Coaching Academy

Coaches for the Advanced Leadership Training Program Class of 2019.

The intention of the RIHEL Coaching Academy is to develop confident and capable coaches who support others with maximizing their personal and professional potential. Through a comprehensive training experience, participants are prepared to effectively practice professional coaching.

The RIHEL Coaching Academy provides a robust six-month coach training experience that prepares participants with the skills and practices essential to providing an effective and valuable coaching experience. The program is limited to 15 participants per class and is open to graduates of one of RIHEL’s comprehensive leadership programs, or anyone who has completed an introductory coaching workshop and has experience being coached by either a peer or professional coach.

Our Coaching Philosophy

At the Regional Institute for Health & Environmental Leadership (RIHEL), we believe that Coaching is the art of being a strategic thinking partner. It is both a communication skill and a development tool for oneself or others.

One of the basic philosophical underpinnings of coaching is that individuals are creative, resourceful and whole. They don’t need fixing. In fact, more often than not, they have the answers to the challenges they face within them. A good coach can help individuals evoke those answers and become aware of possibilities, working alongside them to set goals and craft action plans. Coaching is a collaborative effort that expands a person’s capacity to take effective action.

The context for coaching is a dialogue. It is an ongoing partnership or a sustained alliance between a coach and a person being coached to enhance learning, growth and effectiveness. It is a one-to-one relationship in which the focus is on developing the individual, challenging and supporting that person to become more effective, and to reach his/her own highest levels of competence and ability. Coaching is about unlocking a person’s potential in order to reach new levels of performance. It’s about helping people learn, rather than teaching them.

It is important to note that coaches don’t develop people per se; rather, they guide individuals to develop themselves. Coaches serve as a catalyst for development. A coach is a respectful yet truthful listener, and an unbiased accountability partner. A major role for a coach is to ask good questions that elicit knowledge, wisdom or strategy from the person being coached.

Key Elements

86 hours of coach-specific training

29 training modules

A small class size (max 15 participants!) with individualized guidance and instruction

Interterm assignments, including 5 observed coaching sessions with personal feedback

An online learning management and learning community platform

Coaching tools and resources

Optional Coaching Practicum

Curriculum

The program is delivered through a combination of video-conference and telephonic sessions (in-person sessions will be made available when public health safety permits). All program sessions are presented in English.

The Coaching Academy curriculum develops the coach in the following areas:

Setting the foundation for the coach (roles, ethics, and competencies)
Knowing yourself, working with others, and being your best self as coach
Core coaching skills and competencies
The framework of a coaching conversation
Setting the foundation with the client
Essential practices for effectively managing coaching
Introducing others to coaching
Bringing closure to a coaching relationship

Learn more about the specific curriculum modules here (PDF).

Learn More

Schedule

This program typically consists of five two-day training sessions. However, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule is shifting to an all online program. The tentative dates and times for the next class are listed below and will be confirmed when registration opens this fall. Participants must attend ALL program sessions.

Wednesdays, January 13, 2021 – June 30, 2021
Sessions will range from 2 to 6 hours in length, including breaks, with most averaging around 3 hours total.
In addition, each student will participate in five (5) observed coaching practice sessions between March 1st and June 30th. These sessions wil be scheduled directly between participants and program faculty.

Location: online videoconference via Zoom

Hours: The length of each session varies from 90 minutes to six hours (including breaks)

Registration opens Fall 2020.

Requirements

The Coaching Academy is limited to 15 participants per class and is open to:

Graduates of one of RIHEL’s comprehensive leadership programs

Advanced Leadership Training Program (ALTP)
Advanced Physicians Leadership Program (APLP)
Leadership for Healthy Community Design (LHCD)
Primary Care Movers and Changers (PCMAC) program

OR, anyone who has completed the following requirements:

The RIHEL Introduction to Coaching workshop (or an equivalent training)
Experience being coached by either a peer or professional coach (see RIHEL’s personal coaching services)

Time Commitment. Participants must commit the time required to complete assignments and participate in all of the training sessions.

The sessions take place via videoconference using Zoom and will be held in January through June 2020 (see program schedule above).
Assignments between sessions include readings, self-assessments, on-line discussions, and observed practice coaching labs.

Technology Resources. Participants must have access to the hardware and software to participate in distance learning. The program cannot assume any costs for the computer and communication systems used by participants.

Tuition

Tuition for the 2020 Coaching Academy is $3,500*. This covers:

program instruction
program materials*
online learning management and learning community platform
access to Zoom video conferencing

*Program handouts will be provided electonically by RIHEL. Participants are are responsible for printing their own materials as needed. Other program materials include three books, which participants are responsible for acquiring themselves:

Coaching for Commitment (third edition) by Amy Zehnder, Cindy Coe, and Dennis Kinlaw. Publisher: Pfeiffer (2007).
The Extraordinary Coach: How the Best Leaders Help Others Grow by John H. Zenger and Kathleen Stinnett. Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (2010).
Coaching Questions: A Coach’s Guide to Powerful Asking Skills by Tony Stoltzfus. Publisher: Coach22 Bookstore LLC (2008).

The tuition must be paid by December 30, 2020. Arrangements can be made for an individual payment schedule, if necessary. No refunds will be processed after December 20, 2020.