Coaching Skills Certificate
A two-day intensive introduction to the principles and practice of executive coaching — for leaders, people professionals, and those exploring coaching as a calling.
Where coaching capability
begins to take shape.
The Coaching Skills Certificate is SPARC's foundational coach training program, delivered in partnership with the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) — a globally recognized institution with triple accreditation from the ICF, EMCC Global, and the Association for Coaching.
In two intensive days, participants move from understanding what coaching is to actually doing it — in live conversations, with real people, on real professional challenges. Approximately 70% of the program takes place in practice rather than instruction, using the GROW model as a live conversational structure, not a written protocol.
The CSC is appropriate for professionals at any stage — from those exploring coaching for the first time to accomplished leaders who want to make coaching a deliberate part of how they lead.
Download the Brochure"The AoEC Coaching Skills Certificate delivered everything I hoped for and more. I was hoping to learn to run coaching conversations with my team members and to improve my listening skills — and I absolutely achieved that."
The AoEC holds triple accreditation from the three leading international professional coaching bodies. This combination is held by very few training organizations worldwide.
Coaching capability belongs
to more than coaches.
The CSC draws professionals from across sectors and disciplines. What they share is a belief that the quality of conversation determines the quality of leadership — and a readiness to develop that deliberately.
Leaders & Managers
Leadership expertise and coaching capability are distinct. The CSC helps leaders stop being the primary source of answers — and become the conditions under which others find their own.
HR & People Professionals
The SHRM 2025 State of the Workplace report named leader and manager development the top priority for HR functions. The HR professionals best positioned to lead that work are those who bring coaching capability directly.
Career Changers Exploring Coaching
Before committing to a longer qualification, the CSC gives you an immersive, practitioner-level experience of coaching. By the end of two days, you will have a clear, felt sense of whether this work resonates.
Consultants & Independent Practitioners
Practitioners who develop coaching skills find that client relationships deepen, implementation improves, and their positioning moves from expert vendor to trusted strategic partner.
Four areas of practice.
One foundational shift.
Defining Coaching
What coaching is, what it is not, and how it differs from mentoring, managing, consulting, training, and counseling.
Core Coaching Skills
Active listening, powerful questioning, reflecting, and paraphrasing — each taught in terms of both principle and application, and practiced immediately.
The GROW Model
A rigorous, four-stage coaching framework practiced as a live conversational structure — not as a written protocol.
Structuring Coaching Conversations
How to open, develop, and close a session in a way that produces genuine insight and concrete, committed action.
Practice, not observation.
The learning in this program happens in the coaching conversations themselves — as coach, coachee, and observer.
in live sessions
and faculty input
a design requirement
immersive practice
Participants rotate through all three roles. Each develops a distinct kind of awareness and skill.
Expert Faculty Feedback
AoEC-certified executive coaches observe every participant and provide direct, individual feedback calibrated to produce usable skill.
Real Professional Challenges
Participants bring live challenges into practice sessions. Faculty maintain an explicitly safe, confidential environment.
Virtual, Not Diminished
Delivered both in person and virtually with consistently equivalent outcomes. Camera-on, full-day, uninterrupted presence.
Immediately Applicable
The skills are useful the following week, in conversations already scheduled.
The beginning of a recognized pathway.
Coaching Skills Certificate
Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching
According to the ICF's 2025 Global Coaching Study, 73% of clients expect recognized credentials from their coaches. Our triple accreditation from the ICF, EMCC Global, and the Association for Coaching sets us apart globally.
What participants say.
The course exceeded my expectations in every single way. It was delivered with real warmth and encouragement and I feel that I have definitely acquired a new set of skills which I can apply in every area of my life.
A great experiential course that provided a simple framework for individuals to take coaching forward. We weren't bombarded with models and instead allowed to find our own style.
I felt welcomed into the group, encouraged and supported throughout the 2 days, and came away inspired to take it further. The best couple of days I've had in a while.
Led by practitioners, not trainers.
Mathew Johnson
Co-founder of SPARC Executive Development and Consulting and AoEC's exclusive US partner. Brings over 25 years of experience serving 300+ organizational clients across higher education, nonprofit, and mission-aligned sectors.
Shannon O'Neill
Co-founder of SPARC Executive Development and Consulting and a senior AoEC faculty member. Shannon works with leaders and organizations across higher education, foundations, and the social sector.
Your questions, answered directly.
Anyone who would like to learn coaching skills and understand what coaching is. Previous participants include:
- Managers, team leaders, and middle managers
- HR and talent development professionals
- Leadership and organizational development roles
- People exploring employment transition or returning to work
- CEOs, business owners, and senior leaders
- Individuals looking to become coaches or add coaching skills to an existing practice
No prior coaching experience is required.
Participants consistently leave the CSC able to:
- Conduct a structured coaching conversation using the GROW model
- Ask questions that expand thinking rather than direct it
- Listen with a quality of attention that creates trust
- Distinguish between when to coach, advise, mentor, and manage
- Reflect back what they are hearing clearly
The outcomes are consistently equivalent. The learning happens in the coaching conversations themselves — not in the physical environment. Virtual delivery requires camera-on, uninterrupted, full-day participation.
The cohort cap is a design requirement, not a marketing device. A cohort of 18 allows faculty to observe every participant in practice and provide substantive individual feedback.
The CSC provides 12 hours of ICF-recognized coach education via the portfolio route. The AoEC holds triple accreditation from the ICF, EMCC Global, and the Association for Coaching. CSC graduates receive a 10% discount on the Practitioner Diploma.
No advance study is required. We suggest:
- Identifying one or two live professional challenges to bring into practice sessions
- Setting aside existing assumptions about what coaching is
- Ensuring your technology is configured for full video participation
- Protecting both days in your calendar completely
Partial attendance meaningfully reduces the value of the experience. If a scheduling conflict arises, we would rather help you identify a future cohort that works fully. Please contact us in advance.
The next step is deciding to make a two-day investment in yourself.
Two days is a considered but modest investment. If coaching is genuinely on your horizon — as a leadership capability, a professional tool, or a potential next direction — there is no more efficient path to clarity than direct, supervised practice. The April cohort is limited to 18 participants.
If something in this resonates, let's talk. This will be a conversation, not a discovery call.