FAQ

There are 7 important characteristics of an outstanding leadership training program, and CTI has them all!

Experiential
We are known for our experiential learning, which makes learning stick. Experiential learning moves you from your head into your being—similar to experiencing a bicycle ride rather than talking about it.

In-Depth
Our programs provide greater depth through multi-day immersion in hands-on practice, rather than through tele-classes. Advanced courses provide continuing development and education.

In-Person
Being physically together is essential to creating and learning from the interpersonal dynamics that are crucial to understanding yourself and others.

Co-Active
Co-Active coaching is so effective because you help others discover their own answers, in the context of a collaborative and creative relationship. Co-Active coaching is the hallmark of CTI’s work. Discover the Co-Active difference.

Personalized
Individualized exercises unleash your own personal coaching competencies, as well as your wisdom and instincts that all too often lie dormant. In addition to developing skills, you also develop your intuition.

Sustained
CTI has the largest community of certified, practicing coaches, to help you through the crucial early stages of putting your new skills to practice. We are here for you.

Proven
Our scientifically proven Co-Active Model continues to be the industry standard. You have the assurance of working with the oldest and largest accredited coach training school in the world, with methods and models that work.

You are the leader you’ve been waiting for!
We invite you to explore these qualities as a way to compare leadership and coach training organizations, so you’ll have all the information you need to make a decision that’s right for you.

Every CTI instructor has completed:

Co-Active Professional Coach Training Program
Co-Active Professional Coach Certification Program
Co-Active Leadership Program

If they pass our rigorous application and audition process, they also must complete a 6-month series of advanced coaching and leadership practicum, while maintaining an active coaching practice. We have the most demanding instructor training requirements of any school—and it shows!

Learn more about our faculty

Co-Active Coaching has impacted the lives and careers of thousands of managers, leaders, and coaches around the world. The success of the Co-Active Model has led CTI to become:

• The world’s first ICF-accredited coach training program
• Creator of the most widely used textbook in the industry, Co-Active Coaching
• Home to the largest number of certified coaches trained globally
• Creator of a powerful, innovative Co-Active Leadership Program that unlocks participants’ unique and natural leadership strengths.

The Co-Active coaching philosophy holds that people are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole—completely capable of finding their own answers to whatever challenges they face. The job of a Co-Active coach is to ask powerful questions. It is also to listen and empower—rather than instruct or advise—to elicit the skills and creativity a client already possesses.

There are no prerequisites to begin the coach training program. Fundamentals of Co-Active is first workshop in the coach training curriculum and open to anyone.

However, the subsequent 4 workshops in the coach training curriculum (Fulfillment, Balance, Process, and Synergy) must be taken in order, and therefore the only prerequisite is to take the prior course.

To qualify for the certification program, all 5 core courses in the coaching training curriculum are required to be completed.

Many people who seek out coach training believe they already have been coaching. It’s true that our students are typically good listeners and care about people. However, coaching skills are very specific, and most people only can understand the depth of true coaching after they’ve experienced professional training.

If you were looking to drive a large truck, teach kindergarten, or sell real estate, you would get the training and permits you need in order to do the job with skill and confidence. There’s no question that training is a must for coaching professionals.

Learn more about the value of coach training and certification

Smart businesses know the value of coaching. Manchester Inc. recently released the results of a study that quantifies the business impact of executive coaching: The study included 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies. Companies that provided coaching to their executives realized improvements in productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service, and shareholder value. They received fewer customer complaints, and were more likely to retain executives who had been coached.

In addition, companies that invested in providing coaching to their executives realized an average return on investment (ROI) of almost 6 times the cost of the coaching.

Among the benefits to companies that provided coaching to executives were improvements in:

• Productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
• Quality (48%)
• Organizational strength (48%)
• Customer service (39%)
• Reducing customer complaints (34%)
• Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)
• Cost reductions (23%)
• Bottom-line profitability (22%)

Among the benefits to executives who received coaching were improvements in:

• Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of executives)
• Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
• Teamwork (67%)
• Working relationships with peers (63%)
• Job satisfaction (61%)
• Conflict reduction (52%)
• Organizational commitment (44%)
• Working relationships with clients (37%)

Great coaches make great leaders. That’s one of the big reasons Co-Active coaching skills are in such high demand.

