International Association of Coaching Blog

IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 45, March 2010, Circulation 13,516

Linda From the Editor Welcome to the new, earlier edition of the IAC VOICE. We're so pleased to be starting the month with you. Our issue is a little lighter this month, partly because of this transition, and that's highlighted the need for a richer storehouse of articles we can draw from. So if you've been thinking about submitting an article idea or a draft, please contact me anytime at voice@certifiedcoach.org. I would love to help you get started! And there are other ways you can contribute to the VOICE. Remember that you can submit your anonymous questions about the certification process online at http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html. IAC Lead Certifier Natalie Tucker Miller and her team of certifiers address one of these questions in every issue. Today in the Inside Scoop: Ask the Certifiers column, certifier Alison Davis helps one reader reconcile some of the language differences between the Proficiences, the Competencies and the Masteries. Our first feature article is from regular VOICE contributor Jennifer Day, a coach specializing in emotional intelligence and stress management. She opens with a story that powerfully illustrates just how important it is to coach children about how to handle stress. Our other feature article is about a topic near and dear to my own heart: article marketing. Virtual marketing assistant Bonnie Jo Davis provides a helpful primer outlining the benefits and strategies that will help you make the most of this business-building tool. Our Tools for Coaching Mastery column will return next month with a submission by Julia Stewart from the School of Coaching Mastery. Janice Hunter returns with a Coaching Moments column today, though I'm afraid she has some sad news for us. President Bob Tschannen-Moran writes about having fun and being "in the flow," or is that being in the snow? You'll just have to read his message to find out. And finally, BOG Secretary Susan R. Meyer brings news from their February meeting. To keep up with our VOICE contributors and IAC Board members, you can follow our Twitter list at: http://twitter.com/lindadessau/iac-voice-contributors. Our 2010 submission guidelines for the VOICE are available on the website, with submissions for the April 1st issue due by March 10th, and submissions for the May 6th issue due April 14th. Again, please contact me with any article ideas and your feedback about this issue. Enjoy! Warm wishes, Linda Linda Dessau, CPCC Editor, IAC® VOICE Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org Comment Now Bob From the President by Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC president@certifiedcoach.org Having fun A few weeks ago, after Dallas, Texas received more than 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow in a 24-hour period, I heard on the evening news that 49 of the 50 states in the USA had snow on the ground. If you guessed Hawaii as the lone holdout, you would be right. It was pretty unusual. People in the USA head south in the wintertime to places like Texas to get away from the snow, not to play in it. But that’s exactly what happened: kids and adults alike threw snowballs, made snow creatures and lay down to create snow angels. Growing up in northeast Ohio, I lived through plenty of snowy winters. On one occasion, we had enough snow for me to make an igloo at the end of the driveway. I cut out windows, made seats, and turned the place into my own snowy castle. It was great fun that generated the kind of full engagement that comes with getting lost in the project at hand. Today, thanks to the pioneering work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, we know that experience as "flow"—those moments when we lose track of time because we are fully absorbed in a challenging activity that is perfectly suited to our skills and abilities. It is neither too difficult (producing anxiety) nor too easy (producing boredom). It is just right, producing a sense of focused attention and timeless fulfillment. That’s how I felt while I was building that igloo; I was so intent and was having so much fun that I lost all track of time and temperature. I remember being cold, wet and satisfied by the time my mother brought me out a cup of hot chocolate. I sat at my little snow table and enjoyed the view out my snowy window. Even in elementary school, I took great pleasure in setting my mind to a task of my own choosing and getting things done. I mention all this because I am experiencing some of those same dynamics in my work with the IAC. This "labor of love" is proving to be a very enjoyable and fulfilling experience indeed, both for me and, from what I can tell, for many of my colleagues on the Board of Governors as well as a number of our volunteers and members. The conversations regarding our long-range planning process, website redesign, certification process, first global coaching conference, local and virtual chapters, licensees, member benefits and coaching research all stand out in my mind as spectacular examples of people getting things done, learning and having fun together. More than once I have gotten into "flow" while having conversations and even email dialogues with colleagues, friends and prospective members. The IAC appears to be on the verge of leaping forward to playing a much bigger game and making a much bigger contribution. We see that in so many ways. First and foremost, however, is the sheer creativity that is emerging around our many areas of interest. We’re not yet ready to unveil our new design, but we are heading in a very exciting direction that no other global coaching organization (and we now know of at least 12) has yet carved out for itself. We are standing on the shoulders of our founder, Thomas Leonard, to once again stake our claim to innovation, diversity and mastery in coaching. Then there are the many new members who are joining the IAC. In January, we attracted a total of 67 paid members, including 36 renewals and 31 new members. That’s a dramatic increase over the month before and a slight increase over the prior-year period. Simply put, as we move in the right direction with our vision and programs, our member numbers are following suit. I have no doubt that they will increase even more as the year goes on. If you are reading this and if you are not a member of the IAC, I would encourage you to join today. Your membership may not only help you get into "flow," like it has for me, it may also empower you to contribute to the future of coaching and to the evolution of our world in surprising, delightful, creative, impactful and life-giving ways. That is my wish for us all. Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC, is President of LifeTrek Coaching International. Together with his wife, Megan, Bob has written a new book titled Evocative Coaching (Jossey-Bass, July 2010), which incorporates the IAC Coaching Masteries® in a coaching model designed for leaders and coaches in K-12 schools. www.EvocativeCoaching.com Comment Now New IAC Coaching Masteries® licensed schools and mentors Name City State Country IAC-CC   Christian Coach Institute Charlotte NC United States No View Details Novità S.A Panamá   Panamá No View Details Comment Now BOG Action News by Susan R. Meyer, IAC-CC In February, the Board of Governors was pleased to appoint three coordinators: Kate Larsen will serve as Chapter Coordinator, Kerul Kassel will serve as Member Benefits Coordinator and Kristi Arndt will continue as Volunteer Coordinator. The BOG is working on improvements on the website. Finally, the Strategy Committee has been synthesizing the many ideas generated by members and friends of IAC in the calls hosted by Dave Ellis. Thanks to everyone who participated!   Susan R. Meyer, IAC-CC is President of Susan R. Meyer, Coaching and Consulting and of Life-Work Coach. She provides personal and executive coaching and facilitates seminars on topics including life planning, emotional intelligence, leadership development, communication, and coaching skills for managers. www.susanrmeyer.com.     Comment Now Coaching Children to Handle Stress by Jennifer Day Little Anne was 5 years old when her great-grandmother died. By the time we arrived at the house, the ambulance had come and gone and Anne’s grandmother (daughter of the deceased) was standing, grief-stricken, on the doorstep. As we got out of the car, little Anne rushed up to her grandmother, arms outstretched. Usually very affectionate, her grandmother was now enmeshed in her own grief. "Not now, Anne!" she said and pushed the little girl away. Anne was crestfallen, her feelings hurt beyond belief. She couldn’t understand her grandmother’s rejection at all, and never forgot it. As we try to handle whatever life presents us with to the best of our ability, we are often so caught up in our own experience that we are unaware of the children in our environment and how our responses affect them. Children are not only often neglected, but have never been given any tools to help them deal with either the crisis itself or the adults’ distraction, neglect and/or rejection. This is particularly true in times of great stress, such as in these times of financial crisis, when children are often witness to a variety of fear-filled discussions about the state of our economy. In trying to protect our children out of love, we often deny them adequate training in how to handle the messier aspects of life. In my work with parents, I am often asked: what is the one most valuable coaching tool we can pass on to our children? My reply is always the same: Life happens, and a lot of it doesn’t always look or feel good. Your job as a parent is to teach and coach your children how to handle whatever life presents them with. And this applies to anyone with children in their lives! Countless studies during the past 30 years have shown that the ability to manage stressful situations is more significant in determining health, success and happiness than any other single factor. This is because our emotions are considerably stronger than our minds, and if we haven’t been taught to manage our emotions when stress occurs—whether it be in the form of a crisis or just day-to-day problems—no matter how sensible or logical our mind is, our emotions take over our behavior. That is why Anne's grandmother pushed her away. In order to coach our children to handle whatever life brings, it is imperative that we learn to manage our own emotional responses, as a proactive and preventative tool for handling stress or crisis. Example is the best teacher! One effective way to develop your own emotional management while also coaching your children is to use these Three R’s for Emotional Mastery. The first R is Recognize. Recognize that you are experiencing stress or another upsetting emotion. This may seem obvious, but most of us are actually unaware of how often we let our emotions spin out of control and say things we later regret, simply because we didn’t recognize or admit to our feelings when they began! State your feelings to yourself, out loud or on paper. This validates your feelings and you can start to move on. Coach your children to do the same, teaching them words to accurately describe their feelings, e.g., frightened, frustrated, sad, mad, disappointed. Children can also draw their feelings. The next R is Release. Once you are experiencing an emotion that is stressful—in particular a response to stress or a crisis—it is vital that you physically release any tension you are experiencing. This may mean having a good cry or it could mean exerting physical effort appropriate to the situation. Our bodies are designed to perform a physical activity in response to stress. If we don’t, the stress hormones released into the body become toxic. This lowers the immune system, leading to aches and pains in the short term and eventually disease. Running, punching a pillow, jumping up and down, clenching and releasing your fists, or even letting out a good scream can all help. Teach your children how to also release their physical stress in appropriate ways. The final R is Relax into a good-feeling state. Shift your attention physically down into your chest and heart area—placing one hand gently over your heart can help. Take a few slow, deep breaths and think of something simple that you can really appreciate. Feel that feeling of appreciation in your heart and chest area, enjoying the feeling for a minute or two. When you re-address your stressful situation or crisis, you will find that your perception and response may be somewhat more managed and effective. You'll feel a lot better about yourself, as will your children! Practicing the Three R’s on a regular basis will make a significant difference to the way you and your children handle yourselves in stressful situations, and will give you a much greater capacity to handle and recover from the aftermath of any stress or a crisis.   Jennifer Day is a best-selling author and coach, specializing in emotional intelligence and "in-the-moment" stress management. She is the Founder and Director of Applied Emotional Mastery Inc. She expands on the concept of the Three R's in several of her books, available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and her own website, www.AppliedEmotionalMastery.com.      