Advanced Management Diploma in Executive Coaching

Context

Selecting the right coach training is a difficult decision. We appreciate that. There are several offerings on the market and, at present, no industry-wide validating body to set standards and guarantee consistency of product and quality. With this offering we are committed to addressing the situation.

As a founder member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) Peter Bluckert is playing an active role alongside other senior practitioners in developing the coaching profession.

An ethical code is now available and standards for both coach practitioners and training course providers will emerge in the coming months which should give greater peace of mind to those people looking to hire a coach or invest in their own coach training. Until then you have my personal assurance that we have taken these issues very seriously indeed in the design and delivery of our own coaching courses. We are confident that our postgraduate programmes contain all the key elements which in future will be seen as industry-wide good practice:

• Breadth and depth of theoretical input
• Intensive coach practice sessions with high quality feedback from course tutors
• 100 face-to-face training hours
• Requirement to build up supervised hours of coaching practice in between workshops
• Group supervision at workshops
• Demonstration sessions from course tutors
• Postgraduate level award
• Course design reflects the three higher level competency categories of business executive coaching namely: business-mindedness, coaching skill and psychological-mindedness
• A coaching approach based on the development of emotional intelligence

Our Philosophy of Coach Education

The theoretical aspects of coach education are a vital aspect of learning to coach effectively but theory of itself does not produce an excellent coach. Coaching, after all, is a practical activity and any coach training worth its salt must be grounded in sound professional practice. This is why we devote so much attention to our practice/feedback model of coach development. At each workshop you work in trios rotating around the roles of coach, coachee and observer. The feedback and learning from these sessions is often the most significant part of the programme for many.

However there is yet another fundamental dimension to advanced coach training and that is the personal development of the coach. We strongly believe that the coach needs a place to address and work through their own issues if they are to operate with the emotional intelligence required of an effective coach. Our coaching certificate pays special attention to this and is a hall-mark of our approach. 666666;">Finally, we are firm advocates of coaching supervision as essential to good professional practice and build this into our workshop structure.

Key considerations if you are researching the coach training market

There are three categories of coach training on the market:

• Non-validated coach training courses

• Courses validated by the provider organisation

• Courses designed and delivered by a specialist coaching consultancy and validated, typically at postgraduate level, by a partnering University.

A. Who this course is designed for

This course will fit your needs if you are:

• A practising business coach who wants a more thorough grounding in coaching methodology and to improve their coaching skills.
• An internal HR director or training/od consultant who wants to expand his/her knowledge and skills.
• A chartered/occupational psychologist specialising in assessment/development who wants to enhance their coaching capacity
• A line manager who wants to coach more effectively as part of their management and leadership style.
• A retiring executive who wishes to add Executive Coaching to their portfolio of consultancy activities or to make it the main offering.
• An aspiring coach from a related professional background such as counselling, psychotherapy, teaching, business psychology etc.
• Someone who wants an advanced level programme which carries a post-graduate university award.

B. Course Structure

There are six workshops over a full calendar year. This provides the equivalent of 100 training hours. Workshop 1 is a two day residential. All the remainder are non-residential.

C. Course Content

1. Coaching Theory and Principles
   Relevant concepts and thinking from Coaching, Management/Leadership theory, Consulting Psychology, OD and Change Management, Sports Coaching/Psychology, Adult Learning Theory, Human Growth and Potential Movement, Counselling/Psychotherapy, and Success literature.
2. The Coaching Relationship
   How to create a safe, supportive yet challenging environment that produces trust, respect and the conditions for learning.
3. Key Coaching Skills
   The full spectrum of coaching skills both basic and advanced including:- listening, questioning, feedback, challenging, goal setting, the centrality of awareness etc.
4. Key dimensions of a Coaching Session
   How to work with the client's story, their thought processes, their emotions and the coach's use of self.
5. The Six Key Factors in Successful Coaching
   Good coaching process, good coaching method, the skills, experience and commitment of the coach, the coaching relationship, the coachability of the client and professional boundary management.
6. The Psychology of Coaching
   The psychological and emotional dimensions to performance issues. The personal development of the coachee and the coach. Psychological skills and concepts relevant to coaching drawing on thinking from cognitive/behavioural psychology, psychodynamic theory, constructive developmental psychology and Gestalt.
7. The Use of Self
   Using one's own internal processes as a source of information and a guide to intervention.
8. Corporate Applications of Coaching
   The key applications of coaching in the organisational context including coaching for leadership development, coaching for behavioural change, team coaching and facilitation, coaching for emotional intelligence, coaching for culture change. The differences between coaching, mentoring, counselling and consulting.
9. Line Manager and Internal HR Coaching
   The key skills of line management and internal HR coaching, the benefits of adopting a coaching style, and the issues involved when acting as an internal coach.
10. Executive Coaching
    The overall competencies of an Executive Coach, types of issues brought to sessions and how to structure the Executive Coaching process.
11. Coaching Ethics and Good Professional Practice
    Working to an ethical code, the role of supervision, boundary management and the importance of CPD. Future issues for an emerging profession - regulation and accreditation.
12. Applying the Learning
    Developing a strategy for practicing your coaching whether you are a line manager, internal HR specialist or independent business coach.