Our programs are not theoretical; they engage the learner to actually experience what it’s like to be a coach as you participate in experiential group activities, immediately applying your new skills.

We call this kind of instruction “contextually based, experientially driven learning,” and all CTI programs are structured in this way, resulting in transformative learning. (On average, experiential learning has about 80% retention vs. a traditional classroom setting, which provides about 25% retention). This means that you get 65% more value for every dollar spent.

“Experiential learning is the most effective method of adult learning.”
– McKinsey Global Management Consulting

Our program consists of 5 in-person courses that are taken in order: Fundamentals, Fulfillment, Balance, Process, and Synergy.

Each weekend course is held Friday through Sunday, and we offer some mid-week courses as well. We also offer options of 2.5 days or 4 days for Fundamentals along with 3 or 5 days for Intermediate online courses. All of our in-person courses are 3 days long. If you enroll in the 4 intermediate courses, you will receive a discounted incentive price. We’ll need a deposit to hold your space. You also can choose to enroll in one course at a time, however, the prices are slightly higher. Visit our Pricing and Purchasing page for more details.

When students are ready to take their coaching to a deeper level, they look to our coach certification program for one-on-one supervision, to further refine their skills. Once you have completed the first 5 courses, you may apply for the certification program. This part of the program takes 6 months to complete and is done entirely online, via Zoom. Enrolling in the coach certification program gives you access to support systems to help you acquire these 5 clients. You need to have 5 paying clients by your 2nd Pod call. Enrolling in the coach certification program gives you access to support systems to help you acquire these 5 clients.

After completing the coach certification program and logged your 100 client experience hours you will take an oral exam. When you pass the exam, you will be awarded the designation of Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), one of the most prestigious certifications in professional coaching.

If you take advantage of our incentive, the entire program can be completed in as little as a year.

It takes between approximately 12 months to become a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). The 5 core curriculum courses take 6 months on average, and the certification program takes an additional 6 months.

Yes.

Step 1 is to complete all five in-person courses in the core curriculum of our coach training program which are taken in order: Fundamentals, Fulfillment, Balance, Process, and Synergy – each building on the last.

Step 2 is, after completing the coach training program, complete our virtual certification program if you plan on becoming a certified coach.

The Co-Active Professional Coach Certification program is scheduled on a first come, first serve basis. While spaces in the certification program fill quickly, most people are able to schedule a start date within 1 – 3 months of completing coach training.

Learn more about Co-Active Professional Coach Certification

We put tremendous value on people being able to design their lives with flexibility. We offer 3 registration paths:

1. Register for all 5 courses with a discounted package available.

2. Register for Fundamentals first and then, after completion, register for the 4 Coach Training courses with discounted package available.

3. Register for each course individually, as and when it suits your schedule (a la carte). No discount available with this option.

Please note that all programs registration pathways include a non-refundable registration fee.

100% Guarantee on Fundamentals
We want you to be completely comfortable with your decision to embark on Co-Active® Training Journey. We are so confident in our ability to deliver you value that if you are not completely satisfied with either Co-Active® Fundamentals or Co-Active® Leadership Experience, we will send you a full refund, including your $250 registration fee and cancel your course package registration without penalty. You don’t have to complete the full course, but we strongly recommend you do get the full experience before making a decision.

Read the policy

Coach Training & Certification
When you register for the discounted coach training package, you can choose to pay in full or by installments. Depending on your chosen registration pathway, you will pay the full amount for the first course plus the $250 non refundable registration fee and then your remaining balance will be billed every 30 days in equal amounts. For a la carte courses, full payment is due upon registration. This amount includes the $250 non refundable registration fee. If you choose to cancel your package, you will be refunded any installments you’ve paid for courses not yet taken in line with our transfer/cancellation policy.

Weekend courses run Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Midweek courses run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Courses build on one another and must be taken in order.

You will find Co-Active coaches working as certified professional coaches, working as a coach within a range of contexts, including but not limited to: their organization, in boardrooms, schools, prisons, companies, medical institutions, communities, and families.

