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Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching
Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching
Become a professional internal or external coach with our triple-accredited (AC, EMCC and ICF) diploma programme and develop your own coaching model, as you deepen your expertise of coaching and coaching techniques.
This diploma has programmes running over the globe, through our AoEC Partners. Programme dates and further information can be seen on our global partner webpages.
This experiential Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching programme, is offered in Great Britain as a virtual programme, in-person, at the weekend and as an in-house programme for organisations. Interested in in-house delivery? Contact Karen Smart in our Organisations Team for more info.
This programme is accredited by:
Don't miss out on our only Practitioner Diploma weekend programme of the year.
Upcoming dates:
09 January 2025 - 16 May 2025
UK/Live Virtual Sessions
14 January 2025 - 08 May 2025
Switzerland/In-person
25 January 2025 - 01 June 2025
UAE/In-person
28 January 2025 - 04 June 2025
London, UK/In-person
04 February 2025 - 11 June 2025
Estonia/In-person
17 February 2025 - 19 June 2025
UK/Live Virtual Sessions
06 March 2025 - 04 July 2025
Kenya/In-person
17 March 2025 - 17 July 2025
London, UK/In-person
18 March 2025 - 15 July 2025
Poland/Live Virtual Sessions
02 April 2025 - 11 September 2025
Ireland & Northern Ireland/Live Virtual Sessions
08 April 2025 - 17 September 2025
UK/Live Virtual Sessions
26 April 2025 - 07 September 2025
UK/Live Virtual Session Weekend programme
15 May 2025 - 12 September 2025
Kenya/Live Virtual Sessions
Introduction to Coaching & Becoming a Qualified Executive Coach Open Event
Register your place on one of our free, one-hour virtual learning events for more insights into our programme and the chance to meet our expert faculty.
It is a requirement of the programme that you stay with the same cohort through all three modules and assessment day and complete them in full.
Why choose to train with us?
Coaching skills are a new currency for the 21st century workplace. Supporting individual, team and organisational performance, coaching is becoming a natural and habitual part of organisational design and people development strategies. Enriching people, their careers and our businesses, coaching promotes good governance, responsible leadership and sustainable growth.
- Benefits for you
- Benefits for your organisation
- Our training provides you with the ability to work as a coach in your own right or to add this as part of a portfolio career
- Identify your own strengths and overcome self-limiting beliefs
- Deepen your self-awareness to become better at understanding and reading others
- Improve your skills in communicating, building relationships and supporting others
- Gain greater insight into others and their ways of being and doing
- Develop new strategies to support, engage, motivate and empower others to perform more effectively
- Helps support the development of your wider workforce and top performers through deeper people skills
- Enriches your people and their work life cycles by encouraging employees to adopt self-directed learning
- Supports your succession planning and talent management pipeline
- Better supports individual and organisational resilience and performance with a more effective health, work and wellbeing strategy
- Helps refine the employability skills of new hires and future leaders
- Improves performance management with better goal setting and review processes
- Improves employee engagement and accountability
- Enhances management and leadership skills
Listen to an interview with one of our graduates
What you will learn
Indispensable and comprehensive coaching skills – the diploma covers a range of coaching methodologies and is expertly balanced around industry leading knowledge, supervised practise during modules, personal reflection and coaching experience between modules.
How to coach effectively – you will learn about the theory and put this into action working with two practice clients as part of the programme using a comprehensive range of tools and techniques.
Who you are as a coach and how to create your own signature model – you will explore a variety of effective coaching models and by drawing on what aligns with you, will discover your own unique style.
How to become an accredited coach – we offer you a free 12-month AoEC individual accreditation. Training with the AoEC also offers an effective route to professional accreditation with three of the industry’s leading professional bodies.
How you learn
Held over a series of three live 2-day modules plus an assessment day and supported by an elearning programme, your learning will mirror the Beginnings, Middles and Endings of the executive coaching process.
The experiential style of the programme allows you to practise coaching skills from day one and learning about the psychological underpinnings will enable you to deepen your understanding of how people function, grow and change.
Your learning is supported in a safe, secure and confidential environment to enable you to be comfortable and confident in applying your skills and coaching others in groups of three or four.
You will be led by expert faculty who are all highly experienced executive coaches and will receive constructive feedback to develop your abilities and confidence.
