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Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate Introduction to business and workplace coaching short course
This CPD course is designed for those with little or no coaching experience who are interested in people, their development, wellbeing and performance. It’s ideal for managers, professionals or volunteers looking to build core coaching skills such as active listening, questioning, paraphrasing, rapport building and reflective practice. Through practical activities, you’ll explore how to observe, communicate and interact effectively, and how to establish a clear ‘contract’ to support a productive coaching relationship. Developed in collaboration with Management Futures, a pioneer in coaching for management and leadership, the course offers a strong foundation in coaching values and approaches.
This Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course is intended to develop your own knowledge and skills as well as your practice. It immediately puts into use the coaching experience that you gain from interacting with those around you.
Active learning is encouraged and also reflection on learning from carrying out the short activities in each unit. These activities are set as mini professional challenges – exercises to try, to practice using the skills learnt and evaluating their impact and effectiveness. There are things to try out in your day-to-day practice as coach. The activities will encourage you to observe, communicate and interact in other ways with those you work with. Importantly, you’ll be guided in how to ‘contract’ with others to ensure both you and they are comfortable with the frameworks we are providing and you will use in coaching. You will be encouraged to get into the habit of recording brief insights and reflections on your coaching activity.
 After completing this CPD course, you should be able to:
This course was designed to be independently studied with no tutor support. StudentHome is a dedicated website that provides general study support and there is a computing helpdesk.
There is an end-of-course quiz to test your knowledge and understanding. Once completed and successfully passed you will receive a digital badge and a course completion certificate which you can download as a record of your learning.
The course will require around 10 hours to complete.
You can begin at any time during the life of the course and study at your own pace. The course will be open to you for a time period of between 6 and 18 months, depending on your course registration date, and you will be advised of the specific time limitations upon enrolment.
You’ll have access to a course website, which includes:
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
Although there are no formal academic requirements, you will benefit from being in a position to practice the skills and behaviours covered in this course.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.
The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs.
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying BGXS001 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
StartEngland fee
At anytime before 31/07/2026£150
We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.
If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.
The fee information provided here is valid for short courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
You can start this course anytime.
You can start this course anytime.
Level info