Life coaches, executive coaches, wellness coaches, coaches who help teens prepare for college—all of these people use their Co-Active coaching skills to coach others to identify self-defeating influences, tap into their full potential, and design fulfilling lives.

Whether you want a career as a professional coach, want to improve your leadership skills, want to create a more conscious world that taps into human potential, or simply want to improve your communication with the important people in your life, Co-Active coach training is for you.

Successful coaches come from all walks of life (business executives, teams, managers, leaders, human resource professionals, trainers, consultants, therapists, teens, medical professionals—to name a few.) We’ve learned that people bring in all their unique talents and interests, to design their coaching around what’s important to them.

People who are attracted to coaching seem to have a calling. They often feel they’ve already been coaching, and want to take their skills to a professional and more effective level. What makes a great coach is someone who is curious, believes in possibilities, and has the ability to see the magnificence of others.

Participants simply need to be fascinated by human potential, inspired by individual creativity, and unwavering in their commitment to hold others as creative, resourceful, and whole. Great coaches are people who are committed to their clients’ growth, as well as to their own continuous learning.

Anything and everything! With proper training, you’ll have the tools and techniques to be there with your client in each moment as they define what is true for them. You’ll guide them to make powerful, conscious choices that move them forward toward their dreams. Coaches do not coach: addictions, deep psychological wounds, abuse issues, suicidal tendencies, mental illness, etc. A professional coach knows when to refer their client to a therapist. Coaches do not give financial, real estate, legal, or medical advice—a professional coach knows when to refer their client to experts in other professions.

Psychotherapy generally deals with people who have emotional/behavioral problems and disruptive situations. It seeks to bring the client to normal function by focusing on dysfunction. The primary focus is on healing.

Coaching, on the other hand, deals with functional people who want to move toward higher function and achieve excellence, while creating an extraordinary life. The primary focus is on evolving a manifestation of potential. Healing is often a side effect.

Additionally, the expectations and focus the client brings to the professional relationship sets the context as coaching or as therapy.

We cover this information in our Fundamentals of Coaching and Fulfillment courses. You’ll learn how to have specific conversations with each of your clients right from the start, to set up expectations and accountability around how you will work together and which areas your client wants to focus on.

Remember, as a Co-Active coach, you don’t instruct or advise. You don’t have to have all the answers. Your job is to ask questions, listen deeply, and trust that your client has the capability and creativity to uncover their own answers.

Co-Active coaches all over the globe are working with individuals, organizations, and communities to create a Co-Active world.

As a Co-Active coach and leader, what kind of world will you help create?

Co-Active Leadership
Imagine a world where we are all leaders, truly conscious of ourselves and the impact we have on our world? What if we abandoned top-down control, tapping into the talents of the many, not just the few? What if we acknowledge that there is more than one way to lead, replacing rigidity and control with flexibility and agility? We would value learning and growth over comfort and appearance. We would help others create compelling visions—wholly supported, encouraged, and celebrated.

Co-Active Work
Imagine a world where everyone has a compelling vision of his or her work. This would be a world that receives everybody’s best effort, everybody’s gift—instead of merely their compliance. Instead of going through the motions, work would be inspired and innovative, generating creative solutions through collaboration that would never be possible just on our own.

Co-Active Purpose
Imagine a world where everyone has a sense of choice and purpose, and is determined to make a difference in the lives of others, while living fully as themselves. They would no longer tolerate second-rate lives. Fulfillment would not be something that would happen “some day.” It would be available in this and every moment.

Co-Active Conversations
Imagine a world where people were committed to truly listening, not only to hear what is being said, but also what is not being said. What if people listened deeply, allowing us to see and be seen in our humanity? What if it was safe to routinely tell the truth to one another, even the hard truth? What if we were comfortable sitting with people during emotional times? We would hold conversations driven by honesty, respect, curiosity, and commitment.

Co-Active Relationships
Imagine a world where the axioms of coaching operate everywhere in interpersonal relationships, both professional and personal. Imagine the difference it would make if people designed alliances based on trust and accountability. What if we held out the biggest picture possible of what we and others could be, instead of pointing out everybody’s limitations and flaws? What if we came to expect greatness instead of failure or inadequacy?

This would be a transformative world indeed.