Comment Now Build Your Coaching Practice with an Article Marketing Plan by Bonnie Jo Davis Filling a coaching practice is becoming more difficult as competition grows and the economy shrinks. Many coaches and other small business owners are uncomfortable using common marketing methods such as cold calling, networking or speaking at local events. These types of "push" marketing techniques can work but not if you dread doing them. Instead of "pushing" yourself on people who may not be a good fit for your practice, try using "pull" marketing techniques that establish you as an expert in your field. My favorite "pull" marketing technique is article marketing. Not only can you build your practice using article marketing but you can also define your niche, address the problems of your audience and attract and prequalify your ideal clients. Article marketing will work if you do it right. To do it right, I suggest you create a marketing plan that focuses solely on article marketing. This will keep you on track and ensure that you produce and submit quality articles on a regular basis. Write out an article marketing plan that includes the following basics: A list of goals that you plan on achieving with article marketing. A description of your ideal coaching client. A schedule that includes how often you will write and submit articles. A list of topics, including the specific problems of your ideal client and how you can solve them. Several resource boxes (also known as a bio or byline) including a link to your site that can be paired with each client problem you will be writing about. A method for capturing the contact information of your readers. A list of potential submission sites that attract your ideal client. A list of the 10 most popular article directories that accept articles on your topics. A list of highly-ranked keywords you have researched that you will use in your article titles, body and resource boxes. A list of the social networking sites you use that can be updated every time you publish a new article. Print out your article marketing plan so you can refer to it often. Schedule your article writing and submission tasks in your day planner and stick to your schedule. If you find writing to be too difficult you can hire a ghostwriter who will work from an outline you supply. If you enjoy doing your own writing, be sure to work with a proofreader who can polish your articles so that they get the attention they deserve!      Bonnie Jo Davis is an author and virtual marketing assistant who helps clients build their business using online techniques that work. You can learn more about her at http://www.your-marketing-assistant.com.       Comment Now   Different terminology, same support by Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC and Alison Davis, IAC-CC This month, certifying examiner and Board of Governors member Alison Davis addresses a concern from a member about some of the changes in language that have evolved with the profession. Alison sheds some light on how this one particular coaching concept has expanded, while staying true to its coaching roots. "When you scored using the proficiencies there were supportive environments and it seemed more in line with coaching. Now you are scoring for support structures and systems. Even that name sounds less like coaching and more like consulting or training. Has coaching changed that much?" Proficiencies, Competencies and Masteries Different coaching bodies call coaching skills by different names. Coachville has Proficiencies, the ICF has Competencies and the IAC now has the Masteries. It is important to remember that all of these terms cover very similar coaching skills. When the IAC scored using the Proficiencies, the proficiency that helped the client sustain his or her success and personal evolution was Proficiency #14, Designing Supportive Environments. Now that the IAC has created its own Masteries, it is Mastery #9, Helping the Client Create and Use Supportive Systems and Structures, that addresses supportive environments. It also addresses the resources and tools that will naturally sustain the client’s progress and transformation. When a coach uses this Mastery skilfully, the client will feel confident and secure moving forward, knowing that resources are available or can be created. Clients tend to make changes more easily when environments and structures are in place to support them. Without proper support, they may have only themselves and their own willpower to rely on. That might restrict the client's ability to achieve what they want in life and business, or lead to unnecessary struggle. Who wants to struggle when struggle-free solutions can be created? True to coaching, these solutions are tailored to the client’s intrinsic preferences. The coach’s job is to introduce the concept of support to the client and help to design supportive systems, structures and environments that automatically support what the client wants to achieve. Alternatively, the coach may help to evolve or repair systems or structures that the client already has in place, that have become weak or that no longer serve the client as he or she makes changes and evolves. One of the greatest benefits of connecting goals to values or a vision or mission is that this connection can help the client build strong support in all areas of their lives, not simply the issue that was brought up in the coaching session. Their mission or vision can inspire them and help them remain focused if times get tough or if they encounter challenges. Structures and systems can provide an opportunity for clients to accept challenges rather than shrink from them. The powerful wording of Mastery #9 was chosen very purposefully, as this is a powerful and empowering concept! How does the coach apply this Mastery? Members, continue reading here. To join the IAC, click here. Do you have a question that you’d like to ask the certifiers? Please send your questions about the IAC Coaching Masteries® and the certification process to certification@certifiedcoach.org or ask anonymously online at: http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html. We love to hear from you and cherish the opportunity to help you understand the IAC Coaching Masteries®.    Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC, is the Lead Certifier and a certifying examiner at the IAC, as well as Past-President. She is Dean of Students and a Master Instructor at the School of Coaching Mastery. Natalie is founder of Ageless-Sages.com Publishing (www.ageless-sages.com), and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™.         