About this course: Coaching can inspire and motivate people to learn, change, and be effective leaders, among other roles in life. Although most attempts are “coaching for compliance” (coaching someone to your wishes or expectations), decades of behavioral and neuroscience research show us that “coaching with compassion” (coaching someone to their dreams and desires) is more effective.
Created by: Case Western Reserve University
Taught by: Ellen VanOosten, PhD, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, Director Coaching Research Lab
Taught by: Melvin Smith, Professor of Organizational Behavior, Faculty Director, Executive Education
Taught by: Richard Boyatzis, Distinguished University Professor, and a Professor in the Departments of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science
| Basic Info | Course 3 of 5 in the Inspired Leadership Specialization |
| Commitment | 5 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Spanish |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Week 1: How do people really help others?
The best coaches develop resonant relationships, which involve the experience of hope and compassion and the arousal of meaning. We explore how effective coaches inspire others, and use an approach based on compassion rather than compliance to promote positive, enduring change in their coachees. We then turn to Intentional Change Theory (ICT) as a model of sustained, desired change at all levels of human endeavor; detailing the five discovery phases that comprise ICT. Finally, we explore the Positive and Negative Emotional Attractors (PEA and NEA), their relationship to the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems (SNS and PNS), and how arousal of either of these systems can deferentially lead to either feelings of negativity and fear, or a focus on one's strengths and the excitement of experimenting with something new.
4 videos, 6 readings
- Reading: About this Course
- Video: Watch: Introduction to Helping and Coaching
- Reading: Required Reading List
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Discussion Prompt: In or outside of your organization?
- Video: Watch: Tipping Points in the 5 Discoveries of Sustained, Desired Change
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Video: Watch: Role of Positive and Negative Emotional Attractors
- Reading: Required Reading List
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Discussion Prompt: At the mercy of negative emotions?
WEEK 2
Week 2: Physiology and Neuroscience of Coaching
Chronic stress without regular and period experiences of renewal is non-sustainable for performance. We further examine the physiology of the PNS and SNS; including the relationship between stress and the activation of the SNS, and renewal and the activation of the PNS, including implications for hormonal and cardio-vascular activity in the body. We then turn to our neuroscience-based study of coaching; outlining the contagious effect of emotions, and the relationship between the brain's independent and suppresive Task Positive Network (TPN) and Default Mode Network, and how each relates to problem solving/analytical tasks and social tasks/openness to people and experiences. We end this week by outlining the ethical dimensions of coaching: the essentials of trust and environmental safety, awareness of boundaries, and ensuring that the coaching process flows from the coachee themselves.
3 videos, 5 readings
- Reading: Required Reading List
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Discussion Prompt: Tactics to reduce stress and stimulate renewal
- Video: Watch: Our Neuroscience Studies of Coaching
- Reading: Required Reading List
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Video: Watch: Seeing Coaching in Action
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Discussion Prompt: Off-limits areas for your coaches
Graded: Coaching Journal Session One
WEEK 3
Week 3: Coaching for the Ideal Self and Relationships
The ideal self is centered on autonomous motivation: what a person wants to do, and results in sustained, desired change. Conversely, the ought self is based on controlled motivation: what a person feels they must do based on the standards of others. The ideal self comprises hope, core identity, and an image of a desired future, and is fueled by optimism and self-efficacy. We then turn to the two forms of empathy: empathy with the head (a form of conceptual understanding and cognitive processing which implicates both the TPN and DMN) and empathy with the heart (genuine emphatic concern, which engages the DMN alone); with our focus on the need to develop emotional self-awareness in order to serve others, while appropriately balancing both forms of empathy as the coaching situation demands. Lastly, we explore the notion of genuine listening in a coaching relationship (as opposed to mere 'hearing' the other person speak), and outline a case for "listening beyond the words": giving our full attention to the other person to establish what lies beyond the words, and what meaning we can derive from what that other person is saying.
