Defining Principles

1. Being a great coach is about who you are as well as what you do.

Coaching is more than a set of tools and techniques, it is a highly refined combination of advanced knowledge, technical skill, intuition, and “knowing”. A good coach is able to draw on their own experience and must be able to ‘walk the talk’. For this reason we structure our program so that students first apply a new skill or technical to themselves, then practice on peer coaching clients and finally apply to real coaching situations.  By experiencing the coaching techniques first hand students have a deeper understanding of how to apply them to their clients.

2. “Doing” is critical to the learning process.

Coaching and being coached are critical to the learning process. Our Peer Coaching Program means you get coach the minute you enroll. You immediately begin learning and experiencing the role of the “client”. This is an often overlooked part of becoming a coach and is a great introduction to actually conducting coaching yourself.

3. The ‘drip feed’ vs the ‘fire-hose’ method of training

Anyone who has ever been to one of those 3 day (all day) training sessions knows that you only retain about 20% of what you learn. And there is often very little room for reflection. We believe reflection is a critical part of the learning process, without it your learning is in danger of staying at a superficial level only. However if you get the opportunity to learn, practice and reflect your learning will be deeper and more sustainable (in fact it’s not unlike coaching on that level)

So our training always allows for constant interaction between theory and practice and ample time for reflection. We deliberately structure our classes in a consistent “drip” (ongoing classes, daily, weekly, monthly) instead of a ‘fire-hose’ event (intensive all day, multiple day workshops)

4. Flexibility -  “Just in Time Learning” (ie ongoing delivery of over 60 teleclasses a week)

It is now well accepted amongst learning professionals that students learn best when they want to learn and when their learning is relevant to their lives. So to use a simple example – if you were taught how to change a tire or how to bake a cake at a time decided by someone else your learning will not be nearly so deep as it would be if you learnt that skill at the time of need. This is is a really important point and deserves repeating. Your learnign is going to be deeper, more sustainable and more relevant if you learn what you want to know when you want to know it.

We currently run over 60 classes a week across all 3 international timezones so students can flexibly attend classes.

5. No Single Theory. No Single Model

We believe coaching as a profession has been influenced by a number of areas of expertise and a number of other professions, theories and disciplines. Some of these are:

• Organizational Psychology
• Health and Wellness Counseling
• Mentoring
• Change Management
• Leadership and Development
• Neuro Linguistic Programming
• Solutions Focused psychology
• Emotions Intelligence
• Spirituality & Self Development

We believe coaching is an entirely new profession that draws on a range of disciplines and theories. Therefore we don’t teach one model, rather we encourage students to explore all models and learn all theories.

6. Individual coaches with unique niches, unique markets and unique clients.

Not surprisingly, there are as many coaching models as there are coaching schools. Following on from our “no single theory” policy we also advocate the development of unique coaching models for unique coaches and unique clients. So every student at ICA develops their own coaching model and process. And they do this by taking int o account their previous professional and personal history, their networks and contacts and their passion.  (This process alone is worth the price of the tuition!)

Program Delivery: The Five Modes of Participation

1. Read

Working inside the ICA Learnsite students can download the training modules. Complete with their own set of reflection and application questions as well as a self-test quiz in which students can check their comprehension of the topic. There is also a comprehensive reading list and glossary

2. Research

Each student negotiates an individual research topic. This project is designed to develop knowledge in an area of particular interest and to provide an ongoing engagement at a theoretical level.

3. Discuss

Discussion and conversation are an important part of the program. The ICA Forum functions as an arena for debate, a medium for coaching and a means of developing new knowledge. Due to the international nature of our student body the Forum is populated 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The teleclasses function like tutorials, students experience coaching first hand and learn through in depth class discussion with a diverse range of coaches.

4. Coach

Coaching and being coached are critical elements of our training. Students get to do both in a variety of supervised and unsupervised environments.

5. Reflect

The ICA Forum provides an opportunity to reflect and communicate in a much more powerful way than a traditional classroom allows. In addition, the structure of our timetable (weekly calls over a period of time) enables students to integrate new skills into their coaching practice.