions, so you can download your client coaching log for your application with one click! Sign up here for a free account.

What Should My ICF Coaching Log Include?

For your application to qualify, your client coaching log should include the following details. 

All this information needs to be accurate on your coaching log; otherwise, the ICF may consider it fraudulent and prohibit you from reapplying for a coaching credential for up to five years.

Client Name & Contact Information

For each individual client, you need to list:

• Full name
• Email address or phone number as contact information (whichever you use to communicate with them)
• Number of hours (paid or pro bono) that you’ve coached them

For group coaching sessions, record your details separately in your log. It’s enough to document the name and contact details of one person from the group. You don’t need to list all names.

Here’s what you do need to include in addition to one participant’s name:

• Email address of that one participant
• Start and end date of the coaching engagement
• How many hours (paid or pro bono) you spent coaching this group
• How many people you coached

Keep in mind that the ICF places a limit of 15 people or fewer in a group. If there are more people, you’ll need to get a co-coach, and you’ll need to split those hours with that coach.

If you’re employed at an organization as an internal coach, you can log the same information, unless you have a confidentiality agreement. If that’s the case, you need to get a reference letter from a contact at the organization with:

• Your name
• The name and contact information of this person
• The person’s role in the organization
• Your role in the organization
• Confirmation of the confidentiality policy preventing you from sharing details
• Confirmation of your coaching hours, number of clients, and the time period of the coaching

If you provide coaching services through a third party, the same rule applies.

However, any direct reports that you supervise at an organization can’t be your coaching clients, since the nature of your relationship with them is different. You’re their manager in this case, so you might not be able to stay impartial when it comes to their career path in the company. 

You might also need to report on their performance despite it being a subject of your coaching conversations, which means you wouldn’t be able to keep this information confidential.

It’s very important that you follow the ICF Code of Ethics and obtain consent from all your clients to list their personal information on your client coaching log, including the following guidelines:

• Client consent should be recorded in compliance with all relevant laws (for example, EU GDPR guidelines)
• If a client of yours doesn’t grant you permission to share their names and contact details with a third party (aka ICF), unfortunately, you can’t include them on your client coaching log
• As mentioned above, you can get a letter from a contact person to confirm your hours if the client was coached in an internal or third-party arrangement

Details About Your Coaching Sessions

For each name listed on your ICF coaching log, mark the following:

• Whether you had an individual or group coaching session with them
• For group sessions, indicate the number of people in the group you worked with
• Number of paid and pro bono (unpaid) hours spent with each client
• The start and end dates of your coaching relationship with each client

These details are important because they allow the ICF to see how recent your coaching experience is.

Once you’ve listed all these details, make sure that the numbers add up and you have the required number of paid and unpaid coaching hours for your credential level before you submit your application.

Free Template: How To Log Your Client Coaching Hours

A simple spreadsheet works just fine to submit your client coaching log for your ICF credential application. As long as it contains all the elements we’ve listed above and the information on it is accurate, it will be accepted as a verification of your practical experience.

We created a free template you can use that follows the official guidelines of the International Coaching Federation and can support your application.

Once you open it, click on File > Make a copy to save it to your Google Drive to start using it right away. 

You can use it on your Google Drive/Sheets account or download it as a .CSV or .xlsx file.

Click here to access your free template.

Coaching Log FAQs

How To Log Coaching Hours in ICF?

Once you’ve logged your coaching hours in Paperbell or another tool, access the ICF Accreditation Portal. Follow the instructions on how to log in. From there, go through the step-by-step walkthrough to log your hours.

How To Create a Coaching Log?

To create an ICF coaching log, use this free ICF coaching log template, or schedule your coaching appointments in Paperbell to automatically generate your log without complicated spreadsheets.

Do I Need a Coaching Log?

If you want to obtain your certification with the ICF, yes, you need a coaching log. You can either use your own spreadsheet, a free template, or generate it automatically when you use Paperbell to book your coaching appointments.

What Is The ICF Client Coaching Log Template?

The ICF client coaching log template is an easy-to-use, fill-in-the-blanks template that any coach can use to log their coaching hours. It’s free forever and is in line with the ICF’s guidelines.

What If I Don’t Have The Contact Details Of My Client?

If you don’t have the email address or phone number of your client, unfortunately, you can’t list them on your client coaching log for your ICF application. If you work as an internal coach or you coach through a third party, you can list a company representative as contact information.

What Counts As One Coaching Hour?

One coaching hour is 60 minutes of actual coaching delivered to a group or individual who hired you as a coaching professional. Other 1-on-1 services, such as mentoring, supervision, or consulting, don’t count as coaching hours.

What’s Considered A Paid Coaching Hour?

An hour of coaching is considered paid when you receive payment from your client or barter goods and services in exchange for your coaching services. Peer-to-peer coaching is also considered bartering of services, so you can count them as paid coaching hours.

Use Software To Automatically Generate Your Coaching Log

Keeping track of all your client data for your coaching hours log can get pretty tedious, especially when you need to record hundreds or even thousands of sessions on your spreadsheet.

If you’d rather skip the hassle of manually logging every hour, you can use a software tool that automatically creates an accurate log for you.

Paperbell is an all-in-one coaching website creator and platform for coaches where you can manage all payments, contracts, scheduling, and documentation for your clients in one place. 

You can use it to automatically generate a coaching log with all your sessions and download your client coaching log for your application with one click! 

Simply use Paperbell to schedule all of your coaching appointments. From there, click on the icon of your profile photo on the top right side of the Paperbell app, and choose “ICF Client Coaching Log“.

You’ll see an on-screen version that includes every detail. You can also export this file as a CSV to submit to the International Coaching Federation or any other coaching association.

And that’s it! With Paperbell, getting certified and running your entire coaching practice has never been easier. 

Try it for free today and start logging your coaching hours.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in August 2021 and has since been updated with new information.