Coaching Skills Sharpener Series/Group Mentoring

This Skills Sharpener Series is a five-part experience hosted over the span of 10 weeks, designed to give learners practice and feedback about their coaching skills from a highly experienced and certified PCC-level Mentor Coach. Participants will work in groups of no more than ten to practice the skills and competencies required of a PCC-level, ICF-certified, professionally credentialed coach. Participants will take turns coaching one another and providing feedback per the ICF's Core Competencies and PCC Markers, in a group setting. This series will count toward the completion of the ICF's Group Mentoring requirements for both ACC and PCC levels. Participants who attend will be awarded 8 Continuing Coach Education (CCE) units from the ICF. The first five individuals who sign up for the course are guaranteed the opportunity to be a coach-participant if they choose. All others will be coach-observers or clients.

Benefits and Outcomes

• Give and receive feedback about the ICF's core competencies and behavioral markers with a small group of peers and a highly experienced Mentor Coach. Those core competencies include things like:
• How to establish a safe and trusting relationship with a coachee.
• How to co-create goals and focus areas for the coaching engagement and sessions.
• How to monitor one's presence as a coach, including learning how to be open, flexible, grounded and confident.
• How to listen actively, tuning into verbal and non-verbal cues.
• How to formulate and ask powerful questions to help stimulate insights in the person being coached.
• How to uphold the highest ethical standards of professional coaching.
• How to build self-awareness and emotional regulation in oneself as a coach.
• How to use reflective inquiry to deepen the coachee's understanding of self and situation.
• How to honor the coachee as a "whole person" who sits within a particular role, system and/or specific cultural context.
• How to respectfully and directly communicate to cultivate awareness in the coachee.
• How to assist the coachee in identifying and removing potential barriers to growth and transformation.
• How to assist the coachee in identifying and bolstering potential supports of growth and transformation.
• How to partner with a coachee to achieve the coachee's desired outcomes and transformations.
• Focus on developmental areas where each learner has an opportunity to thrive and grow as a professional coach — a highly customized experience for each student.
• Expand one's professional coaching network with others dedicated to mastering the skills of the profession.

Learning Objectives

Learners in this course will be able to:

• Understand the differences between an ACC and PCC-level coaching conversation.
• Recognize and apply PCC-level behavioral skills to their coaching.
• Improve their skills around all eight (8) of ICF's core competencies.
• Self-evaluate their own coaching skill for future improvement and performance.

Learner Level

Beginner to Intermediate.

Who Should Attend:

Professional coaches who want to sharpen their skill set in a safe, fun, and feedback-rich environment.

ICF-certified coaches who seek Mentoring hours toward their ACC or PCC application or renewal.

What attendees are saying...

I would recommend this course wholeheartedly. It was affirming and bolstered my own coaching practice.

It truly was skills sharpening and a fantastic review of core competencies.

I finished my course and ICF exam within the last year and thought this was a wonderful way to remain connected to the pedagogy of coaching. The community of coaches sharing information and ideas was very affirming and something I have missed since completing my coursework.