Alumni coaching

Initial situation

The objective of this course is to enable students to become fully active in their professional lives and to develop the best version of themselves, as well as to identify the career scenarios that will allow this. In order to do this, the teacher proposes a teaching method that alternates between individual work and group coaching sessions. Since the teacher does not have the financial means to employ coaches, the idea came to him to involve former students in this training.

Project implementation

This course offers a blended learning program that includes an online platform for individual work as well as group sessions with a coach. It offers 4 modules (What professional role should I take on today?; My personality in action; The drivers of my development; My evolution scenarios) in 4 steps (e-learning path, use of diagnostic tools, sub-group interviews, in-depth sessions).

An initial one-hour session is offered by the instructor to present the objectives of the training. Students then begin their learning on the online platform, which includes videos presenting theories and concepts related to Self-Leadership, quizzes, questionnaires and work exercises for each module.

Each online module is a preparation for the coaching session. By learning the theoretical content, conducting individual reflections and answering the questions proposed at each step, students form the essence of the coaching sessions. Prior to these sessions, students take part in 2-hour in-depth discussions in pairs (by phone or online).

During the group coaching sessions (in pairs of 4), students have the opportunity to discuss the results of the various assessment tools used during their online preparation. The idea is to have them discuss as a group how to capitalize on personal ideas and harness them for positive change. The first hour is devoted to feedback on the results of the questionnaires and individual reflections. This feedback is given by each participant’s pair to open up the discussion. The second hour is devoted to the transfer of tools: “What does all this say about me and what can I do with it? The coaches encourage, through discussion, the personal and professional development of the participants.

These coaching sessions are conducted by former students of the program, either volunteers or recruited by the instructor. In order to be able to coach the students, the coaches receive training from the teacher. Year after year, through this training and volunteer work, they acquire a quasi-professional level of coaching.

Completion of the questionnaires and participation in the coaching sessions are mandatory activities for the students, not only for the validation of the training, but also for its proper conduct (the results of the questionnaires are reworked during the coaching sessions). The evaluation of the course is based on a final report of about 5 pages that the students must provide. It must include an assessment of what was learned during the training and a projection of the professional and personal project they intend to pursue after the training.

Thoughts and advice

The teacher draws attention to the type of person to recruit as a coach. It is important that these volunteers are involved from a personal point of view and seek to develop a selfish need for personal development. They should not be in the business of projecting what is best for the other person, but in the business of helping them to reflect, to question, not to guide.

It is important to give coaches a clear architecture of the steps to go through and to give them some freedom in the implementation. It may be appropriate to place coaches in pairs with a more experienced coach in order to encourage peer-to-peer learning as well.

Experience shows that more than 90% of people implement one of the future scenarios they plan during the program within a year and a half of the training. Two-thirds of the coaching groups continue to see each other after the training. The satisfaction rate collected from students in 2018 was 78% at the end of the training and rises to 92%, 18 months later. The difficulty of students expressing discomfort with the introspection strategy and the concrete evolution of professional projects explain this increase.

Student feedback

“I am glad that I took the course. I learn a lot. Thank to this course, now I am doing a big project. It is really a life changer. “The energy of the Team and Coach made every step a great learning process.” “The journey was amazing.” “The course is definitely worth the EMBA itself. this is a good tool recommended for executives.” “The Self-Leadership program made a fundamental shift from trying to become someone else to trying to become the best version of myself.” “In these very disruptive and complex times, this module has allowed me to awaken my potentials and illuminate the path of my skills to confidently project myself into the future.” “Self-Leadership made me aware of the values that are essential to me and the importance of consistency between those values and my career development scenarios.”