SWITCH

Capstan Partners' SWITCH: Learning to Ask not Tell © program for healthcare professionals includes a one-day coaching-skills workshop, available in person or online, and an option to receive a discounted virtual coaching program.

The workshop runs 9:30am to 4:30pm with two instructors and up to 24 participants, and teaches foundation evidence-based coaching skills — active and reflective listening, powerful questions, summarising and the EDC© coaching process — through live demonstrations and supervised practice. A certificate of completion for six hours CPD, one unit accredited towards an ICF Diploma of Coaching, catering (in-person workshops) and a comprehensive workbook are all included.

The option to receive three virtual coaching sessions within three months after the workshop means you can experience, refine and apply your coaching skills with intent and confidence.

It refers to the coach-informed leadership behaviours and workplace cultural shift from a directive style, where a healthcare professional provides answers, to a coach-like style, where they ask questions that help the other person find their own solutions.

Clinical training rewards telling, when a fast fix is needed and there is often a binary solution. But telling builds dependence, disempowers staff, and burdens the leader to have all the answers. Asking powerful questions and listening actively is known to build capability, trust and independent judgement in team members, and leaders are likely to feel, and be, less stressed.

• A full day of facilitation led by two instructors, delivered in person or online
• Live coaching demonstrations and supervised practice
• Six hours of CPD across Category 1 (educational activities) and Category 2 (reviewing performance)
• One unit accredited toward an ICF Diploma of Coaching, with curriculum by the Australian Institute of Professional Coaching
• An activity workbook and certificate of completion
• Refreshments and catered lunch (in-person workshops)
• A maximum of 24 participants per workshop

The SWITCH: Learning to Ask not Tell workshop suits all high-performing healthcare professionals — doctors, nurses, executives, administrators and allied health professionals — who want to add coaching skills to their teaching, mentoring, supervision and leadership toolkit, and create healthier workplace behaviours and cultures.

It is particularly relevant for supervisors of training, clinical leaders and medical educators who want to lead more coach-like conversations, build team capability and trust, and improve their own psychological wellbeing.

No. SWITCH: Learning to Ask not Tell is a foundation workshop designed for healthcare professionals with no prior coaching training. It complements skills you already have — teaching, mentoring, supervising and consulting — rather than assuming any background in coaching.

By the end of the day you will be able to hold a coach-like conversation using active and reflective listening, powerful questions and summarising, and follow the EDC© coaching process. You will recognise where coaching is more useful than telling or instructing at work.

Coaching skills help healthcare professionals create a safe and supportive workplace to explore ideas, develop professional skills, capability and accountability, and improve psychological wellbeing for themselves and others they care about.

Yes. The SWITCH: Learning to Ask not Tell curriculum is provided by the Australian Institute of Professional Coaching (AIPC), and completion is accredited as one unit toward an ICF Diploma of Coaching.

Optional self-paced online units are available and are recognised as prior learning by the International Coaching Federation toward a Certificate of Coaching or Diploma of Professional Coaching.

The SWITCH: Learning to Ask not Tell workshop is the entry point: the workshop provides one accredited unit toward an ICF Diploma of Coaching. From there, you complete further AIPC units and accumulate coaching hours — which Capstan's Coaching Exchange is designed to provide — before applying for ICF credentialing.

For more information about AIPC, or about ICF credentialing.

Yes, for most attendees, when the program is relevant to a clinician's scope of practice and completed within the requirements of their CPD home, medical college or recertification provider.

Attendees usually earn six hours of CPD spanning Category 1 (educational activities) and Category 2 (reviewing performance) with various Colleges in Australia and New Zealand. A certificate of completion is provided for your records.

Participants should confirm eligibility before enrolling and retain appropriate evidence of participation, learning, reflection and outcomes.

Fees in AUD including GST:

RACP members receive a 10% discount through the RACP Member Benefits platform.

Workshop attendees can add three 45-minute virtual coaching sessions at a 25% discount within three months of attending. Being coached after learning to coach lets you experience the coaching process from the client's side, apply the skills to your own real challenges, and turn a single day of training into lasting habit change.

In addition, optional self-paced online units of study are available through the Australian Institute of Professional Coaching (AIPC) and are recognised as prior learning by the International Coaching Federation toward a Certificate of Coaching or Diploma of Professional Coaching.

Yes. SWITCH: Learning to Ask not Tell is available online, so healthcare professionals anywhere in Australia and New Zealand — including those in regional and remote locations — can complete the workshop without travelling. The online workshop covers the same curriculum and carries the same six hours of CPD and the same ICF-accredited unit as the in-person workshop.

The option to add three 45-minute virtual coaching sessions at a 25% discount within three months is available to online and in-person attendees alike.

Yes. SWITCH is regularly commissioned by health services and departments. Recent in-house clients include Westmead Hospital's Emergency and Intensive Care Departments (Sydney, NSW), Alfred Health Emergency (Melbourne, Victoria), Lismore Base Hospital (regional NSW), and Northern Adelaide Local Health District (Adelaide, South Australia).

To discuss an in-house program, contact info@capstan.com.au or call 0413 599 009.

The return on investment of hosting SWITCH: Learning to Ask not Tell is both financial and cultural. Financial benefits may include lower turnover and recruitment costs, improved productivity and psychological wellbeing, fewer avoidable escalations and stronger internal leadership capability.

Non-financial benefits include greater psychological safety, trust, engagement, accountability, communication quality and clinician wellbeing. The strongest return is achieved when the workshop is reinforced through shared accountability for embedding coaching behaviours into workplace practice, follow-up coaching and outcome measurement.

These are potential organisational benefits rather than guaranteed outcomes; the department should evaluate them against its own baseline data and objectives.

To optimise the workshop interactions and learning outcomes we typically invite a minimum of 24 attendees.

We offer tailored programs and pricing and, where appropriate, discounted rates for organisations engaging multiple participants or commissioning larger coaching or professional development programs. Program details and pricing depend on the scope, duration and number of participants. Contact us to discuss your requirements.