Alison Davis, IAC, CC, is a certifying examiner at the IAC, coach, mentor coach and founder of the IAC–licensed virtual coaching school Foundations for Living. Discover more at www.foundationsforliving.com.      Comment Now "Coaching Moments" takes a thoughtful look at how coaching can be interwoven into our daily lives.  One for the road by Janice Hunter, IAC-CC Holy listening – to “listen” another’s soul into life, into a condition of disclosure and discovery, may almost be the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another. ~ Douglas Steere If someone gave you a voucher for a shop called Things Money Can’t Buy, what would you use it for? Would you buy world peace, radiant health, fame and recognition, job satisfaction, love, security, forgiveness, serenity….? Back in 2006 when Barbra Sundquist and I created this column, I was given a blank cheque, allowed to write about anything that might entertain, inspire, guide or resonate with coaches. It was my voucher to buy bliss. Being given the chance to write for VOICE, to co-create experiences, evoke memories, share what I’ve learned and resonate with other souls is a blessing I’ve never taken for granted. Most of the coaches I know have a gift for listening with their instincts and appreciating heart-signs wherever they find them, but I’ve always felt an even deeper connection with VOICE readers. Here at the IAC, we actually have spiritual values enshrined in our Masteries, just as they were in Thomas Leonard’s Proficiencies. I can bare my soul in this column and know that my humanity will be relished, that you share my delight in the moments that illustrate life’s bigger lessons. I’ve written my best work here, and I have you to thank for that. You’ve elicited and expanded the best in me and on my darkest days, I’ve known I could write my Coaching Moments pieces without fear of judgement or condemnation. Being here has bleached my soul as bare as a shell and every one of you is a wave in the ocean that has carried me safely home to a soft, sandy shore. I’ve loved being able to share my journey with you, the details that make a life; family milestones and marital moments; music and memories; the birds and bees in my cherished garden; love letters and tears; summer dresses and Christmas tree lights. We’ve lived through recessions and elections, certification challenges and successes and many an IAC development. Sometimes I feel like VOICE’s barista or janitor, always in the café, happy to be here, watching editors and presidents come and go, listening to a wealth of stories as folk reach out and share their lives with me and I listen. I feel like we’ve spent years chatting at the corner table, sharing each other’s stories, synchronicity and signposts. But it’s time now for me to smile as I gently push back my chair, hang up the towel, look around me at the ghosts and laughing memories and hand over care of the café to someone else. My dad will be 86 in the autumn, and both my kids are at high school now. I don’t need to explain to you how quickly the years fly by or how turbulent life can be for teenagers as they set sail into the uncharted waters of adulthood. To create a safe harbour for them and for my husband, I need to be more present and to take better care of my own health. For months now, I haven’t been able to guarantee quality pieces of work. At times, I’ve been struggling so hard to keep the balance between my ‘virtual’ life and my ‘real’ life, that I’ve failed to capture and filter those fleeting moments of inspiration that flit in and out of the daily details. It’s time to take a break, to let the jug fill to overflowing again and to breathe in the birdsong. For that reason, I’ve decided to suspend the Coaching Moments column indefinitely. Writing this column has been a dream come true and I hope that I can still pop back to visit from time to time, but till then, please believe me when I tell you you’ve been cherished. Thank you for blessing me with your time and a special thank you to every single one of you who has ever reached out to write a comment or send an email. I’ve treasured every word. Sharing the Certification Journey; Six IAC Certified Coaches Talk About Their Journeys To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson I’d like to leave you with gift to say thank you. My colleagues and I have decided to make our ebook, Sharing the Certification Journey: Six IAC Certified Coaches Talk About Their Journeys, a free member benefit for all IAC members, and to reduce it to $2 for all other VOICE readers. (This small amount will enable me to cover my admin and website costs.) My IAC certification journey was a life-changing experience. I absorbed learning and skills that will last me a lifetime and I met some wonderful people who are still cherished friends today. If you want to become an IAC certified coach, downloading our ebook may well be the next step on your life-changing journey. I compiled the book while the exam was still based on the CoachVille Proficiencies, but the insights, quotes, tips, coaching questions, audio snippets and resources we share in it are still valid and useful today. We donated all of the proceeds from last year’s sales to a Haiti fund and would love it if those of you who download the book could donate something to a Haiti charity of your choice. IAC members can download it for free here. VOICE readers can buy it here: http://sharingthejourney.co.uk/sharing-the-certification-journey-six-iac-certified-coaches-talk-about-their-journeys/ Wishing you everything you’d wish for yourself, Janice Janice Hunter is an IAC certified homelife coach who lives in Scotland with her husband and two children. She created and co-wrote Sharing the Certification Journey: Six IAC Coaches Talk About Their Journeys, and her blogsite, www.sharingthejourney.co.uk, provides soul food and support for coaches, writers, parents and home-based workers. Janice has compiled all of her Coaching Moments pieces from the last two years into a free 46-page ebook, 'Coaching Moments: A Collection of Articles about Coaching in Everyday Life' which can be downloaded here or from her site. Comment Now Your Feedback We'd love to get your feedback on any issue related to the IAC. Do you have any questions, concerns, encouragement or ideas for improvement regarding membership benefits, certification, the VOICE, the direction of the organization or anything else at all? Please send an email to feedback@certifiedcoach.org. Please help us improve.

