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The Structure of the Program |
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THE STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM
DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
How the course is organized
Outline of the course
Two important features
Who will support you
Planning your time
When you enroll in the PCC, you join an intimate group of 20 professionals who study, learn, and practice together for an entire year and quickly form a supportive learning community. No other coaching school offers a continuous, small-group learning environment. The curriculum blends a rigorous course of study with hands-on practice and attention to participants' own individual development.
- The PCC is organized around four face-to-face sessions. Each session lasts from Thursday to Sunday.
- Days run from 9 A.M. to 7 P.M., with a long afternoon break to eat lunch, do a short assignment, walk, and relax.
- In between sessions, you read books from the "Coaches Bookshelf" (see below for details), complete written assignments, coach clients, and undertake your own individual development program.
- As you engage in these activities, you draw upon the support of small learning groups called pods. Each pod works with a pod mentor, an experienced graduate of the program. You also receive periodic coaching from the course faculty.
- Session One focuses on building a strong and supportive community and cultivating your capacity to be present, mindful, and a skilled observer of yourself and others. On Sunday, the course leader coaches you (and others) and designs an individual development program for you. This begins your initiation into the "two tracks" of Integral Coaching: the simultaneous focus on your clients' development and your own development.
- Between Sessions One and Two, by engaging in your own personal development program, you begin to develop the body of a coach and the capacity to witness how distinctions and practices can impact someone's life (in this case, your own).
- In Session Two we turn our attention to the three core models and their use with clients. We discuss the stages of a coaching relationship, the elements of a proposal, and how to design and conduct an Integral Coaching program. Also, an entire day is dedicated to moving our own bodies using Wendy Palmer’s Conscious Embodiment work. We focus on developing the body of a coach, recognizing how clients hold emotions and patterns in their bodies, and designing customized body practices for clients.
- Between Sessions Two and Three, your attention expands to include not only your development and that of your classmates, but also the practice of coaching. As you work with three to five clients, your pod, pod mentor, and other faculty all support you in making grounded assessments, offering powerful distinctions, and designing practices and self-observation exercises. It is here that you begin gaining first-hand experience in blending inquiry and advocacy in the cauldron of relationship.
- Session Three emphasizes practice. By working with your classmates, a "guest client" from outside, and coaches acting as observers, you learn to simultaneously be present with clients and draw upon the rich models and frameworks.
- Between Sessions Three and Four, you continue to work with clients, writing up case descriptions in which you reflect on your experiences and what you have learned. You also receive feedback from the faculty on tape-recorded conversations with clients and continue to focus on your individual development.
- The heart of Session Four is the certification process, which takes place on Friday and Saturday. This involves live coaching in front of a certification committee and the discussion of coaching cases. Again, the focus is on the "two tracks": both your development and your work with clients. Sunday is a day of closure, on which you and your classmates offer gratitude to each other, one by one.
Two features of the course mentioned above are worth describing in detail:
- Individual development programs. The program that you receive from the course leader in Session One sets a tone and structure for the year. Being coached about something that matters to you provides a visceral experience of Integral Coaching from the client's perspective. In addition, the practices you receive and undertake help you become the kind of person who can create such relationships with others; so this is not only personally powerful, but also very practical in enhancing your ability to coach.
- "Coaches Bookshelf" and written assignments. You receive a "Coaches Bookshelf" of ten books that span widely across different disciplines and knowledge bases. One month you may read a book about the physiology of breathing; the next, a work of twentieth-century philosophy; and the next, a guide to being present and mindful amid life's turbulence. The intent is to spark your curiosity by delving into subjects that are essential to coaching and outside your "normal" range of learning. In addition, you complete written assignments such as the application of the core models to a coaching case, essays about how everyday life informs your coaching, reflections on your readings, and the development of a vision of your future. These assignments further help you embody the "two tracks" of Integral Coaching.
Learning to coach is not something we can do alone. Throughout the year, you receive support and extensive feedback from a very experienced faculty and from your classmates in several ways.
- You have two private coaching sessions with the course leader.
- You work with a phone coach who supports you in your personal and professional development through periodic telephone calls.
- You participate with your pod. This pod meets together on a regular basis in between sessions either by telephone or in person (depending upon where people live). Each pod has a pod mentor, an experienced graduate of the program who provides support and counsel. The focus of pod meetings evolves during the year from students' personal development to the models and practices of Integral Coaching to students' experiences coaching clients.
- Individual participants often pair up with each other informally around particular issues of mutual interest.
The PCC involves a substantial investment of time and attention. In addition to the four four-day sessions, participants report that they spend an average of five to ten hours per week on activities (reading, writing, coaching, phone calls, personal practices) related to the program. It is for this reason that we encourage you to look closely at your schedule for the next year and ask two questions.
- Can I make a commitment to this program?
- How do I need to structure my time—and do I need to give up any of my current activities—to make this possible?
Participants who take the time to skillfully explore these questions find a way to integrate the course into their lives (and to integrate their lives into the course). When they experience breakdowns—when life intrudes on their best-laid plans—they ask their classmates and the staff for support in resolving these breakdowns.
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