About Course
Every coaching conversation has two bookends: how you open it and how you close it. This comic-driven lab teaches the two ICF competencies that hold them. Establishing the Agreement (C3) through the TIME framework, and Facilitating Client Growth (C8) through RIC. You’ll see each move in a comic, practice it live with an AI client, and learn when to follow the model and when to follow the human. Taught at the PCC Marker level, with MCC mastery as your stretch.
What this lab actually is
This is not a lecture about coaching. It is a set of skill development lessons. Every skill shows up first as a short comic with a cast you get to know: Sabrina chasing her next goal, Big Jon carrying the people he provides for, Kev hunting for the strategy that finally works. You watch the move land, then you step in and try it yourself with an AI client who responds in real time. You learn the two bookends some coaches rush: opening a session with a clear, partnered agreement (TIME), and closing one so the client leaves with their own insight named and owned (RIC). Underneath it all is one idea: structure is scaffolding, not performance. You lean on the frameworks while they serve you, and you set them down when the conversation asks for something more human.
What you’ll practice
- Opening with TIME: surfacing the real topic, why it matters now, and what success looks like
- Closing with RIC: helping the client reflect, integrate, and complete on their own terms
- Planting the seed: the warm recap, then the pure question that lets the client gather the insight and harvest it later
Who this is for
- Coaches growing toward PCC and MCC who want their openings and endings to feel intentional, not rushed
- Practitioners who learn by seeing it, trying it, and getting honest feedback, not by memorizing models
- Anyone ready to follow the framework when it helps and follow the human when it matters
Before you begin: each lesson has a green Mark as Complete button, usually near the top of the page. Click it once you have finished each lesson, including quizzes, so your progress is tracked. Every lesson needs to be marked complete before your certificate can be generated and sent to you.
A note on credit: The Coaching Comics Lab is a self-paced coaching skills lab.
It is not ICF-accredited and does not award Continuing Coach Education (CCE) hours.
Its certificate recognizes completion of the practice, not ICF credit.
(ICF-accredited CCE hours are offered through The Mentor’s Eye.)