Professional Coaching Course — Centre for Coaching Switzerland

Professional Coaching Course

A transformative, thorough and rigorous coaching certification programme.

Download the Brochure
Professional Coaching Course

Professional Coaching Course
Starting virtually 28 May 2024

A transformative year-long certification course that is designed to maximize learning and development in a coaching context using proven methodology.

  

 

How this Live-Virtual coach training
course is organized

The Professional Coaching Course (PCC) is designed in collaboration with one of the leading coaching schools in the United States – New Ventures West (NVW). The course is an International Coach Federation (ICF) accredited course and is being run in partnership by the Centre for Coaching, (based at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business) and NVW.

The year-long PCC is part of the 18-month programme offered by the Centre for Coaching that is made up of two courses targeted at different levels. The six-month course (CfD) can be completed separately and offers a stand-alone qualification; however, CfD and PCC are designed to work together as a unit over an 18-month period with ‘soak in’ time between each programme to allow information to beabsorbed and practiced.

It is important to emphasize that using our state-of-the art, groundbreaking, virtual face-to-face teaching approach means that we are able to give this PCC programme the same depth, experience and level of engagement that we do with our physical face-to-face programmes.

 

Prerequisite: before being accepted into the Professional Coaching Course (PCC), applicants must have completed the Coaching for Development (CfD) course

Professional Coaching Course (PCC)

1 YEAR – 4 MODULES – 16 CONTACT DAYS


Under the auspices of our learning partner, New Venture West, the PCC is accredited by the ICF (International Coach Federation) as an ACTP (Approved Coach Training programme) for 196 hours of Coach training.

PCC Module 1

Get in shape to Coach: Way of Being

PCC Module 2

Theory & Methodology

PCC Module 3

Practice: Guest Clients & Coaches

PCC Module 4

Certification & Completion

CfD + PCC equates to 286 hours of coach specific training. This fulfils the ICF coach
training hour requirements for MCC (Master Certified Coach)

image for block

What to expect when you enroll in
the Professional Coaching Course

When you enroll in the PCC, you join a group of professionals who study, learn, and coach together for an entire year and quickly form a supportive learning community. The curriculum blends a rigorous course of study with hands-on practice and attention to participant’s own individual development.

The course is structured in the
following way

  • The PCC is organized around four virtual face-to-face modules that run from Tuesday to Friday.
  • Days run from 10h00 to 17h30 SAST, with a 1½ hour afternoon break to eat lunch, do a short assignment, walk, and relax.
  • In between modules, you read 10 books from the “Coaches’ Bookshelf”, complete written assignments, coach clients, and undertake your own individual development programme, as you will also receive 1-on-1 coaching during and between modules.
  • As you engage in these activities, you draw upon the support of small learning groups called Pods. Each Pod works together and is assigned a Pod Mentor. You also receive periodic coaching from the course faculty.
image for block

Course Overview – all days run on Zoom

  • Module 1 focuses on building a strong and supportive community and cultivating your capacity to be present, mindful, and a skilled observer of yourself and others. The course leaders coach you (and others) and design an individual development programme 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 Modules 1 and 2, by engaging in your own personal development programme, 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 Module 2 we turn our attention to deepening the three core integral coaching models and their use with clients. We discuss the stages of a coaching relationship, the elements of a coaching programme, and how to design and conduct an Integral Coaching programme.
  • Between Modules 2 and 3, 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 and other faculty all support you in identifying what the coaching invitation might be, 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. Here, too, you start to receive supervision and feedback on your coaching of others. Despite all this activity, it remains essential for you to continue to focus on your own development right through the year.
  • Module 3 emphasizes practice. By working with your classmates, a “guest client” from outside, and PCC-qualified coaches acting as observers, you learn to simultaneously be present with clients and draw upon the rich models and frameworks.
  • Between Modules 3 and 4, you continue to work with clients, writing up case descriptions in which you reflect on your experiences and what you have learned. You also continue to receive feedback from the faculty on recorded conversations with clients, continue to focus on your individual development, and receive one-on-one coaching from faculty.
  • The heart of Module 4 is the certification process, which takes place over two or three days. This involves the discussion of live-recorded video coaching cases in front of the certification committee. Again, the focus is on the “two tracks”: both your development and your work with clients. The last day of Module 4 is a time of closure, where you and your classmates offer gratitude to each other, one by one.
Image description

Three important features

  • Proudly South African. We are proud to be the first coach training organization in Africa to have been founded at the University of Cape Town in 2002 and one of the longer-standing coach training institutions worldwide, not only on the African continent. We have spent years understanding the complexities of our diverse nation, continent, and planet and how to weave this into how we teach and coach. We raise this as a continuing dialogue within the faculty and student body, encouraging profound openness and conversation. Over the years, we have been privileged to work with an enormously diverse array of students and graduate coaches, any of whom now grace our programmes as highly skilled faculty. Many international applicants come to us precisely because they seek a learning environment that is rich with diversity. Now, more than ever, this is being recognized across the globe as a truly critical aspect of any studies involving personal development and interacting with other human beings.
  • Individual development programmes. The programme you receive from the course leader in Module 1 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 coachee’s perspective. In addition, the practices you receive and undertake help you become the person who can create such relationships with others; so this is not only personally powerful, it is also efficient 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.

Who will support you?