3 videos, 5 readings
- Reading: Read: Required Reading List
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Video: Watch: Two Forms of Empathy
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Video: Watch: Listening and Noticing
- Reading: Read: Required Reading List
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Discussion Prompt: Have you ever observed people who “hear” others but don’t “listen” to them?
Graded: Coaching Journal Session Two
WEEK 4
Week 4: Coaching for the Real Self, Balance and Learning Agenda
There is an optimal balance between time spent in the PEA and time spent in the NEA. Too much time in the PEA may result in over-optimism or complacency; with too much time in the NEA resulting in diminishment or depression. Given that negative emotional experiences tend to be stronger and more palpable, the ratio between time spent in the two emotional states should be skewed toward the PEA - at around 3-6:1. Establishing the real self involves mindful awareness, which itself demands soliciting accurate feedback from others; so as to establish a personal balance sheet cataloguing the strengths one can leverage within themselves and the shortcomings they may seek to address. Next, we explore the nature and role of social identity groups: how they support and enhance emotional contagion, and may facilitate the development of a larger or noble purpose in one's Ideal Self. Lastly, we detail planning and experimentation with new behaviors to promote and sustain new learning and growth on the part of coachees.
3 videos, 3 readings
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Video: Watch: Social Identity, Strengths and Weaknesses
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Video: Watch: Old and New Ways to Create a Learning Agenda and Planning
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Discussion Prompt: How learning plans bridge reflection and action
Graded: Coaching Journal Session Three
WEEK 5
Week 5: Establishing a Culture of Coaching
Coaching can be leveraged to help organizations develop and retain their best talent. We outline the positive workplace results that arise in organizations which employ coaching with compassion approaches to coaching, and not traditional coaching for compliance. Moreover, peer coaching promotes an intimate involvement among members of an organization; strengthening social bonds outside the organization and professional bonds within it, and promoting a genuine culture of coaching. It also provides a cost-effective, long-term and sustainable alternative to conventional coaching modalities.
5 videos, 3 readings
- Video: Conversations with the Scholars
- Video: Conversations with the Scholars
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Video: Watch: Peer Coaching as Organization wide Self Sustaining Source of Help
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
- Discussion Prompt: Coaching used in leadership development in an organization
- Video: Watch: In Search of the Coachable Moment
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
Graded: Coaching Journal Session Four
WEEK 6
Week 6: Put It All Together
1 reading
- Reading: Personal Learning Journal Activities
Graded: Coaching Journal Session Five
Graded: Your Coaching Journey
FAQs
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Creators
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a leading national research university located in Cleveland, Ohio. Through its seven schools and college, Case Western Reserve offers top-10 programs in health law, organizational behavior and social work and top-25 programs in biomedical engineering, international law, medicine and nursing. More than 4,000 undergraduate and nearly 6,000 graduate and professional students are enrolled at CWRU, representing all 50 states and more than 90 countries.
Pricing
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| Access to course materials | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Available |
Ratings and Reviews
This was a wonderful course! Great opportunity to put learning into practice; the practical application of coaching skills in a real world environment was a huge benefit
I am a professional certified coach - and this course from Case Western was a great reflection of my training, but also gave me new tools and way of thinking about working with my clients. Every coach or aspiring coach will be served by taking this course.
I am very grateful to be able to enter this course, as I used to think that coaching was achieved with one or two conversations and in reality what one did was give advice only. Upon completing this course, I understood that doing a structured job with another person, should be done with the greatest commitment and responsability, as taught in each session this course, with professionalism to become a Coach that focuses on Compassion and try to take our collaborators to their
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I confess I wasn't expecting it to be this good. Coaching can also be scientific, I've learnt. The theory behind this approach is amazingly concise and apparently explains everything about how the clients experience the coaching process, giving tips on how to address their emotions better. The only problem with the course is the activities... they are either too vague or too repetitive at some points; which can be a little distressful for the coach and the coachee. But the overall was great and I'm surely using what I saw here in my later sessions.