Questions and Answers about the Course

Who is the PGCPLC for?
Why should I take this course?
What do we mean by leadership coaching?
How is the PGCPC different from other coach training courses?
What is the approach to learning on the course?
What is the broader context for the course?
What are the outcomes – what will I have at the end?
Who leads and delivers this course?
What are the Institute of Psychosynthesis and Psychosynthesis Coaching Limited?

Who is the PGCPLC for?

Self-aware and self-actualising coaches who want to continue working on themselves as part of an holistic approach to professional development

Coaches who have hit up against the limitations of their existing training and experience, and want to learn how to work psychologically to deal with emotional issues and spiritual challenges (e.g. of identity, purpose, meaning, values and crisis)

Organisational leaders or professionals who are starting out on a coaching career and want a suitable coach training programme that recognises and builds upon their level of experience and development

Counsellors and therapists who are looking for a coach conversion training that enables them to work at depth with leaders in organisations

We welcome both external and internal coaches, working within all types of organisation; corporate, large, medium or small; commercial businesses, public services such as local authorities, health and education, charities and not-for-profit. The coaching experience of our teaching faculty encompasses all of these and more.

Why should I take this course?

Your primary motivation might be:

  • To further your development as a coach
  • to get yourself going on a solid foundation within a coaching career, or
  • specifically to gain a post-graduate certificate qualification or relevant accreditation as a leadership coach.

There are many different coaching training courses on offer and it is important that you think carefully about your needs and how to choose the right one for yourself. We have set up this PG Cert programme because of a very clear gap in the market for a course that enables coaches to work at a deeper level with their clients, through a commitment to working on themselves alongside advanced professional development to become more psychologically minded and able to use the self as an instrument of change.

This PGCPLC is both a new standalone programme, and the new starting point for the Institutes MA in Psychosynthesis Psychology applied to Coaching, that has existed in various forms for several years, and has now been adapted accordingly to follow on from the PGCPC and enable students to gain an MA within two years of additional study.

What do we mean by leadership coaching?

Coaching is a fast growing and increasingly widely accepted professional activity, both within organisations as executive, leadership or management coaching and within society in general as life coaching.

Yet coaching is in the early stage of development as a professional practice and discipline, without well defined boundaries and with an immature knowledge base. Coaching is currently many different things to different people, and the scope of what we call leadership coaching is a relatively specialised part of this. For this reason it is important to create some distinctions between what we are engaged in and all coaching.

So we define coaching as…

  • a supportive, enabling and empowering relationship and activity that honours the autonomy and responsibility of the client
  • and that is goal, future or outcome oriented in purpose

and leadership coaching…

  • takes place within an organisational context involving multiple clients, usually a coaching sponsor as well as individual clients
  • focuses on leadership as a calling rather than as a formal role
  • can involve working with individuals and teams as part of an organisational system

“The nature and scope of the work that is possible in leadership coaching is determined by three things; the professional capability and personal capacity of the coach; the openness and availability of the client; and the nature of the needs and issues they bring. Different coaches can work at a greater or lesser level of depth, involving emotional, personal and psychological ground, depending upon their training, skills and experience.”

How is the PGCPLC different from other coach training courses?

  • There are other programmes that provide a psychological training to enable you to work psychologically as a coach to gain a deeper understanding of human behaviour, usually through the application of a particular school of psychology (NLP, CBT, Gestalt, TA, Psychodynamic, Person Centred, etc). We encompass these other psychologies, but take the coach to a greater level of depth, through the application of Psychosynthesis to leadership coaching
  • Psychosynthesis is an integrative and psychospiritual psychology that is concerned with the whole human being, with all levels of consciousness and unconsciousness, higher as well as lower
  • It encompasses and explores the nature of self, will and being, which equips the coach to tackle core existential issues of identity, purpose, meaning and values, as well as to deal with the significant crises that can arise for their clients*
  • The course integrates the latest learning in psychology and related fields, especially neuroscience, neuropsychology and developmental psychology
  • You will build your developmental awareness of yourself and the leaders you are coaching – as well as situational awareness of organisations, so that you can adapt your coaching approach according to the context and needs of your clients.

*Although this deeper ground may not usually be part of your coaching practice and may never be an explicit part of your work with some clients, what goes on here often has a significant influence on the presenting issues and agendas that your clients bring. Other clients may want to engage more explicitly with issues of connecting with soul or spirit in relation to their work, with mindfulness and building self awareness, with being authentic and fully engaged as a leader, with their life’s purpose and their desire to make a difference.

Levels-of-coach-devel

What else is different about this course?

In addition to core coaching competencies, the course helps you develop six meta-skills:

  1. ability to self-reflect
  2. being present in authentic relationship
  3. psychological mindedness and developmentally awareness
  4. using the self as an instrument of change
  5. recognising and holding multiple perspectives
  6. moving between different levels with the client, e.g. personal and practical, business and psychological

What is the approach to learning on the course?

  • The course is about what it means to be a leadership coach, as well as with what a leadership coach does; about building awareness and experiential knowing, as well as skills and techniques.
  • We include a wide mix of learning activities, including skills practice and role modelling alongside theoretical and experiential learning.
  • About a third of the time we spend together is supervised peer learning practice sessions and there are frequent opportunities to witness the way that other people coach.
  • We use case clinics and fishbowls to learn collectively as a group about what works.
  • The training gives students the professional handrails and personal confidence they need to be able to practice as coaches (alongside continuing supervision during or after the course).

What is the broader context for the course?

Our approach to leadership coach training and development is holistic, integrative and dynamic; holistic in that we include the whole human being within the process of inquiry, reflection and learning that is practiced on the course; integrative in that we include a wide range of approaches drawn from different branches of psychology to support the core psychosynthesis material; dynamic in that we recognise that coaching is a fast growing and developing field with an immature knowledge base, where practice and knowledge continue to inform each other as we adapt to the evolving needs of individuals, organisations and society.

The overriding context of our approach is that leadership coaching is as much concerned with the domain of being as it is with doing, with the nature and nurture of the Self as well as the development of professional practice in terms of awareness, understanding, skills and behaviours, with the coach’s personal development as well as their professional development.

What are the outcomes and benefits – what will I have at the end?

  • Solid grounding in the principles and skills of coaching, including equivalent of ICF core competencies
  • Confidence in using coaching models, strategies and tools that support being an effective leadership coach
  • Ability to work psychologically as a coach and a deeper awareness and understanding of human behaviour and development
  • Understanding of organisational dynamics and the leadership agendas that are brought to coaching
  • Personalised plan for your on-going development as a coach, with option to make a fast-track application for Professional Membership of APECS
  • Option to continue your learning on the MA in Psychosynthesis Psychology applied to Leadership Coaching