Master Of Arts In Transformational Leadership And Coaching

This first course of your degree program begins your adventure of yearning-based learning. In it, you learn the basic processes of the Wright Performative approach to learning, growing, and personal transformation from the inside out. This springboard course orients you to your journey as a Wright Graduate University scholar practitioner. It provides a foundation for your own transformation, your development as a transformational leader, and the successful completion of your Master’s program at Wright Graduate University.

You are introduced to the intellectual, research, and practice areas of leadership with an emphasis on understanding yourself and others for effective management and leadership in organizational, team, and one-to-one aspects of your personal and professional life. In the Overview component you learn the six core academic disciplines–Neuroscience, behavioral economics and other related research; Adlerian; Humanistic; existential; developmental; and educational disciplines which bring to light applied insights and skills in organizational management and leadership. In the Performative component, you focus on your own learning and growing that you apply through weekly behavioral assignments to enhance your effectiveness in all areas of your life, including your profession. You assess yourself and others with the CARE personality profile to provide a common foundation for continued social emotional intelligence development. In the Applied component, coaching skills provide foundational skills in one-to-one leadership and relationship management. You also learn and apply the team empowerment structure with which you will manage your cohort activities including plenary meetings and other projects.

You learn the best practices to get the most out of the on-line learning component of your studies. You are oriented to the Wright Graduate University online community and engage in rich developmental interactions with your classmates. You orient to weekly lesson, reading, and discussion processes that you follow throughout your studies. You discover the ebb and flow rhythms that you follow each quarter to help facilitate your planning and self-management. You learn to track and plan your personal, leadership, and social emotional intelligence development through your Purposeful Leadership Process.

You explore emergence as a fundamental dynamic in optimizing individuals and group performance. You begin to understand the critical thinking skills of coaching, leadership, and business management that allow an individual to better apprehend, analyze, and  make decisions from more accurate analysis of sensory, analytic, and other grounded data. Your analysis provides insight into themes patterns for which you design actions and interventions for change and better goal achievement. You develop as an individual in all areas of life, as well as a scholar practitioner, business professional, leader, and coach who practices what you preach and teach.

No prerequisites or co-requisites.

This foundational course helps you as a coach and leader to understand the developmental process of individuals. You learn theories and research of child development and how these processes impact adult behavior, emotional intelligence, and career and life success. By understanding how you became who you are, you are better able to become who you could be and help others do the same in coaching, leadership, and teaming. You learn about emotional intelligence, a recognized factor in successful leadership, coaching, training, and teaming, while also developing your emotional intelligence skills and facility. Individual developmental needs and emotional intelligence are analyzed and facilitated from the perspectives of the six core fields of Developmental Psychology, Adlerian Psychology, Human Potential, Existentialism, Educational Theory, and Neuroscience and Other Research, and their synthesis in Wright Integrative. Topics covered include attachment theory, the purpose and neuroscience of emotions; the contribution of emotions to learning, effective decision-making and communication; and how emotional data support positive self-concept and executive hardiness.

Prerequisite: AC00. Prerequisite or co-requisite: PL01.

Patterns of relating are founded on earliest childhood experiences. Current neuroscience is demonstrating that our earliest family experience is encoded in our neural pathways and our personal strengths and limitations are determined by this programming, especially in developing fulfilling, powerful, influential relationships. In almost all vocations, success is greatly influenced by the quality and depth of relationships. This course introduces you to leading theories of adult development and explores the many subtle links between childhood and adult relating—all with an eye toward coaching and leading individuals and groups to higher performance. You learn about social and emotional intelligence and develop relationship skills needed for effective interactions. You will understand the neurological foundations of self-limiting behavior as you employ increasingly effective group and interpersonal strategies. Skills taught in this course are founded on systems and attachment theories, humanistic and developmental psychology, and existentialist perspectives.

Prerequisite: AC00. Prerequisite or co-requisite: PL02.