Volume 4, Issue 44, February 2010, Circulation 13,476

Linda From the Editor Thanks to all who have been sending feedback and article ideas, and especially those who contributed to the flurry of comments on the blog last month, especially on Tonia Boterf's article, Don't Niche Me In (read the article and comments here). We hope to keep hearing from you, and we're especially hungry for questions about certification for our Inside Scoop: Ask the Certifier column. Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC Lead Certifier, is ready and waiting to dive into your juiciest questions. You can even ask your questions anonymously with this form: http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html. There are two important changes in our newly revised Submission Guidelines. First of all, contributors will be pleased to learn that we've loosened our copyright restrictions. Secondly, as of March 4, 2010, your VOICE newsletter will arrive on the FIRST Thursday of the month, one week earlier, so that we can all start the month together. That means that the time lines for submissions have also changed, so please refer to the guidelines. We're bursting at the seams this month with IAC news. President Bob Tschannen-Moran presents his thoughts about leadership and intention, as he introduces the emerging leadership team of the IAC. Then Susan R. Meyer, Board of Governors Secretary, delivers her first monthly glimpse inside the BOG meeting, with exciting news about Natalie Tucker Miller's role in the first IAC International Coaching Conference in Shanghai. Susie Li continues that story in an invitation from China. This month's featured member benefit is a special offer from Lisa Gruenloh from Empower PartiesTM, who also shares her philosophy of fun, creative, accessible coaching for all in the accompanying article. In the same spirit of fun, Barry Zweibel offers his "Biz-D" points game to help you grow your coaching business. For our other feature article this month, we welcome back Nigerian coach Folake Oluwole, who reveals the essence of corporate coaching. In Tools for Coaching Mastery, Doris Helge continues to lead us on the path to coaching confidence. In the Inside Scoop, Natalie Tucker Miller breaks things down for a reader who just can't imagine getting "9 in 30." To close our February issue, Janice Hunter illuminates the winter sky with a thoughtful piece about courage and care. A reminder that if you enjoy what you read in the IAC VOICE, be sure to follow our feature article authors, columnists and IAC Board members on Twitter. You can check in on them anytime at http://twitter.com/lindadessau/iac-voice-contributors, or subscribe to the list from your Twitter account. Our 2010 submission guidelines for the VOICE are available on the website. I would love to receive your article submissions by February 10th for the March 4th issue or by March 10th for the April 1st issue. Please contact me with your article ideas and your feedback about this issue. Enjoy! Warm wishes, Linda Linda Dessau, CPCC Editor, IAC® VOICE Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org Comment Now Bob From the President by Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC president@certifiedcoach.org As the new Board of Governors of the IAC comes together and organizes its work and leadership for the year ahead, I am so impressed by the pure intentions of our members. That, it seems to me, is one of the most important integrity points for a non-profit association. I am pleased that the IAC is holding fast and living up to that standard. What do I mean by pure intentions? I mean being focused first and foremost on the mission of the organization and the profession. To paraphrase the late US President, John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what the IAC can do for you; ask rather what you can do for the IAC and what the IAC can do for the world.” When that is our focus, the rest will follow. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong or unnatural about self-interest; we all have it. As coaches, ranging back to our founder Thomas Leonard, we frequently work with ourselves and our clients around the concept of “extreme self-care.” But self-interest and self-care, like success and happiness, are by-products rather than ends in themselves. When we make these things our goals, they become harder to attain and enjoy. When we follow our passions, however, these by-products come our way with much less effort and much more fulfillment. For those of us on the Board of Governors, realizing the IAC mission is our passion. We are not paid for what we do and we are not here to get business or to pad our resumes. We have joined the Board of the IAC to work together and serve the cause: “to advance coaching to the highest standards of universal excellence” and to “further the interests of coaching clients worldwide through a rigorous certification of coaches and the highest ethical, professional and business standards.” Those statements are currently being reviewed and refined as part of our strategy and long-range planning process, but one thing is clear: the IAC wants not only to be the best in the world; it wants to be the best for the world. We truly believe that coaching makes a positive, life-enriching contribution to individuals, organizations and the planet. We also truly believe that the IAC makes a positive, life-enriching contribution to coaching. That’s why our Board members and volunteers are knocking themselves out to make the IAC the best it can possibly be. Our leadership team of BOG members, staff and volunteers is currently emerging as follows: Executive Committee: Bob Tschannen-Moran, Joan Johnson, Susan Meyer, Walter Besecker, Angela Spaxman Budget & Finance: Walter Besecker Strategy & Long-Range Planning: Angela Spaxman, Joan Johnson, Yoram Gordon, Kerul Kassel, Aileen Gibb Communications & Website Makeover: Sue Brundege, Jenny Blake, Linda Dessau Certification: Natalie Tucker Miller, Susan Meyer, Alison Davis IAC Coaching Masteries® Translation: Bonnie Chan, Alison Davis IP & Licensing Activities: Angela Spaxman, Nad Phillips, Alison Davis Local & Virtual Chapters: Kate Larsen, Doris Helge, Nad Phillips, Angela Davis Volunteers: Kristi Arndt Member Benefits: Kerul Kassel Coaching Research: Kerryn Griffiths, Kerul Kassel, Susan Meyer, Alison Davis, Natalie Tucker Miller And let's not forget the invaluable work of Diana McFarlane, our virtual assistant involved in just about every one of our endeavors. If you would like to connect with or work in any of these areas, then I would encourage you to join or renew your membership in the IAC and let Diana know of your interest. You can reach her at certification@certifiedcoach.org.  