In October, I passed another life milestone along my Co-Active journey: I (and all my teammates) passed the written Co-Active Coaching exam! \o/

As it turns out, the final closed-book exam is essentially a rewrite, from our own experience, of the whole coaching model!

After many hours of thinking and writing, I realised I’d really internalised and understood the model, something that had felt elusive at times during my studies. I felt proud, and ready to work! I realised that with all my study and practice I’d aquired skill with some rather deep and difficult-to-balance principles and tools! Having (begun to) do so meant I was in a position to support more people in reaching their goals! “Passing the exam” at that point seemed secondary.

A little while later someone asked me “What is Co-Active Coaching?” and I knew just where to find a great summary for them… in my exam paper! Now, I know, nobody wants to read an exam paper, no matter how great it is! So I’ve whittled it down to a few pages of prose. Well ok, 16, but the font is pretty big! :-)

My paper “What is Co-Active Coaching?” covers the whole Co-Active model and gives a glimpse of how the power of this model comes from a synergy of some simple (but not easy!) principles and tools. I’ve also added a note on the oft-raised topics of coaching-is-not-therapy and coaching ethics.

If you are curious about life coaching in general or Co-Active coaching in particular, I encourage you to have a look!