D. Practice and Skill Development

This is achieved by regular coach practice / feedback sessions held at every workshop of the training programme. You work in small groups of three and take turns rotating through the roles of coach, coachee and observer. These are genuine sessions where the coachee brings a live performance issue and not role plays. The quality of the feedback gained in these sessions is a hallmark of the training.

Additionally you are asked to build up a case-load of 4 – 6 coachees back in your work environment and coach regularly between workshops. By the end of the programme you are expected to build up a minimum of 60 supervised hours of coaching practice.

Group supervision is provided at the workshops. If you require more supervision due to volume of work we can help you to arrange this.

Finally there is a demonstration coaching session between a course leader and a member of the training group at most workshops.

E. Personal Development

We strongly advocate the value of being coached yourself during the time you are on the training programme and provide assistance with setting up these arrangements.

We also encourage attendance on other developmental processes which might meet identified areas of learning.

A. Who this course is designed for

This course will fit your needs if you are:

• A practising business coach who wants a more thorough grounding in coaching methodology and to improve their coaching skills.
• An internal HR director or training/od consultant who wants to expand his/her knowledge and skills.
• A chartered/occupational psychologist specialising in assessment/development who wants to enhance their coaching capacity
• A line manager who wants to coach more effectively as part of their management and leadership style.
• A retiring executive who wishes to add Executive Coaching to their portfolio of consultancy activities or to make it the main offering.
• An aspiring coach from a related professional background such as counselling, psychotherapy, teaching, business psychology etc.
• Someone who wants an advanced level programme which carries a post-graduate university award.

B. Course Structure

There are six workshops over a full calendar year. This provides the equivalent of 100 training hours. Workshop 1 is a two day residential. All the remainder are non-residential.

C. Course Content

1. Coaching Theory and Principles
   Relevant concepts and thinking from Coaching, Management/Leadership theory, Consulting Psychology, OD and Change Management, Sports Coaching/Psychology, Adult Learning Theory, Human Growth and Potential Movement, Counselling/Psychotherapy, and Success literature.
2. The Coaching Relationship
   How to create a safe, supportive yet challenging environment that produces trust, respect and the conditions for learning.
3. Key Coaching Skills
   The full spectrum of coaching skills both basic and advanced including:- listening, questioning, feedback, challenging, goal setting, the centrality of awareness etc.
4. Key dimensions of a Coaching Session
   How to work with the client's story, their thought processes, their emotions and the coach's use of self.
5. The Six Key Factors in Successful Coaching
   Good coaching process, good coaching method, the skills, experience and commitment of the coach, the coaching relationship, the coachability of the client and professional boundary management.
6. The Psychology of Coaching
   The psychological and emotional dimensions to performance issues. The personal development of the coachee and the coach. Psychological skills and concepts relevant to coaching drawing on thinking from cognitive/behavioural psychology, psychodynamic theory, constructive developmental psychology and Gestalt.
7. The Use of Self
   Using one's own internal processes as a source of information and a guide to intervention.
8. Corporate Applications of Coaching
   The key applications of coaching in the organisational context including coaching for leadership development, coaching for behavioural change, team coaching and facilitation, coaching for emotional intelligence, coaching for culture change. The differences between coaching, mentoring, counselling and consulting.
9. Line Manager and Internal HR Coaching
   The key skills of line management and internal HR coaching, the benefits of adopting a coaching style, and the issues involved when acting as an internal coach.
10. Executive Coaching
    The overall competencies of an Executive Coach, types of issues brought to sessions and how to structure the Executive Coaching process.
11. Coaching Ethics and Good Professional Practice
    Working to an ethical code, the role of supervision, boundary management and the importance of CPD. Future issues for an emerging profession - regulation and accreditation.
12. Applying the Learning
    Developing a strategy for practicing your coaching whether you are a line manager, internal HR specialist or independent business coach.

D. Practice and Skill Development

This is achieved by regular coach practice / feedback sessions held at every workshop of the training programme. You work in small groups of three and take turns rotating through the roles of coach, coachee and observer. These are genuine sessions where the coachee brings a live performance issue and not role plays. The quality of the feedback gained in these sessions is a hallmark of the training.

Additionally you are asked to build up a case-load of 4 – 6 coachees back in your work environment and coach regularly between workshops. By the end of the programme you are expected to build up a minimum of 60 supervised hours of coaching practice.

Group supervision is provided at the workshops. If you require more supervision due to volume of work we can help you to arrange this.

Finally there is a demonstration coaching session between a course leader and a member of the training group at most workshops.

E. Personal Development

We strongly advocate the value of being coached yourself during the time you are on the training programme and provide assistance with setting up these arrangements.

We also encourage attendance on other developmental processes which might meet identified areas of learning.

F. Assessment and The Award

Each participant completes a Reflective Journal throughout the programme and a project related to the development of his or her coaching practice. Written assignments on topic areas are also required.

The award is at postgraduate level from the UCD Michael Smurfit Business School and is entitled Advanced Management Diploma in Executive Coaching