Next Month: HAVING FUN May you be filled with goodness, peace and joy, Bob Tschannen-Moran, MDiv, IAC-CC, CWC President, IAC® Email: president@certifiedcoach.org Web: www.LifeTrekCoaching.com Comment Now New IAC Coaching Masteries® licensed schools and mentors Name City State Country IAC-CC   Global Coaching Company Shanghai   China Yes View Details Comment Now BOG Action News by Susan R. Meyer, IAC-CC At the January meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Association of Coaching, we welcomed eight new people to the Board – doubling the size of the BOG to 16 (our Bylaws allow for a total of 18). Much of the Board meeting was spent with introductions and orientation. The BOG took action on one exciting proposal: by unanimous vote we agreed to financially support Natalie Tucker Miller, our Lead Certifier, to attend, resource and speak at the Shanghai Coaching Conference on Friday, 19 March, 2010. This may be the first international coaching conference organized by a local IAC coaching chapter. You can download the Conference Brochure with registration information from the IAC website.   Susan R. Meyer, IAC-CC is President of Susan R. Meyer, Coaching and Consulting and of Life-Work Coach. She provides personal and executive coaching and facilitates seminars on topics including life planning, emotional intelligence, leadership development, communication, and coaching skills for managers. www.susanrmeyer.com.       Comment Now International Coaching Conference in Shanghai, China – March 19, 2010 by Susie Li Passionate about coaching, members of the IAC Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong Chapters have been dedicated to developing the coaching profession in Hong Kong and in China since 2008. To this end, they have taken many initiatives, culminating with the upcoming 2010 Shanghai Coaching Conference in China on Friday, 19 March 2010. Bonnie Chan, the president of IAC Hong Kong Chapter, initially organized monthly IAC Hong Kong Chapter meetings for the professional development and certification of Chinese coaches in Hong Kong. Inspired by what came out of the monthly meetings, we went on to organize the IAC Annual Dinner in Shenzhen in 2009, attended by 40 coaches, executives and coaching learners. The resounding success of the Shenzhen Annual Dinner created momentum for us to promote coaching even further in Greater China, through the upcoming 2010 Shanghai Coaching Conference. Shanghai has been chosen to host the upcoming Conference in the Greater China region, as it has been the centre for China in the past. It has been the centre for coaching as well, as many of the pioneer coaches in China are from Shanghai, and many international coaching schools are now offering coaching training courses in Shanghai. Shanghai is becoming an international centre for coaching, and it is important for IAC to include China as a partner in advancing coaching to the highest global standard. The 2010 Shanghai Coaching Conference is for professional coaches, corporate executives, human resource and training professionals and coaching learners in the region, with workshops organized for each of these groups. Conference participants will: Experience the latest development of coaching in Shanghai and in China Gain insights in the movement of corporate coaching in Shanghai and in China Learn about the needs of clients and new local coaches Network with professional coaches from around Asia Engage in the highest international standard of coaching Currently, a number of coaches in Greater China have already passed the step 1 exam for IAC Certification, and there will be more certified Chinese coaches in the near future. Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC Lead Certifier, will fly from the US to Shanghai to be the Keynote Speaker for this high-profile event. This is a coaching event not to be missed! Register now!   Susie Li, Career Coach, supports her clients to identify their unique personal qualities and leverage them in a suitable career and organization, so that they thrive in a career they love.     Comment Now Featured IAC Member Benefit: Empower Parties™ In the following article life coach and marketing consultant Lisa Gruenloh makes the case that a creative group coaching model may serve as a key catalyst in making life coaching more accessible and helping coaches build a profitable practice. Creative Coaching Options Add More Diversity and Revenue to Your Coaching Practice by Lisa Gruenloh Professional coaching benefits nearly everyone, yet coaching is primarily utilized by mid to higher income professionals and often in a business setting. With a creative approach, coaches can build our businesses and bring quality, affordable life coaching to more people by overcoming potential obstacles such as affordability, awareness and accessibility. Create affordable coaching offerings. Group coaching allows the individual to pay much less for coaching and the coach to maintain his or her one-on-one earning level. From a marketing perspective this approach allows coaches to reach more people who have the potential to become private coaching clients and/or great referral sources. Meet people where they are. I love taking clients through life vision processes using a big picture, holistic, ongoing approach. But not everyone wants, needs or is ready for that; it can seem intimidating. Thinking big and starting small is a valuable marketing strategy – opening the door of coaching to those who might otherwise walk right past it. Yes, it’s exciting to "create the life you want," but it might also create a sense of anxiety, setting up grand expectations for already overwhelmed people. So develop workshops or conversation circles around a specific life topic, and start with one session instead of insisting on a longer commitment. This allows potential new clients to try on the experience – and come back for more. Introduce creativity and playfulness. It is possible to offer creative coaching experiences and still maintain the highest level of quality and professionalism. Take the coaching out of the office and into someone’s home. Bring in some playful rituals or exercises that lighten the mood, while honoring the serious intent of the experience. As long as all of our coaching standards and ethics are fully embraced, there's no need to fear these new approaches. So, think about how you might employ more "Equal Opportunity Coaching." How can you build your business while serving a diverse group of clients? What creative new services might appeal to your existing clients, as well as to people who may never have considered or heard of coaching? How can you empower people of all backgrounds to experience their own meaningful, life-changing shifts? And how cool would that be?    