Your learning experience
Learning is shared through faculty-led sessions with skills practise in small groups with your peers.
The programme’s blended learning and experiential style exposes you to a range of methods and theories. We will work with you to identify, mould and develop your own model, your own style, your own signature presence, through:
- Three 2-day modules approximately six weeks apart
- Small group discussion after each of the modules to deepen understanding
- 10 hours of mentor coaching at ACC (Associate Certified Coach) level
- An assessment day to complete the programme
Accreditation
If you would like to become an accredited coach, there are two components that require your consideration.
The first is that you will need to do a programme that is accredited. This programme has been accredited by the main internationally recognised coaching bodies - being one of the few triple accredited programmes worldwide – the International Coaching Federation (ICF), EMCC Global, and Association for Coaching (AC).
We can therefore offer you professional credentials that will be recognised internationally.
The second thing to consider is your own individual accreditation. Each professional body has similar, but different requirements for individual coach accreditation at different levels. Completion of this programme will provide you with the following:
EMCC Global
The Practitioner Diploma holds the EMCC Global Quality Award (EQA) at Practitioner level.
Graduates of the Practitioner Diploma have completed the training requirements for EMCC Global Individual Accreditation (EIA) at Practitioner level.
International Coaching Federation (ICF)
The AoEC is a Level 1 ICF Accredited Coaching Education Provider.
The Practitioner Diploma is a Level 1 programme and accredited by the ICF for 64 total hours of coach-specific education.
Graduates of the Practitioner Diploma have completed the education hours, mentor coaching, and performance evaluation requirements for ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC).
Association for Coaching (AC)
The Practitioner Diploma holds Accredited Award in Coach Training status with the AC.
Graduates of the Practitioner Diploma have completed the training requirements for Foundation Executive Coach and are eligible for AC Accelerated Accreditation.
For further information on routes to coach accreditation please click here
This programme is accredited by:
FAQs
Who is the Practitioner Diploma programme for?
The diploma is appropriate for people with a working understanding of coaching and is suitable for experienced coaches and professionals who want to become qualified, or who are building a portfolio career.
People on previous courses have included:
- Managers and team or group leaders of all levels
- Human resource and talent development professionals
- Leadership and development roles
- People in employment transition or returning to work
- Chief executive officers
- Employees that have been requested to attend by their managers
- In-house coaches
- Individuals looking to become a coach or add coaching skills to their own business
- Head teachers and university employees
- Military personnel
- Counsellor & Psychotherapists
Is the course ICF Level 1 accredited?
Yes, the AoEC is recognised by the ICF as a Level 1 ICF Accredited Coaching Education Provider.
The Practitioner Diploma is a Level 1 programme and accredited by the ICF for 64 total hours of coach-specific education.
How many people will be on the Practitioner Diploma course?
This live programme is limited to 20 participants to ensure we deliver a high-quality learning experience and that you receive direct individual feedback from faculty.
Is the Practitioner Diploma course residential?
No
Do you run a weekend course?
Yes we do run weekend courses and they get booked up pretty quickly. Keep an eye on the right hand side of this page for weekend course availability.
How do I apply for the Practitioner Diploma course?
You can apply for any of our Practitioner Diploma programmes online which are available throughout the year and offered in a choice of locations (available virtually dependent on individual country guidance).
If you would like to find out more before applying, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be delighted to help you in any way we can.
Is there any pre-course work on the Practitioner Diploma?
There is a questionnaire, some recommended pre course reading and also some online learning via the interactive e-learning portal (approximately two hours).
You are expected to find a minimum of two practice clients to work with during the programme (to be ready following module one onwards). We will provide some guidance around this.
How much work is there to do between modules?
As the programme is spaced out across 5-6 months, you can manage your time reasonably flexibly between modules.
Commitments pre and post modules:
- Pre Module 1: Recommended reading and around 1.5 hr of online pre-course viewing via our interactive e-learning portal.
- Post Module 1:
You will be required to start working with your practice clients (x 2) and log at least 10 coaching hours by the end of the programme. We recommend 1 or 2 x 1 hour practice coaching sessions per client following each module.