We’re building it one person at a time. Will you join us?

Coach Anyone
The Co-Active Model is simple, elegant and adaptable in any coaching situation. It will empower you to navigate leading others with fluidity and confidence of being supported by the most flexible and proven model in the coaching world.

CTIs Co-Active Professional Coach Training program will prepare you to coach anyone, on any topic.

Examples of Coaching Situations
Individuals

• Employees of an organization
• Teams within an organization
• Community groups
• Sports teams & athletes

Examples of Coaching Topics

• Board meeting challenges
• Team building and leadership challenges
• Career development
• Health and wellness
• Family situations

After you receive a confirmation email from CTI that you successfully earned your CPCC certification, you’ll receive an email from Credly. Click on the Accept your badge button in the email and this will take you to Credly, where you will create an account and claim your badge.

Visit https://credly.com/ , click on sign-in and fill in each field. Then read and agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Click Create Account. Then, check your email to confirm the address you provided and follow the instructions there to continue. You will be prompted to sign in with the credentials you created.

After claiming your badge, you will also be able to download your certificate. Follow these steps to download your certificate.

Step 1: Click on the blue SHARE button
Step 2: To the very right of all the social media, email and embed buttons, click the printer icon.
Step 3: Click the blue Download PDF button.

Although a credential is not a requirement at this time to be a practicing coach, we highly recommend that you become a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). CTI’s Certification Program offers the most rigorous and thorough training in the industry, and gives our coaches the expertise, experience, and confidence to take their coaching to the world.

After successful completion of the program, students are eligible to take the written and oral certification exam, with the goal of becoming a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC).

Training hours you complete at CTI are recognized by the International Coach Federation (ICF) and are applicable toward credentials as an ACC (Associate Certified Coach), PCC (Professional Certified Coach), or MCC (Master Certified Coach).

As a leading-edge school of coaching, our founders’ involvement with the ICF from its very inception has resulted in significant influence on the industry, coaching competencies, and ethics. Indeed, CTI became the very first organization to be accredited by the ICF.

By setting a standard of excellence, we are creating a profession that people can trust—a significant benefit to build credibility in your marketing efforts. Further, we believe that it is better to set rigorous standards and self-regulate versus government-created standards.

CTI offers an extensive array of resources for our graduates. Visit our leadership resources page to see how we can support you as you continue to learn and grow as a Co-Active coach.

The cost of the course does not include transportation, lodging, or meals. If you are traveling from out of town, we will be happy to recommend nearby hotels where you can stay during your program.

Contact us

We believe this course is useful for anyone living on planet Earth! That said, we know you will find the course valuable if you:

• Are interested in learning about yourself as a leader. (This course will provide that understanding, and an entry point into further developing your leadership capacity.)
• Have taken our coaching courses and are not planning to go on to certification, but would like to continue your personal growth.
• Are a CPCC and are looking for a way to expand your range, reconnect with your purpose, and boost your capacity for growing yourself and your business.
• Are an alumni of our leadership program who would like to get reinvigorated as well as reconnected to your leadership.
• Are an HR director or hold a corporate leadership position, and are looking to explore a leadership agility model that you can use for yourself and your team.
• Are an HR director or hold a corporate leadership position, and are looking to explore a model that you can use to introduce a culture shift in your organization.
• Are interested in our 10-month leadership program and would like a little more experience with the model before committing.
• Are interested in our 10-month leadership program and are unable to make the time or cost commitment at this time.

No.

We do recommend that you read our book, Co-Active Leadership: 5 Ways to Lead, before attending the course.

The Co-Active Leadership Experience is a 3-day immersion in CTI’s Co-Active Leadership Model. The focus is on creating a deep, experiential understanding of each of the 5 dimensions of leadership. You will practice leading from each dimension, and come away with a plan for how to grow your own leadership in your life and work. It is a fast-paced and fun way to deepen your understanding of what it means to be a leader, and to create a practical plan for applying what you’ve learned. If you are considering the 10-month intensive program, the Co-Active Leadership Experience will give you a great introduction to both the Co-Active Leadership Model and CTI’s unique approach to learning.

