The course project will engage you in a real-world coaching experience. Under the supervision of your instructor and using the material learned in the course, you will coach a working professional who is not affiliated with this course. The individual may be a colleague, friend, or acquaintance but may not be a family member, supervisor, or your employee.
As a student coach, you will help your coachee determine a few professional development objectives that will be the focus of a four-week coaching relationship. Acceptable objectives include (but are not limited to): managing time, improving communication skills, setting goals, improving task completion, creating long-term career goals, identifying new areas of learning and skill development, and taking positive risks. Although in real life, most any personal or professional objective can be the topic in coaching, for the purposes of this exercise, you should guide your coachee towards work-related objectives to enhance your experience and professional skill.
During the four-week coaching experience, you will lead the coachee through a process of weekly, one-hour sessions that will include brainstorming strategies, solutions, and actions designed to assist and support the coachee in meeting the professional development objectives.
As a student coach, you will provide a weekly coaching report to the instructor in the form of a Microsoft Word document. Your coachee will provide an evaluation of your performance at the end of the course.
All goals and objectives need to be approved in advance by the instructor. Your coachee must provide a written release and consent to participate in this project. (All applicable institutional review board [IRB] standards will be followed.)
Week 1 Assignment
For Week 1 of the Coaching Practicum, identify and recruit a suitable coaching partner. Submit a one- or two-paragraph statement that describes your coachee and evaluates why it is a suitable relationship for the project. You must also submit this consent form, signed by your coachee. (You may submit a scanned PDF document of the consent form.)
