About the Leadership Coaching Project

Thank you for considering the Province V Leadership Coaching Project. Its goal is to help every leader of a church grow in spirituality and in leadership capability. By providing coaches for leaders, the project can change the church.

 

The benefits of coaching are well documented. Coaching creates ministry partnerships that keep leaders connected and less isolated, and it helps them become stronger leaders in their own context. Leaders who have coaches are less likely to be worn down by the demands of parish life, and better able to guide a parish into what comes next. Once you complete the training and become a trained coach, you will have the skills to help lay people and clergy grow as leaders through deep listening, encouragement, and powerful questions.

 

Before applying, read the training and time commitment below and discern honestly whether you can make it. The commitment is significant. If you cannot make it now, please wait for a future opportunity rather than applying.

 

Training and Time Commitment

Training is led by Chris Holmes of the Holmes Coaching Group through Coach Approach Skill Training (CAST), and is conducted over Zoom. Expect roughly one hundred hours of coursework and homework.

 

Pre-training preparation (10 to 15 hours)

• reading the preparation materials and writing an initial paper
• attending an in-depth orientation on using Zoom—it is more than watching a screen
• securing a computer with video, audio, and high-speed internet (a mobile phone will work but is discouraged, since it makes participating cumbersome)
• obtaining a headset with a microphone and earphones for the Zoom sessions

 

Training (70 to 80 hours)

• completing CAST 1 through 4—The Basics, Advanced Skills, Group Coaching, and Synergy—in sixteen three-hour Zoom sessions
• taking part in the follow-up and check-in immediately after training

 

Benefits for the Trained Coach

The training allows a trained coach to offer coaching services for a fee, including to individuals, community organizations, and church leaders outside the Province V commitment.

 

Continuing Education and Certification

Trained coaches may go on to pursue certification from the International Coaching Federation. That certification requires:

• sixty hours of training, which CAST already provides
• ten hours of mentor coaching, at a cost of about $1,500
• one hundred practice hours
• an application and test, for an additional fee

 

Resources

Reading

• “Race Matters in Coaching: An Examination of Coaches’ Willingness to Have Difficult Conversations with Leaders of Color,” Columbia University, 2019
• Group and Team Coaching, Christine Thornton
• Essential Coaching Skills and Knowledge, a book series
• Effective Group Coaching, Jennifer Britton
• The Heart of Laser-Focused Coaching, Marion Franklin
• The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap, Michael Bungay Stanier
• “Vestry as a Life-Giving Team,” Chris Holmes
• Seth’s Blog

 

Training videos from Chris Holmes

• What are the stages of change?
• Addressing important societal issues like Black Lives Matter in coaching
• George Howard on leadership
• The four words of the arch of coaching: situate, search, shift, sustain
• Finding new questions for leadership
• Confidentiality
• Evoking awareness, on the ICF core competencies

 

Ready to apply, or want to talk it over first? Contact the Province V coordinator, Heather Barta, at revbarta@gmail.com, or call or text 989-413-3229.