Why do coaches need active listening? The more deeply a coach is able to perceive, sense and understand the client, and to reflect this back, the more the client will feel heard and understood, and as a result will feel safe and able to trust. When listening actively, the coach focuses completely on perceiving the client, not only through the content of what is said but also through all the non-verbal signals. The coach also looks at what is said in the context of the client’s life: their values, habits, vision for life and direction. Using all the information taken in as a whole picture, the coach is able to help the client reach important insights that actively move them towards the results they want.

In my coach training at Erickson Coaching International I learned to distinguish three levels of listening:

1) listening to content: our everyday way of talking, an exchange of information and opinions;

2) listening to context, structure and process: this is where active listening begins. The coach switches off their own thoughts and opinions and moves fully into a supporting role, in order to reflect back neutrally both what the client has said and what has been left unsaid (reading between the lines);

3) global listening: here the coach adds the dimension of time (in long-term coaching) and, while listening, pays attention to the client’s life as a whole: how the client’s intentions, behavioural habits and goals show themselves over time. The coach is able to reflect the connections they notice back to the client, to support better self-understanding and valuable insights.

Listens Actively is the sixth ICF Core Competency. In short, the coach focuses on what the client is saying and not saying, in order to understand fully what is being communicated in the context of the client’s life and to support the client’s self-expression.


In practice this means taking the client’s context, identity, environment, experiences, values and beliefs into account; reflecting back or summarising what the client has said to make sure it is understood; noticing when there is more behind the client’s words and asking about it; noticing and exploring emotions, shifts in energy and non-verbal cues; putting words, tone of voice and body language together to grasp the full meaning; and noticing patterns in the client’s behaviour and emotions across sessions.


The 2025 review changed only the wording of two points.



This article is based on my Latvian article “Kouča kompetence – aktīvi klausās”, published on 17 September 2021. It was translated into English and its facts were updated in October 2026. In place of the full ICF text quoted in the original, it gives a short summary and a link to the official version.