The Executive Coaching Mindset
Topic: Program Overview and Community Building
An essential element of learning the theory and practice of coaching is to create common ground and build a safe learning environment for participants. This module will clarify the rationale behind the program's components, ensuring clarity on operational terms, course anticipations, and familiarity with an experiential learning environment.
Objectives:
- Foster a robust community of executive coaching learners by establishing a common language and becoming familiar with each other.
- Discuss the structure and ambitions of the course, establishing achievable expectations.
Topic: Defining the Coaching Mindset
Participants will exchange insights on what sets the executive coaching mindset apart from traditional teaching, psychotherapy, consulting, mentorship, and management. We will collectively draft a definition synthesized from scholarly sources and real-world applications, aligning it with the ICF's depiction of coaching.
Objectives:
- Define executive coaching and distinguish coaching from other disciplines.
- Differentiate between coaching skills and the coaching mindset.
- Introduce the ICF Competencies and Ethical Guidelines.
Coaching Conversation Dynamics: Active Listening and the Power of Paraphrases and Questions
Topic: The Listening Lab™
The Listening Lab™ is a dynamic educational platform, designed to immerse participants in the art of active listening. This Lab emphasizes the cultivation of presence and the strategic use of paraphrasing and open-ended questions as coaching conversation alternatives to the common conversational habits of advice-giving and problem-solving. It's a space where executive coaches are equipped with the techniques necessary to amplify a client’s self-awareness, guiding them to discover their own resolutions and paths forward.
Objectives:
- Experience the transformative impact of active listening by practicing presence in coaching conversations.
- Practice paraphrasing to ensure understanding and validation of the client's perspective.
- Experiment with use of open-ended questions to facilitate deeper client insight rather than providing direct advice or solutions.
- Enhance skills in fostering client self-awareness, enabling them to uncover and articulate their own solutions.
Topic: Transformational Coaching
We are living in a time of extreme turmoil, and clients need coaches to help them navigate through changes. In this session, we will build on typical human patterns when coping with change and ways to help clients set and reset achievable goals, as well as help them reframe perspectives and overcome limiting beliefs.
Objectives:
- Explore psychological models of change.
- Practice co-creating achievable goals for coaching conversations.
- Explore reframing perspectives.
Leadership Competencies for the Coach
Topic: Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness
Leadership and coaching competencies are intertwined, and coaching itself is a style of leadership. Emotional intelligence is at the heart of both effective leadership and impactful coaching. In this session, participants will explore how emotional intelligence underpins leadership excellence and is integral to the coaching process. We will focus on enhancing the coach's self-awareness and provide targeted strategies for raising awareness.
Objectives:
- Incorporate the research on leadership and emotional intelligence into your coaching practice.
- Cultivate Self-Awareness in coaches and clients.
Topic: The Power of Self-Regulation
This class is designed to equip coaches with a deep understanding of emotional landscapes as a rich source of data for personal development. Participants will learn to recognize and interpret their emotions and triggers and to use this information to assist client development.
Objectives:
- Recognize emotions as data.
- Explore the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of self-regulation, including the role of the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system.
Coaching Power Tools
Topic: The Art of Contracting
The process of co-creating the coaching relationship and establishing a clear coaching contract is fundamental. The potency of coaching is significantly enhanced by the strength of the relationship between coach and client. While forging this bond may appear to be a natural and intuitive endeavor, the research underscores the necessity of iterative goal-setting and solid contracting from the outset. Such upfront clarity and agreement are paramount, rivaling the trust that forms the bedrock of the coaching partnership.
Objective:
- Recognize the power of contracting and goal setting in the coaching relationship.
Integration of Skills
Topic: Coaching Practicum
This session is designed to be an interactive session where participants engage in the roles of coach, coachee, and observer. Guided by a seasoned certified executive coach, attendees will have the opportunity to hone their coaching competencies through practical application. This immersive experience is essential for reinforcing coaching skills and ensuring participants are well-prepared to embark on their professional coaching careers with confidence.
Objectives:
- To apply and refine coaching competencies through practical experience.
- Receive input on coaching skills.