Coach training is a process through which one learns the skills, activities, and ethics that the coaching profession abides by when coaching clients. Coach training can also give you the requirements you need to apply for official certification as a coach.

This coach training program was designed to give you a clear and comprehensive understanding of the structures, processes, goals, and strategies that coaches in higher education can use to assist their clients and effect change in a range of settings and environments. Each part of the training program will offer you a new building block for your own coaching practice, including a diverse and multi-faceted set of tools and activities that you will be able to use with your coaching clients to help them achieve their goals.

Regardless of your current level of experience as a practicing coach in higher education, the aim of this training is to help you to build a strong understanding of the fundamentals of coaching. The training was built for:

• coaches already working in higher education settings such as student success coaches or educational developers who want to further develop their skills or pursue a coaching credential
• higher education professionals in a range of settings such as student affairs, leadership roles, or human resources who want to augment their skills with coaching tools and strategies
• coaches who want to work with faculty, higher education professionals, or undergraduate or graduate students and are looking for training specific to the higher education context
• seasoned higher education professionals looking for meaningful work as they transition into retirement

Each course in this training program includes weekly synchronous training sessions where you will meet with other participants for two hours each week at a designated time.

All synchronous training sessions take place via Zoom and are a mix of content delivery, observation of coaching techniques, and practicing coaching techniques with a partner.

Sessions are recorded for participants who need to miss a session or who want to review the recording at a later time.

To ensure that you are achieving the coaching milestones required by the ICF Core Competencies, you will also engage in observed coaching sessions throughout your training that will be formally evaluated.

Each observed coaching session in this program includes the submission of a coaching recording, and the review of that recording with a trainer who is ICF certified as ACC or above. In at least four observed coaching sessions you will receive written feedback on your use of the ICF Core Competencies in the observed coaching session.

Opportunities to schedule observed coaching sessions will be noted in the course syllabi.

To ensure personalized support of your development as a coach, this training includes both individual and group mentor coaching sessions.

Individual mentoring sessions can be scheduled at your convenience and will include reviewing a recording of a coaching session and discussing techniques and strategies.

In a group mentor coaching environment, we will listen to recordings of training participants’ coaching sessions and then review fundamentals of coaching together. All mentor sessions take place via Zoom. Each session is recorded for participants who want to review or revisit the recording at a later time.

Throughout your training, you will also be expected to complete homework and independent study assignments. These asynchronous hours outside of session meetings can include reading the required course materials, completing the program’s required practice coaching hours, and various other activities that may occur outside of the synchronous meetings to help you develop as a coach.

Homework and independent study expectations are outlined in more detail in each training syllabus.

You will also be provided with a way to track these hours for submission when the program is complete.

The International Coach Federation requires 100 hours of coaching experience for ACC-level certification and 500 hours of coaching experience for PCC-level certification.

In this coach training program, you will begin to collect those hours of experience through practice clients. The required hours of practice coaching will offer you the opportunity to test out techniques learned in training and to learn more about your own coaching preferences and strengths.

Practice coaching hours are collected by each person on their own time, and can include peer coaching hours with other program participants that are collected outside of regular training hours.

Each course in the training program includes a comprehensive (and fun!) assessment of learning. Participants who complete the entire training receive a final assessment of their coaching in a formal training environment.