The Co-Active Leadership Program is a 10-month immersion in developing and strengthening every aspect of you as a leader. During the program, you will be introduced to the Co-Active Leadership Map and the Co-Active Leadership Model, and you will learn how to use them powerfully to harness the unique leader in everyone. You will deepen your understanding of who you are as a leader and identify your most vibrant, authentic leadership style. The program is experiential, and happens with the same group for the entire 10 months, so you have a safe place to experiment with new skills in a supportive setting before applying them. In between the intensive weeks together, you will have ample time to apply your learning in your own life and work. This program is transformational. If you want to learn more or register for the 10-month program visit this section of our website.

Outdated, static, top-down leadership models are no longer viable. Today’s leaders need to be agile, collaborative, and, most importantly, relationship-focused, able to connect with, engage, and empower employees. They need skills to tap into the potential of many, not the power of one.

Co-Active leadership development has the competitive advantage of being informed by the proven coaching and interpersonal skills CTI has been teaching for over 25 years. We’ve seen firsthand the transformation that happens when individuals and organizations introduce coaching skills into their leadership practice. Effective results are driven by effective relationships.

Management training tends to focus on problem-solving. But people are not problems to be solved. They are whole, creative, conscious, capable humans. Co-Active leaders don’t tell others what to do, they bring out the leader in others, tapping into their creative potential.

Another difference is that Co-Active leadership training is informed by our dynamic leadership model, which introduces 5 ways to lead. This gives leaders a tool box of 5 different leadership models that they can tap into, providing flexibility and fluidity in any situation.

A final advantage is our experiential learning environment, which allows you to have world-class leadership experiences of yourself as an evolving leader, creating a deeper understanding of others, yourself, and your impact on the world.

The world needs Co-Active skills, Co-Active leaders, and Co-Active cultures. That’s why our leadership training is in such high demand.

Our programs are not theoretical; they engage the learner to actually experience what it’s like to be a coach as you participate in experiential group activities, immediately applying your new skills.

We call this kind of instruction “contextually based, experientially driven learning,” and all CTI programs are structured in this way, resulting in transformative learning. (On average, experiential learning has about 80% retention vs. a traditional classroom setting, which provides about 25% retention). This means that you get 65% more value for every dollar spent.

“Experiential learning is the most effective method of adult learning.”
—McKinsey Global Management Consulting

Yes.

The Co-Active Leadership Experience is a great supplement to your continued leadership development journey. It’s also a way to refresh and update your knowledge. And it’s an excellent way to check in with what’s evolving for you now while gaining a new goal, insight, or focus for what’s next for you. If you are a coach, you’ll find that your learning from the Co-Active Leadership Experience is immediately applicable to your practice with your clients.

This 3-day workshop is not theoretical, but instead engages the learner to actually experience what it’s like to be a leader as you participate in experiential group activities, immediately applying your new skills.

• Learn all 5 dimensions of the revolutionary Co-Active Leadership Model: Leader Within, Leader in Front, Leader Behind, Leader Beside, and Leader in the Field
• Gain competence in each of the 5 leadership styles, knowing where and when to use each to be most effective, depending on the situation.
• Gain tools and skills to respond to any challenge with fluidity and flexibility, while still staying true to your vision, relationships, values, and sense of purpose.
• Learn how to apply the model with direct reports, clients, teams, and in your own life.
• Learn about yourself as a leader, and leave with a greater sense of where you “check out.” You will better understand the impact of your actions and behaviors, and will develop new skills to quickly shift to creative leadership in any situation.
• Identify areas of strength and areas for growth.
• Leave with a plan to expand and grow your capacity as a leader.
• We provide tools that you can start using right away—and a plan for how to apply your learning immediately.

Get more information about Co-Active Leadership Experience

A complete program guide, plus a journey map of where you want to grow in your leadership, along with a plan for next steps. You will also have a personal assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, and guidance for expanding the areas that will best serve you.

You will receive 11.75 Core Competency hours and 7.0 Resource Development hours for the Co-Active Leadership Experience course.

All the dates and locations for the Co-Active Leadership Experience are listed on the product information page.

View all dates and locations

The cost of the course does not include transportation, lodging, or meals. If you are traveling from out of town, we will be happy to recommend nearby hotels where you can stay during your program.