Update: ACTO Train-the-trainer Program for Coaches

By Chariti E. Gent

Over the last three years, the ACTO Train-the-trainer Task Force has been meeting monthly with a singular goal in mind: to establish coach trainer competencies and create a pilot program for training coach trainers. I recently caught up with Marcia Reynolds, Chair of the Task Force, to learn more about what the Task Force has accomplished, as well as hear about plans for the future. Here are some highlights from that interview.

How does ACTO’s Coach Trainer Program differentiate itself from other train-the-trainer programs? In other words, why a special coaching train-the-trainer program at all?

We recognize that a subject matter expert doesn’t make a good trainer. Coaches are subject matter experts—and not necessarily trained trainers. We started to wonder “how do you convey good coach training to trainers?” Being a coach trainer is different from being a standard organizational trainer. Within Coach training, you must model being the coach, which includes things like reflective inquiry, how to handle deep emotions in the room, unconscious bias, etc. We have to do it in a “coach-like” way. We have a desire and a motivation to train coach trainers–and it’s a distinct skill set. When we looked around at what other standard train-the-trainer programs were doing out there, we realized that there was something missing. We decided we needed to make a train-the-trainer program that focused on coach training competencies, like interpersonal skills development, along with the standard concerns around instructional design and delivery.

Based on your work to date in creating the Trainer Competencies document, what sorts of in-person or virtual train-the-trainer events do you anticipate as a follow-up in the near future?

Our intention is that we’ll have a pilot program ready for end of Summer/Fall 2021. We’re almost there! The Trainer Competencies document has one piece we need to finalize, and then we’ll be ready to launch. The pilot is meant to pull participants from different countries and cultures [to test out the program]. Feedback from those pilot participants will help us to tweak and finalize the training so it’s ready for a larger audience. We want to make sure that this is not just “an American thing.” We are trying to make sure we are covering engaging diverse audiences, being context sensitive, etc.

Is this training for new coach trainers, or can anyone benefit?

We’re looking at this for both brand new coach trainers and more advanced practitioners. The train-the-trainer curriculum is currently designed as a multiple-day event where we not only learn about the competencies around being a great coach trainer, but we share stories and talk about challenges we encounter. We also want to provide a space during that training for “teach-backs” and practice learning, which is something everyone can benefit from. We’re all always evolving, and everyone can learn from one another throughout the course of their career.

How do you see ACTO’s trainer competency guidelines dovetailing or intersecting (or not) with the new ICF efforts around coach training?

It would be great to partner with ICF and get some sort of certification in place. Maybe an ACTO/ICF Coach Trainer certificate could be something we partner to create in the future. That will be something for the ACTO Board and ICF to work through over time, and we are in conversations with them [the ICF] about this currently.

For more information and to access a copy of the ACTO Task Force’s Trainer Competency Document, please visit:

https://actoonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Coach-Trainer-Competencies-May-2018.pdf