The ability to influence others and get work done—in other words, personal power—is a key attribute of all human beings you will tap and develop in your coaching and leadership. This course helps you identify and understand the many varieties of personal power you already employ, as well as self-imposed blocks and limiting beliefs that prevent you as well as those you coach and lead from realizing full personal impact. You discover the relationship of authenticity and personal power. Skills taught include identifying your personal power styles, learning different means of influencing and motivating others, and developing your social intelligence. An overview of developmental psychology and existential philosophy helps you understand the power of orienting to principles in any situation, including the power of orienting towards personal principles of truth and authenticity.

Prerequisite: AC00. Prerequisite or co-requisite: PL03.

Purpose is an essential element that informs every aspect of career and life success. Your study of principled behavior and purposeful living will give added meaning and direction to all your coaching and leadership. You will identify an initial life purpose statement and discover ways in which having a clearer sense of purpose gives focus and perspective to all you do. Learning to live the principles of transformation bring deeper meaning and greater performance to all your coaching and leadership. You will analyze your natural gifts and talents and explore how applying those gifts in the service of others can generate career success and a lifelong sense of satisfaction and meaning. An overview of existential philosophy, human potential, Adlerian education and psychology, and other aspects of Wright Integrative helps you understand the relationships of applying principles such as intent, choice, and responsibility to successful leadership and coaching.

Prerequisite: AC00. Pre-requisite or co-requisite: and PL04.

Leadership is the capacity of every individual to influence the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. It is typically understood as the ability to effect and manage change in people and organizations. Through self-assessment, case studies, theoretical modeling, and analysis of personal laboratory experience, you dive into the world of thinkers on leadership as you study yourself and others in laboratory situations. In this course, you make use of historical and emerging leadership principles and technologies to deepen your understanding of the leadership resources you have at your disposal. You learn the four components of transformational leadership and how transformational leadership differs from transactional leadership. You refine your personal leadership development aims as you explore how to be a more effective leader in every area of your life, and influence others to do the same. You also study the models, mechanisms, and dynamics of groups and identify the conscious and unconscious behaviors that influence group functioning. After taking this course, you will never see group dynamics the same again.

Prerequisite: AC00 & AC32, PL01, PL02, PL03, and PL04. Corequisite: PL05.

In this course, you will learn the theory, skills, principles and practices that undergird professional coaching, as they will provide a solid foundation for your development as an effective professional coach or business leader. You will acquire an understanding of the philosophical, theoretical, and ethical foundations of coaching while being introduced to various types of coaching including but not limited to transformational, emergence, career, personal and goals coaching. You will also be introduced to the International Coach Federation Core Coaching Competencies. You will learn how to demonstrate each competency in real-time conversations and experience the effect of these skills as a client. You will experiment with the language of coaching and distinguishing the effects of coaching techniques in various settings. You will learn a defined process to structure a coaching session and engagement and learn about the benefits of the structure as well as the vulnerabilities of a poorly structured engagement. You will learn evidence-based methodologies to establish credibility, build trust and demonstrate empathy with a coaching client or business client. You will complete the course having effectively coached and having been coached. This course helps you establish a firm foundation towards becoming a professional coach or transformational business leader who operates with mutuality and responsibility to help others reach their full potential, whether in a coaching practice or in any professional or personal setting. After this course, you may take a complementary laboratory course on how to build and manage a sustainable coaching practice or launch your coaching career (PL11 and PL 12 respectively).

Prerequisites: AC00, AC12, and AC22 or permission of instructor. Corequisites: PL07 and PL08.

The master’s capstone provides an opportunity for you to bring your yearning-based learning studies to focus in one portfolio demonstrating your transformational learning and development throughout the program. Your capstone project will demonstrate your in-depth understanding of Wright Integrative as it is used in the transdisciplinary process of transformation and emergence and as it is applied in coaching and leadership, in both personal and professional settings. With professor approval and guidance, you will review, synthesize and apply your learning to date (and during the two-quarter capstone project) to produce four products: a narrative of your transformational leadership development to date and into the future, a case study that demonstrates your integrative problem-solving, an enhanced resume annotated with competencies you define and intend to use in the course of your career, and a portfolio of artifacts from your program studies that demonstrate transformational leadership and coaching acumen in action. The MA Capstone project is designed to be completed over the course of the final two quarters of the program.