You will also need to join a group mentor coaching session, held via webinar or dial in for 1 hr and 1 small group discussion for 1.5hr, which is held either face to face/ webinar / dial in ( Depending on the location and agreement set between yourself and the small cohort that you chose to work with from your group during the module ). Individual Mentor Coaching sessions with a faculty member are held via skype or webinar or dial-in for 1 hr. Around 2 hrs of online interactive e-learning is to be completed.
- Post Module 2:
Practice coaching sessions x 2-4. Group Mentor Coaching session x 1, Small Group Discussion x 1, Individual Mentor Coaching session x 1. Two hours of interactive e-learning to be completed.
- Post Module 3:
Practice coaching sessions x 2 to 4. Group Mentor Coaching session x 1, Small Group Discussion x 1, Individual Mentor Coaching session x 1, Individual Tutorial with faculty member held via skype or webinar or dial in for 30 minutes (usually added on to the individual Mentor Coaching session). Two hours of interactive e-learning to be completed.
As well as the above, for the assessment you will be required to complete a 3,000 word learning essay and prepare a short presentation (20 minutes) of your coaching model.
Who are the Practitioner Diploma faculty?
Our faculty are all highly experienced executive coaches in their own right with a range of backgrounds in various professional sectors. Each module will be led by two core faculty members and where there are more than 16 participants on the programme, there will be three faculty members on hand. Click here to see a list of faculty.
Is it possible to complete the Practitioner Diploma around a full time job?
The programme has been designed to be completed around a full time job. It is a challenge and will require some of your spare time but the majority of people that complete this programme do so around working.
How much does it cost to do the Practitioner Diploma?
The programme is run repeatedly throughout the year and in different locations. Due to its global nature, please check the price at the time of booking or contact us directly to discuss costs in more detail.
What does the programme fee include?
Face to face programme price includes all study materials, refreshments and lunch.
If a virtual programme - lunch and refreshment will not be included.
Is funding available for my Practitioner Diploma training?
In England, Wales and Scotland you will receive 10% off the Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching programme if you have previously completed the Coaching Skills Certificate with us.
We understand that investing in your professional development can be a significant commitment. That is why we are pleased to offer interest-free payment plans for self-funders interested in our programmes and payment plans are available on all Diploma courses; Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching, Professional Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching, Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching, Systemic Team Coaching Diploma and Resilience Accreditation Diploma.
As our courses typically span a number of months, we can discuss spreading your payments over an agreed-upon period, depending on timescales and circumstances.
Upon submitting your application, simply select the interest-free payment option. Once processed, our accounts team will be in touch to agree a payment plan to suit you. At this time, you will receive your first invoice detailing when payments are due.
Whilst our payment plan offers flexibility, it's important to note that it forms an agreement between yourself and the AoEC.
Should you have any questions or require further information, please don't hesitate to contact us. We're here to support you on your journey.
Please contact us for further information.
What is your dress code?
We recommend wearing comfortable, casual clothing on course dates.
What happens if I cannot attend all of the module dates?
We advise against missing days wherever possible and recommend working in the same cohort for the full duration of the course to enhance your personal learning journey and network building. If for any reason you need to transfer to another programme, we will work with you to ensure the best possible outcome.
What does the Practitioner Diploma assessment involve?
The assessment consists of a full day with presentations held in the morning and coaching demonstrations in the afternoon. Your 3,000 word essay will need to be completed and emailed to the relevant faculty member in advance of your assessment day.
What happens if I don’t pass the Practitioner Diploma course?
The programme includes an assessment day and if for any reason, you do not pass, our faculty will continue to work closely with you to ensure you can re-submit your essay or repeat your demonstration or presentation.
What additional support do I receive upon graduation?
On graduation you will receive a free 12-month AoEC individual accreditation. You will also receive free membership of the AoEC’s Alumni Association along with discounted insurance and other discounts to specific services.
Are there any language requirements?
In the UK and most countries the programme is delivered in English.
You must be able to speak and understand clear English to undertake this programme.
Some of our Partners deliver in the local language - please contact them to discuss.
Can I transfer course credit?
We expect applicants to commit to and complete the full programme. We don't currently accept transfers of course credit from other programmes. If, in exceptional circumstances, you do not complete the full programme, we will provide written confirmation of the hours completed.
What past participants have said:
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