Our philosophy

At i-coach academy we do not believe there is one way to coach, rather we acknowledge that we all coach differently based on who we are. We also don’t believe that all coaches can coach for every purpose and hold that each coach brings a unique signature to the field. Our programmes and approach celebrate the fact that people are different and we espouse different coaches using diverse approaches for a variety of purposes for coaching.

This diversity, however, is underpinned by a belief that it is important for coaches to embrace the rigour and responsibility of professional coaching practice and to make explicit their individual approach, enabling clients to effectively choose an approach that meets their needs and will result in coaching that makes a difference for them. Thus whilst coaches in the i-coach academy community are quite different in the approach and in the purpose of their coaching, they can articulate a coherent and congruent framework for their professional coaching practice. They also ascribe to continuous learning and are committed to ongoing professional development and supervision for their coaching practice.

Our programmes are characterised by features such as gaining self-knowledge, working collaboratively with others in a dynamic community of practice and exposure to international expert faculty. Self-organised learning and reflective learning principles are also core to our programmes. They inform the creation of an environment and programme structure that focuses on learning as an integrated process, drawing on both informal and formal learning opportunities. At i-coach academy we consider that such diverse and critical thinking, group knowledge-building and open-ended processes, where everything that will happen cannot be planned, results in profound, high-value learning.

We are committed to enabling practitioners to become creators and critical users of knowledge and we seek to recognise and link the critical thinking of academia with the real-world issues confronting the coaching profession. We also aim to help clients play a unique role in implementing change and developing innovative approaches in order to create sustainable solutions to complex issues in the profession.

We encourage the formation of communities of practice to build new learning and increase the essential resources of those communities. These communities will not only comprise the individuals who attend our programmes, but the wider communities in which they live and work and communities who are less fortunate than themselves. We see each of our students as a new potential source of inspiration and new learning, and communities of practice as the foundation of a true coaching profession.