Prerequisite: AC00, AC12, AC22, AC32, AC42. 

Required for AC12, Foundations of Human Development & Emotional Intelligence for Coaching & Leadership. In this PL you learn and undertake weekly assignments to further develop your emotional intelligence––identifying your emotions, understanding their role in effective functioning and personal and professional satisfaction and success, experimenting with emotional expression, being in the moment, and developing skills of emotional regulation and facility.

No prerequisite

Required for AC22, Foundations of Human Relationships for Coaching & Leadership. In this PL you explore the impact of your family relationships on your relationships in the rest of your life, your work, and with those you coach and lead. You diagram your family tree and identify your family limiting beliefs and family member roles and special circumstances in order to identify behavioral patterns as they were laid down neurologically in your earliest years. You learn the neuroscience related to your early experiences in your family system, identify the impact of these early experiences in your life today, and develop a future vision for your relationships. You identify skills for more genuine relationships; understand how early family beliefs, norms, and patterns developed and influence current relationships; identify unconscious beliefs that drive daily actions; gain greater choice to live your own values; and be more responsible in communication.

No prerequisite.

Required for AC32, Coaching & Leadership Approaches to Developing Personal Power. In this PL you study forms of personal power and develop strategies to enhance your use of your personal power. You use your enhanced skills to overcome barriers, take more risks, and develop new ways to understand and apply the principle of intention. You understand and apply the law of requisite variety, develop more connected relationships, and take greater personal responsibility in work and other areas. You learn, practice, and apply different skills of personal power each week in your personal and professional life and in your coaching and leadership.

No prerequisite.

Required for AC42, Purposeful Living in Coaching & Leadership. In this PL you practice living with the principles of purpose, learn about the qualities of purposeful living, and begin to identify your own life purpose. You further challenge disempowering and limiting childhood beliefs, choose empowering beliefs and principles to live by, and find ways to experience every interaction as growthful. You learn about developmental models of personal development and apply these as a map to guide your spiritual development in ways that can apply to believers of all faiths. You learn and practice the skills of principle based leadership and coaching.

No prerequisite.

Required as corequisite for AC72, Transformational Leadership & Group Dynamics. This PL introduces you to group process in a group experience. You analyze the experience, get feedback, and apply academic and theoretical perspectives to your experience. You apply the analytic and intervention skills you learn to groups you attend, wherever you are. You develop a foundation to continue to become increasingly aware of group dynamics and how to intervene in groups to better achieve your and your groups’ objectives. You learn to identify formal and informal group decision processes and identify who makes decisions, who influences those decisions, and how they do it. You develop foundations for insight into who aligns with whom to control how groups interact, how groups break down, and how conflict is managed. You learn foundational skills to enhance group functioning, facilitate enhanced participation, and empower participants in the groups you lead or belong.

Prerequisites: PL01, PL02, PL03, PL04, or Instructor Permission.

Required as corequisite of AC82, Professional & Leadership Coaching. In this PL you learn powerful communication and facilitation skills including contextual listening, intentional speaking, and the power of presence to facilitate expression and problem solving in others. You discover the power of flow, aliveness, and truth in individuals naturally and easily solving their own problems with no advice. This PL provides a powerful foundation for your coaching and leadership, underlining the wisdom of individuals and groups to solve their own problems. You will discover the power of emotions and expressing them responsibly and how that impacts interactions with others. In learning how to have greater range of expression of emotions during these trainings, you develop a greater self-awareness and sense of self. You experience greater responsibility for the ways you communicate which increases satisfaction in life. As a coach and leader, you learn co-voyaging, a personal responsibility skill that helps you take responsibility for your own AC82 experience in ways that increase your insight and effectiveness

No prerequisite.

Required for AC82, Professional & Leadership Coaching. In this PL, you engage in a coaching experience where you recruit coaching clients, coach them, learn and practice coaching skills, share your coaching experiences with other coaching students, and receive feedback and coaching to increase your effectiveness. You will gain skill and experience in the ICF coaching competencies as you increase your coaching proficiency.

Prerequisites: PL01, PL02, PL03, and PL04, or instructor permission.