By DANIEL AHLERS
2CfC Node tree015 was a busy year in so many domains. One of the areas of busyness was work done by The Centre for Coaching (CFC) team to launch Integral Coaching in Switzerland. In 2014 an Associate Coaching Course (ACC) was launched here in Switzerland by the Centre for Coaching, based at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). Last year, in September 2015, a second ACC was launched just outside Geneva with a full class of 23 people spanning 3 continents.

For the last 15 years, Craig O’Flaherty & Janine Everson have built the Centre into what it is today, partnering with New Ventures West of San Francisco, an International Coach Federation (ICF) certified school, and the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town. The core programmes offered by the Centre, the 6-month Associate Coaching Course (ACC) and the year-long Professional Coaching Course (PCC), are targeted at skilling participants in how to be integral coaches. These programmes have been crafted and refined to fit the needs of our students and the academic rigour required by the GSB, in the unique multicultural context of South Africa. In addition, the Centre has built a range of services for graduates and organisations:

  • Offering Mastery Classes to PCC graduates
  • Offering Integral Mentoring courses that equip leaders to be mentors
  • Offering elective courses in coaching on the GSB’s MBA program
  • Designing and delivering year-long Integral Leadership programs globally (across Africa, Europe and Australasia) for organisations
    UCT GSB

    Graduate School of Business – click here for more info on the GSB

  • Providing leadership coaching to leaders at divisional, executive and board levels from across the globe.

Up until now, all of this work has been based in Cape Town and has radiated out. The recognition of the need for global nodes that can generate localized support and delivery has evolved and taps into the trend of ‘Localization’ that is fast replacing Globalization as the way to offer international offerings. As framed in the global e-platform Biznews:

 “Localization is a process of adapting an application and in particular the user interface, to suit a specific culture…”

In line with this, the Centre for Coaching has taken the strategic decision to localize an operation in Switzerland. The local Swiss market is a context where an amalgam of international federations and organisations are based. This has significant possibilities for Integral Coaching. It’s connection to the wider European market in French and German speaking contexts in particular, gives it the possibility for being a strategic node in the language transmission of this work.