Learning to coach is not something we can do alone. Throughout the year, you receive support from the staff at the Centre for Coaching, the PCC faculty and your classmates in several ways:

  1. You have two in-class, and two private virtual 1-on-1 coaching sessions with the course leaders.
  2. You work with a Mentor Coach who supports you in your personal and professional development through periodic private 1-on-1 virtual coaching sessions.
  3. You receive written feedback from your Mentor Coach who listens to recordings of different coaching sessions that you conduct with your clients and who gives you insight as to how closely your own live coaching methodology is aligned with the integral coaching principles that you have been taught
  4. You participate with your learning pod. This pod meets together virtually on a regular basis in between modules. 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. Each pod is assigned a Pod Guide, who is a PCC-certified coach and who is there to support you and the pod.
  5. Individual participants often pair up with each other informally around particular issues of mutual interest. We encourage you to ‘buddy-up’ with a self-chosen partner. Sometimes this is done face-to-face, although these days it is primarily done virtually..

Tuition fees 2024

These fees include all Live-Virtual modules, books, materials, pod meetings, coaching sessions, and certification.

CHF 11’500

  • A CHF 1,000 non-refundable, non-transferable deposit is required no later than six weeks before the start of the course. If your application is not accepted, your deposit will be returned. If it is accepted and you cancel your booking, we will retain your deposit. Course fees are payable before the start of the course. Payment plans are available. Please email info@centreforcoaching.ch for further details.

Course Leader

Course Leader

Janine Ahlers

Academic Director BA PDM (HR)
LRSM MBA MCC

Janine Ahlers is a Master Certified Integral Coach and Director of the Centre for Coaching Consulting (Europe, Africa and Middle East), a global leadership consultancy and executive coaching practice, as well as Director of the Centre for Coaching, a centre for excellence situated at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). She also holds the position of Senior Lecturer at UCT, where she lectures in Coaching and Leadership Development to MBA and Executive Education students. She has delivered and published research papers, as well as having published book chapters and articles on the topic of coaching in leadership development.

Course Dates

You are required to be present for all days of all modules to certify. Please make sure you are available for the full days and evenings for each of these modules, as there are assignments to do within each module. The work is intensive and requires your full attention. We use the Zoom platform, and you will need a reliable and high-speed internet connection.

MODULE 1

4 Days:
Tuesday 28 May – Friday 31 May 2024

MODULE 2

4 Days:
Tuesday 17 September – Friday 20 September 2024

MODULE 3

4 Days:
Tuesday 11 February – Friday 14 February 2025

MODULE 4

4 Days:
Tuesday 10 June – Friday 13 June 2025

Application Process

If you are interested in the Professional Coaching Course, please complete the enquiry form below or email us at info@centreforcoaching.ch for more information. You can contact our Programme Director, Michele Stoudmann at +41 (79) 242 77 90

PCC is an in-depth journey of human discovery. Discovery of SELF and discovery of THE OTHER. Our modern western society has conditioned us to look for answers outside, to find meaning and validation in the external world, when, in fact, one needs to start WITHIN. True and lasting transformation starts with(in) the individual, at the individual level. Coaching, at its core, is about the art (and science) of masterful INQUIRY, formulating powerful and timely questions that have the possibility to change or expand a person’s perspective and way of seeing and showing up in the world. PCC equips you for this process, robustly. It enables you, not only to uncover the many layers and the armour that you did not know you had built up over a lifetime yourself, and how to proceed purposefully and impactfully with this new awareness, but it simultaneously prepares you to activate and enable this transformative process for others. What a privilege. The course design and delivery are world class, the level of detail and the rigour rare. I would recommend PCC to anyone who is seriously curious about the human condition and who seeks to unlock and unleash human potential, for themself and for others.

Åsa Maria Granados

Åsa Maria Granados

Transformation & Empowerment Coach, V I R I D I T A S


Course Credentials

New Ventures West (NVW), one of the leading coaching schools in the USA, founded in 1987, is a San Francisco-based organisation dedicated to having people be both effective and fulfilled in their work as integral coaches.

Under the auspices of our learning partner, New Ventures West, the Coaching for Development (CfD) Course and the Professional Coaching Course (PCC) provide Approved Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH) to go towards receiving your International Coach Federation (ICF) Credentials. CfD is a prerequisite for the one-year Professional Coaching Course (PCC), which is an Accredited Coach Training Programme (ACTP) through the ICF. On completion of these two programmes, you will have 286 Approved Coach Specific Training Hours. This fulfils the International Coach Federation coach educational requirements for MCC (Master Certified Coach) credentials with the ICF.

The Centre for Coaching is a Specialised Centre based at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB), South Africa – a global top-100 executive business school. The Centre for Coaching’s programmes are all underwritten by the GSB and form part of the GSB Executive Education suite of offerings – and so are informed by both academic rigour and coaching practice.

Launched in April 2006, Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA) is an inclusive, umbrella professional association for individual and corporate providers, buyers and trainers of coaching and mentoring services.The Centre for Coaching is a registered Training Institution and Coaching/Mentoring Company member of COMENSA. The Centre for Coaching Facilitators, Craig O’Flaherty and Janine Ahlers, are also both members.

image for block

Application Process

If you are interested in the Professional Coaching Course, please complete the enquiry form below or email us at info@centreforcoaching.ch for more information or to schedule a call with one of our directors. You can contact our Programme Director, Michele Stoudmann at +41 (79) 242 77 90

Complete enquiry form