FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

Regarding The Interdevelopmental Institute

  1. What is special about studying at IDM? (1) you become part of an international student cohort; (2) you become aware of difference between your own and other students’ culture; (3) you learn about how other cultures think; (4) you learn a lot about yourself since you begin to understand developmental theory; (5) you become part of an elite of thinkers who have acquired dialectical thinking, something nowhere else taught.
  2. What is the focus of studies at IDM? studies at IDM are about the helper, not primarily the helpee. This is so because the helper can only be effective with helpees to the extent that s(he) is developed as a person, emotionally, cognitively, and psychologically.
  3. Who has chosen to study at IDM in the past? seasoned professionals who have not found in other schools, or in their own practice, what makes clients “tick”; also professionals who have mixed up social-emotional and cognitive development (following Kegan, Wilber, Torbert, Cook-Greuter, and others who have tried to deduce the cognitive profile of clients from their social-emotional profile, and thus cannot answer questions about the relationship between the two).

Regarding all IDM Certification Programs

  1. How many certification programs (in contrast to stand alone courses) are there at IDM? Three, namely: (1) The Assessment Certification Program, (2) The Evidence Based Coaching Program, (3) Dialectical Thought Form Framework (DTF) Certification.
  2. How does the emphasis differ between these 3 programs? (1) is about client assessment; (2) is about coaching based on empirical evidence gathered through 2 interviews and a questionnaire; (3) is about learning to think dialectically, i.e., holistically and systemically, in a flexible way.

Regarding the Assessment Certification Program

  1. What kind of assessments are learned? Participants learn the socio-emotional and cognitive assessment, both interview based, and the questionnaire based assessment of a client’s psychological workplace profile, based on psychoanalytical ideas (Henry Murray).
  2. What is the sequence of courses (modules) to pass through to obtain a Certificate of Developmental Assessment? Gateway (Live or self study), Module A (socio-emotional development), Module B (cognitive development), Module C (“Need/Press” workplace profile), Prep-D (Interviewing Intensive), Module D (Case Study Master Class).
  3. How much time does it take to complete Module D (of Program One)? Typically 3 months (8 2-hr sessions stretched over 2 months).
  4. What are the preconditions for joining Program One? None; the program is open to all professionals without exception as long as they master English sufficiently to follow instruction.
  5. What is the value of holding a Certificate of Developmental Assessment? The value is at least twofold: first, to have made a first step toward practicing the Constructive Developmental Framework (CDF); second, to have acquired the most comprehensive adult developmental education available in the world today; (3) to have become eligible for further practice of CDF in Program Two where three further case studies are written. The first step implies that you have learned three ways of assessing clients’ functioning in the workplace and have also learned to integrate these assessments’ findings into a holistic picture of the client as a basis for coaching and consulting. In addition, you have learned a lot about your own developmental position.
  6. What is the value of the IDM Certificates compared to other degrees? The certificate is your empowerment to practice evidence-based coaching and consulting since you can tell your clients and their managers with great precision what is clients’ level of potential and future mental growth.
  7. How does the Developmental Assessment Certificate relate to academic coaching or MBA programs? The certificate corresponds to a Masters degree and earns 84 ICF CEUs. It is, moreover, showing that have acquired great flexibility of thinking, something of use in any activity you undertake. In addition, you have learned about your own meaning making and sense making that no other degree will give you.

Regarding Professional Practice Programs

  1. Professional Practice Programs comprise the Evidence Based Coaching Program and the Dialectical Thought Form Framework Certification, plus stand alone courses such as the Leadership course.
  2. How are Professional Practice Programs different from the Assessment Certification Program? PP programs focus on the application of adult-developmental research findings in concrete situations and specific cases; they emphasize skill and performance using CDF, not primarily deep theoretical insight.

Regarding the Evidence Based Coaching (EBC)

  1. What is the difference between EBC and the Assessment Certification Program? While students of EBC learn only 1 of the 3 CDF modules (A, B, C), students in the latter learn all three modules, and therefore can integrate three assessment findings rather than a single one. This makes the Assessment Program more complex but also richer.
  2. Once I choose a track in the EBC, am I stuck with it? No, you can cross over to the Assessment Certification Program with the help of the Director of Education.

Regarding the Dialectical Thought Form Framework (DTF) Certification

  1. What is the difference between the Assessment and the Evidence Based Coaching Program, on one hand, and the DTF Program, on the other? Simply that in DTF, you focus on learning dialectical thinking and practice it in concrete problem situations, as demanded by working with, and consulting to, executive level leaders and managers.

Regarding Gateway Live

  1. What is the advantage of Gateway Live? In this overview of CDF, you get to know three dimensions of clients’ functioning that give you a broad as well as deep picture of “who your client is”. Also, you learn in a cohort of international students, not on your own.

Regarding Gateway Self Study

  1. Is there an interview after GSS? Yes, for those continuing to other IDM programs.
  2. What is the difference between Gateway SS and Gateway Live? None, except that in self study you listen to recordings of a live Gateway class held earlier, rather than attend a live interactive teleclass.
  3. Why is Gateway SS a required course for all IDM programs? Gateway SS is an introductory course surveying all that is taught at IDM in a compact form, later deepened in live classes.
  4. How much time is needed to work through Gateway SS? About 15 hours of focused work.
  5. What are the dimensions Gateway introduces to? There are 3, the socio-emotional, cognitive, and psychological.
  6. What is the difference between Gateway and conventional coaching courses? Gateway introduces to essential findings of adult developmental research since 1975 and thereby provides a structural framework for doing coaching based on research.
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