This post is for coactive coaches, trained at the Coactive Training Institute. If you’re thinking about becoming a coach, I highly recommend you check out their courses. I trained in the CTI program in 2017, and it’s brought a lot of depth to my coaching work.

If you’re gone through any of the coactive coaching courses, you’ve likely noticed the assistants participating in the course. Typically you have two Front-of-Room leaders, who are facilitating and teaching the course, and at least two assistants, also called Back-of-Room leaders. The role of assistants is to support the Front of Room leaders throughout the course, as well as being available to participants to deepen their experience and exposure to different coaches.

Assisting is great – you can learn so much, refresh on content you learned, you can go back to basics, and keep up on newer ways they present the content.

CTI previously was all in-person, and during the pandemic they transitioned the courses to all online trainings. They’re now starting to re-introduce in person classes again. I’ve assisted many times in both online and in-person courses, and thought it could be helpful to share some pros and cons as you consider signing up to assist either in person or online. Regardless of which method you pick, I highly recommend the experience to my fellow coactive colleagues.

Benefits of assisting with online courses

Participants live around the world

You can meet people you wouldn’t have met in person. In the online courses people can participate from anywhere as it’s all on Zoom – you often get to benefit from meeting coaches from all over the world.

Integrated into your life

If you don’t have a few days to dedicate to full day in person courses, or the closest in person course is far from you, you can easily integrate the online options into your normal life. They also offer half-day courses online.

More closely simulating coaching

Coaches most often coach on the phone or on Zoom, rather than in-person, so taking the courses online more closely mirrors the real experience you have as a coach. Rather than taking the course in person and having to adjust to delivering coaching virtually.

Benefits of assisting with in-person courses

Retreat like

It’s incredibly immersive! You’re fully present and committed alongside your peers, and likely all either drove or flew in for the course. You have less life distractions and are able to really surround yourself in the course.

Use of the walls

Throughout the courses the leaders use big flipboards and hang them all around the room. By the end of the course the walls are covered in the materials, and it creates a cool cocoon of learning.

Meals with classmates

Everyday you’ll go grab lunch with your peers, and it’s a great time to get to know each other better.

Tips to make online a great experience

Prep food

The breaks can be short, so it’s helpful to have snacks at the ready. I like to have a pitcher or larger water bottle nearby. Sometimes you might be meeting with the fellow assistants to prep something over lunch, so it’s helpful to give yourself the flexibility by having easy meals and snacks ready.

What to have at your desk

I find it helpful to print out the timeline so you can stay on top of the time, and also mark up parts that you need to. Often you’ll design with the leadership team which exercises you’ll participate in as an assistant, so it can be nice to have a print copy to mark your notes and edits to the schedule on.

Close all other tabs

Being remote, it can be tempting to catch up on emails or other work while you’re in a quieter part of a course – I encourage you to set some good boundaries for yourself around this. Multi-tasking will lessen the experience for you and the participants, and we’re all much less subtle than we think we are. If you’re zoning out, the group can probably feel that too. There are frequent short breaks, so if you want to stay connected to your other correspondences there is definitely time to do that.

Connect with your fellow assistants

It can be so fun to get to know your fellow assistants! I’ve found that connecting with them early in the course, and exchanging numbers, really helps us feel like a team throughout the course. We can text each other any questions, checkin, and just be in partnership as we support the leaders and participants. And, what a fun way to really get to know a coach colleague somewhere in the world. I’ve referred business to assistants I’ve met over the years, and they’ve sent me clients as well.

Get to know Front of Room leaders

Assisting gives you lots of quality facetime with senior coactive coaches who lead the courses, and in my experience this has been incredibly valuable. You meet with them every morning to review the plan for the course for the day, stay after to connect about how the day went, and are in touch throughout. It’s fun to build relationships with people who have led this material for years, decades for many of them.

Get outside during breaks

I love to step outside for a quick walk during breaks if I can! It’s a great way to get out of your head and mix up the energy before the next leg of coursework.

Be flexible

You’ll get the most from the experience if you’re flexible – timelines might get shifted, someone might come late, etc. It’s helpful to be in a perspective of willingness, ready to jump into an exercise, join a triad coaching, or keep time for a demo. Essentially, brace the coactive cornerstone of “dance in this moment”.

How to sign up to assist with coactive courses

You can sign up to assist any coactive class you’ve already taken. So even if you’ve only taken Fundamentals, you can already go assist with that class. Check out this page on the coactive website to learn more about how to sign up to assist.

Enjoy!