Professional Coaching Skills

Course details

What is the programme about?

• On our Professional Coaching Skills programme you will develop the attitudes and learn the skills of an effective professional coach. Through continuing practice, observation and feedback, you will have the opportunity to become highly proficient.
• Our purpose is not simply to provide you with a toolkit of powerful techniques and processes. Techniques have their place and can be useful in moving us forward in various ways, but the point for us is that essentially, as a coach, you yourself become your principal tool.
• We will question, encourage, challenge and support you in your learning. In other words you will be coached throughout the course. You will have the opportunity to develop yourself so that coaching becomes an authentic part of who you are.
• As you develop your self-awareness you will become more able to ‘get out of your own way’, and out of the way of your clients. You will become able to listen and question more deeply and accurately, be more aware of your perceptions, insights and intuitions, and become more skilled in communicating simply, honestly and effectively.
• As you increasingly bring this way of being to your work, you will become more and more able to be truly present with, and for, your clients. The quality of your attention and engagement will become a catalyst which accelerates your clients’ progress; they will feel affirmed, extended, liberated, energised and stimulated to grow. They will increasingly develop themselves into whom and what they want to be.
• We are passionate about the development of coaching as a profession and committed to the pursuit of excellence based on clear ethical standards, thorough training and continuing professional development.
• We have designed a stimulating, demanding and enjoyable course that will bring out and develop your own inherent knowledge and abilities. We think you will find this a deeply fulfilling journey.
• Dual Qualifications
• Gain recognised educational and professional qualifications as a coach on our Professional Coaching Skills programme. You will develop the attitude skills and key competencies of an effective professional coach on our established in-depth and highly experiential course.
• Our trainers are ICF-accredited Master Certified and Professional Certified Coaches who also have extensive business and organisational experience. We also have an integrated mentor team who support participants on their learning journey.
• This is the only coaching skills programme available in Ireland that has been awarded a Level 7 Special Purpose Award by HETAC with Approved Coach Specific Training Hours status by the International Coach Federation (ICF).
• "I have been through many coaching workshops in the past, but heard that this one is different to all others. I went into it with an open, but slightly sceptical mind. Now that I have completed it I can confirm that I have been through the most extraordinary learning journey of my life. First, I had to unlearn a lot of myths about coaching that I had collected over the past 20 years. Then through interactive, challenging and fun workshops, I learned a whole new form of development that I am now using with my internal clients, with massive impact. However my biggest learning was the experience of receiving coaching from so many wonderful and like-minded people." Jeff Turner, EMEA Learning & Development Manager Facebook

Entry Requirement

Applicants will be required to be 25 years of age or older at the time of commencement of the programme and to successfully complete an interview. The interview process will be used to assess the applicant’s capacity to complete the programme and will include:

• A discussion of the applicant’s reasons for wishing to do the programme
• A discussion of the applicant’s background and experience
• The extent to which the applicant would themselves be a suitable candidate to receive coaching

Our programme attracts mature and motivated people from a wide range of backgrounds. We find the learning experience co-created with such a diverse and committed group is very powerful. We believe you will too.

Examinations

• Assessment will be a variety of continuous assessment methods. Much of the teaching and learning on this programme will be experiential with the assignments structured to enable you to integrate the skills and prepare yourself for practicing as a coach.

Course Content

Module 1 - 20 days in length, presented in five units of 4 days (Friday to Monday), over a period of five months. To qualify you must be present for at least 18 of the 20 days.

This is an original programme teaching best professional theory and practice. This module’s primary focus is to develop and refine our inherent interpersonal skills, such as perceptive, empathic listening and questioning, and our ability to engage with others so as to create real connection, clarity, choice and forward action.

We build on this foundation with a thorough training in the co-active coaching model, together with selected processes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming. We think it is valuable to have a psychological model to aid our thinking and have chosen Transactional Analysis, widely used in business and personal development. Throughout the programme the International Coach Federation (ICF) Core Competencies provide the criteria and framework for evaluating participants’ growing coaching skills.

Module 2 - 3 days in length, presented over a weekend including a Friday or Monday. This module will be delivered after the end of Module 1. To qualify you must attend all three days of this module.

The aim of this module is to provide the learner with further knowledge of the issues associated with the use of coaching in a number of different professional contexts. The module will focus on the complexities of contracting in organisations, the challenges of internal coaching, systems thinking and supervision. It will also have a focus on coaching within different contexts and the marketing that is necessary for the establishment of a coaching practice.

Methodology

Our teaching style reflects a person-centred approach to adult learning. Our principal method is experiential learning: learning by doing, coupled with personal reflection and exploration. We include mini-lectures, course notes, discussion groups, experiential work in twos and threes, video input and tape recording. Places on our training programmes are limited to ensure that each student is regularly observed (with three formal observations) and receives detailed feedback from the trainers as well as the mentors.

During the training programme, you should allow about five hours per week for reading, peer coaching practice and written work.