Lisa Gruenloh, MA, ACC, is Founder and President of Empower Parties™, a creative and affordable life coaching platform available to coaches across the U.S. The mission of Empower Parties™ is to make life coaching more accessible. IAC members receive a fee discount and bonus marketing materials, and certified coaches receive additional benefits. For more information, please log into the Member Benefits page on the website.     Comment Now Core Ideology: The essence of corporate coaching by Folake Oluwole Why is it sometimes so hard to get people in an organization to come together and work the best way—not my way or his way or the way it's always been—especially when, clearly, that way is not working? Luckily, corporate coaching can take us on a fundamental and insightful journey of discovery of the essence and intentions behind the organization, unveiling its core ideology. In taking up a new corporate coaching client, the first things I want to know are: What was the organization's agenda for yesterday? How has it evolved into today's agenda? How will that agenda stand the test of time in the future? From there, I can identify and appreciate the core ideology of the organization. So what is core ideology? Core ideology defines what we stand for and why we exist as an organization or corporate body. It is made up of a purpose that drives an individual or organization forward, the principles (core values) that guide them to success and through tough times. Core purpose = an organization's fundamental reasons for existence beyond making money—their guiding star on the horizon; not to be confused with specific goals or business strategies. Core values = An organization's essential and enduring tenets—a small set of general guiding principles; not to be confused with specific cultural or operating practices; not to be compromised for financial gain or short-term expediency. Core values + core purpose = Core ideology Corporate coaching is holistic in approach and focuses both on the overall performance of the organization and the growth and development of the individual team members. This will involve addressing personal as well as professional or career challenges and barriers, which is a herculean task if you ask me, and can quickly overshadow our cognizance of the fundamental underlying factors necessary for coming together as a body to achieve a set of common goals. How do I then as a coach, create a positive, productive community of members—individuals who feel that they belong to an organization and who volunteer their best and fulfill their full potentials through meaningful work? I must have a good understanding of the core ideology of the organization, as well as its goals and challenges, so that I can bring all of that into the context of my work with each individual. I must be able to connect the organization and the people being coached. I must have the courage to tell the truth to both the organization and the individuals I coach, without offending or intimidating them. With a clear understanding of the core ideology of an organization, as corporate coaches we can appreciate the focus and direction of the organization. It is then we can get the people fully engaged, involved and genuinely interested in the growth and continued success of the organization.    Folake Oluwole is a corporate and career coach and is the managing partner of GTD LTD (GETTING THINGS DONE), a consulting firm based in Lagos, Nigeria. She connects with people and organizations to inculcate a passion for the vision of the organization. For more information email oluwolefolake@yahoo.com or gtdltd@yahoo.com.     Comment Now The "Biz-D” Points Game by Barry Zweibel When I first started coaching full-time almost 10 years ago, my business development (“Biz-D”) efforts were rather, well, haphazard. On some days, as I’d hoped, I was absolutely on fire! But on other days—on most days, to be honest about it—I was … not. It didn’t take long to realize that this type of inconsistency would serve neither my business, nor me. Indeed, I kept hearing the words of Bill Thomas rattling around in my brain: "What you do today to build your business will pay off 90 days from now. And what you fail to do today to build your business will also pay off 90 days from now. Which pay-off do you want?" I knew needed a plan, a system, a “discipline”—one that would challenge me, but not overwhelm me; one that would be easy to implement, but still meaningful and impactful. But what? And then the Universe spoke. Staring blankly at the shelves of my local bookstore one day, my eyes suddenly focused on “How to Become a Rainmaker,” by Jeffrey J. Fox. A fast and rich read, anyone who’s interesting in building a business would likely benefit from it. But that’s not the purpose of this article. Rather, it’s to discuss a little something I learned from it that served my “Biz-D” efforts particularly well—something Fox called his Point System: “There are four steps that are part of every sale,” he wrote. “They are: (1) Getting a lead, a referral, an introduction to a decision maker; (2) Getting an appointment to meet the decision maker; (3) Meeting the decision maker face-to-face; (4) Getting a commitment to close (a purchase) or to an action that directly leads to a close. “Assign one point to Step 1,” he continued, “two points to Step 2, three points to Step 3, and four points to Step 4. Work every day to get a total of four points, in any combination of steps [and] you will never run out of prospects, your pipeline will always be full, you will never have a slow period, and you will always be making rain.” Wow! What an interesting and provocative notion, I thought. It’s certainly worth a try. But first, I felt I needed to "tweak" it a bit to make it more coach-relevant. Here’s what I decided: Engage someone in a conversation about coaching – earn 1 point. Schedule a Sample Session, or get a referral from someone – earn 2 points. Conduct a Sample Session, or ask someone to be their coach – earn 3 points. Sign up a new client – earn 4 points. As in Fox's system, any combination of activities that add up to 4 points works. So, one new client (4 points) or one Sample Session and one conversation about coaching (3+1= 4 points), or scheduling a Sample Session and two other conversations about coaching (2+1+1= 4 points) all earn your daily goal of 4 points. It's as simple as that. The reward? It's twofold, actually: Reward One - As soon as you earn your 4 points for the day, you've earned the right to take the rest of the day off! (And I encourage you to do exactly that, without worry or regret.) Reward Two - If you earnestly play the "Biz-D” Points game for even a few weeks, you will likely find yourself having created some fascinating new coaching opportunities (read: clients). You may have noted that I called this my “Biz-D” Points GAME. That was intentional because building one’s coaching practice can get really serious and stressful at times, so I wanted (and needed) to keep it purposefully light and bright, engaging and fun! It’s a Core Values thing. And it’s where I do some of my absolute best work. I’m thinking maybe you do, too! Oh, there’s one more rule to the game that’s fairly important: Points do NOT rollover from one day to the next. So, even if you exceed your 4-point goal on any given day, your point total resets to back to zero the next day. Other than that, you have free reign to define your points however you’d like. And worry not, if 4 points each day seems too much to start with, try shooting for 4 points every 2 days, or every 4 days, instead. Simply choose what serves you best because the point of the points, if you will, is that they can help you build your business. And that IS the point, is it not?!   