Living into Purpose Coaching Course

A Presence-Based Community of Inquiry

Our extraordinary times require leaders that can make bold commitments, stay centered and calm in the midst of intensity, and lead the way toward a more sustainable, harmonious and just world.

You and I are those leaders. We are called to embody contributions relevant to the times in which we live. Please join me in living into the question of how we listen to this calling, and how we respond through extending ourselves, purposefully and authentically, into the world.

The Living Into Purpose Coaching Course (LIPCC) is first of all an advanced Presence-Based Coaching course. A small group of participants works closely with Doug, over the course of half a year. Participants apply coaching as methodology for a personal and collective exploration of the question of “How do I live into purpose?”

The themes of the course are:

• Deepening your understanding and practice of Presence-Based Coaching. LIPCC offers experiential work with Presence-Based Coaching tools and practices to extend the coaching conversation into on-going coaching relationships and life-long development. Retreats, virtual technologies, and peer groups provide a variety of structures to support participants in this inquiry, including a rigorous process of coaching and being coached. New material, beyond Doug's published writings, is included.
• Clarifying and embodying your purpose. We hold purpose here not as a unique destiny that is pre-ordained and that we must figure out, but rather as a living process of sensing what calls us, and embodying it in thought, body, and action.  We, and our lives, are experiments. We unfold meaning through a series of commitments that impel us to continually transcend and include our identities in a life-long development process. LIPCC invites you to accelerate this natural process through exploring, and living into, a deeper commitment to purpose.

• Forging a robust community of inquiry. A central part of the learning will be the development of a co-creative community whose collective purpose is to support the inquiry of members. We will do so primarily through the moves and practices of Presence-Based Coaching. A committed and experienced community of learners will shape aspects of the structure of the course, and — who knows? — possibly invent whole new ways of sharing and supporting each other.

Structure

This coach training course will be designed to integrate a clear structure informed by Doug’s leadership and Presence-Based Coaching approach with a self-organizing and committed community of peers. Elements of the structure include:

• An initial peer interview with another participant.
• A four day opening retreat at Bend of Ivy Lodge, incorporating somatic practices, coaching around purpose, and teaching on Presence-Based Coaching. This retreat will center on conducting coaching intakes, making initial assessments, establishing coaching outcomes and practices, integrating suggestive and evocative impulses, and launching our Community of Inquiry. Weather permitting, the retreat will include a day of presence work with horses.
• An individual coaching session with Doug after the first retreat, along with availability of support by email and brief phone appointments as needed.
• Two audio reviews of your recorded coaching sessions, in which a faculty member provides feedback and assessments on your work.
• Five monthly conference calls, to include presentations by Doug of key tools, concepts, and moves around Presence-Based Coaching, followed by breakout sessions for exercises, demonstrations, group discussion and/or live coaching. Topics include working with breakdowns, refining practices, letting go, and working somatically by phone.
• One mid-course virtual community conference to build accountability to coaching outcomes, and to adjust coaching approaches mid-stream.
• Six to eight “pod” coaching calls in trios, in which participants coach each other towards their commitment, and receive assessments on their coaching.
• A four day closing retreat at Bend of Ivy Lodge, incorporating somatic practices, coaching around commitment, and teaching on Presence-Based Coaching. This retreat will focus on coaching for stabilization, practicing conversations for completion and continuation, contextualizing coaching in a life-long development process, making commitments to next steps, and completing our Community of Inquiry. This retreat includes a Community Practicum, in which the class designs and conducts a series of activities of their choosing.
• Reading and additional resources include a community website, audio recordings, and cutting edge audio conferencing technology. Doug's two books are required pre-course reading; additional reading is required.
• Documentation of ICF credentialing credits for those applying for certification or renewal.
• Optional participation in PBC 1 and/or 2 retreats, at ridiculously low cost, in a repeater role to be defined with Doug in advance.

Details and Costs

Prerequisites for LIPCC are:

• completion of the full Presence-Based Coaching Course,
• applying and being accepted, via a process that requests self-assessment around some key capacities required of participants (see application link below),
• reading The Mindful Coach and Presence-Based Coaching before arrival, and
• completion of at least four Presence-Based Coaching conversations with each of two different clients (eight total conversations.)

If you have concerns about meeting any of the prerequisites, please contact Doug. Key dates:

• Application deadline: November 15, 2011
• Deposit deadline: December 1, 2011

• Initial retreat: January 9-12, 2012.
• Final retreat: June 18-21, 2012.
• Conference calls for the entire course and Mid-Course Conference will be scheduled at the initial retreat; pod calls will be arranged by members.

A non-refundable initial deposit of $500 is required to reserve your space. The community will be strictly limited to 15 participants, plus two assistants and Doug.

Cost for the course is $3,800 with full prepayment by December 15. A bi-monthly payment plan is available for a $300 surcharge. Cost includes lodging, meals, retreats, materials, horse work, conference calls, audio reviews, and coaching with Doug. Not included are required or recommended books, lodging for early arrivals, and long-distance phone charges.

To apply for LIPCC, please download the application form, complete it, and email your application to Doug by November 15. We will respond to you within a week. If you are accepted, you will be sent registration information, and you may pay your deposit via credit card or by check.