Barry Zweibel, MBA, MCC, is president of GottaGettaCoach!®, Inc. As a noted executive coach, leadership consultant and master certified life coach, he engages smart, capable, people in meaningful conversations about their personal growth and professional development. www.ggci.com.     Comment Now This column is provided by an IAC Coaching Masteries®-Licensed School or Mentor. More IAC Coach Confidence Keys by Doris Helge, IAC-CC Reap the rewards hidden in your unresolved issues Because of human resonance, our clients are human mirrors of our unfinished business. When we are unconsciously experiencing the same inner block as a client, we may fail to perceive their genuine issue or agenda. We may fear diving into the deep water where they must swim if they are to gain their next level of personal empowerment. One of the fastest ways to boost career success is to clear a personal growth block. Cloudy perceptions will vanish like fog when the sunshine pierces its film. Befriend your inner critic Neuroscience and sages through the ages have agreed that our natural state is joy, peace, love and wisdom. Most people think we have to banish the inner critic and struggle to battle our way back to bliss. When we embrace the inner critic instead of fighting it, we return to our authentic self. We also more easily connect with our Higher Self. We become focused on why we are coaching and live in alignment with our life purpose. This focus makes fear disappear like a feather in a hurricane. The acceptance process is easier and faster than our ego (who we think we are) wants us to think. Nurture your curiosity Even after 10,000 trials to develop the incandescent light bulb, Thomas Edison never judged himself as inadequate or lost his confidence. In fact, he told critical reporters, "I must be very close to discovering what works because I know so much about what doesn't." He was as curious as a two-year old toddling around a colorful new playground. The IAC Coaching Masteries® emphasize how important it is to explore a challenge with playfulness and curiosity. Curiosity squelches self-judgment. The two cannot co-exist. Plus, curiosity is so much more fun. If you sense yourself losing your enthusiasm or judging yourself harshly, inoculate yourself with a healthy dose of curiosity. Ask yourself a question like, "I wonder what I'm learning right now?" or "I wonder what my client needs right now?" Take Vitamin SSS Nurture a solid support system (Vitamin SSS). You'll relish the joy of a balanced life and the people you extend love and compassion to will be there for you when you need them. Consistently trying to go it alone is a red flag signaling feelings of unworthiness. Reaching out to others is a sign of healthy self-esteem ("I deserve assistance"). Enjoy the great game of giving and receiving and build strong "I deserve" neural associative networks in your brain. Notice your confidence boosters and zappers Mindfulness is one of our greatest tools for greater confidence. Which clients, questions, and strategies elevate your confidence? Which deplete it? Use your self-awareness to develop an action plan for new skill development and target the niche that's most rewarding for you. Instead of agonizing about your weaknesses, manage them and capitalize on your strengths. The world needs your best self now. Enjoy the power and ease of consistent small steps forward It's easy to justify and lament a lack of progress when you set an unrealistic goal. Setting the intention to take a small step forward each day toward certification, for example, will maintain your forward momentum and elevate your confidence. Here's just one example: You can easily spend just 10 minutes a day re-reading a single IAC Mastery notesheet. Then close your eyes and imagine effortlessly asking a creative new question related to the Mastery you were studying. By the end of only one month, you'll have circled through every Mastery three times. You'll have dozens of new questions to ask your clients. The exercise will also boost your motivation to study the IAC Coaching Masteries®. Your brain craves new stimulation and strengthens neural associations with repetition. This means that your quick, easy Mastery study series will make you more comfortable about using and being quizzed about the Masteries. You'll also be more confident and creative when working with your clients. Allow the Bigger Picture to Propel You Forward Our world is at a major tipping point. As a coach, you're a key resource for change. As a united force, coaches can help create the essential momentum necessary for this planet to move away from war, confusion and greed toward sharing, kindness, compassion and the acceptance of personal responsibility. You are too important to waste your precious energy feeling inadequate or powerless. Avoid perfectionism and procrastination. Ask for help, resolve internal blocks, nourish your curiosity and move forward with joy.   Doris Helge, Ph.D., is an IAC and CTA certified coach, coach mentor and founder of the IAC-licensed training school, Confident Coach Connection. She also created the New Coach Virtual Chapter of IAC and other mastermind groups that boost coaching confidence and collaboration. Discover more at www.ConfidentCoachConnection.com and www.NewIACCoachChapter.com.     Comment Now   The IAC Coaching Masteries®: 9 in 30? by Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC Q: With 9 Masteries and all the behaviors and measures and other considerations, it seems impossible to do all the Masteries in 30 minutes. I know it can be done, obviously, because coaches do get certified. Is there some way you can explain how this is done? A: This is such a great question, and one that arises frequently. It’s a valid concern which several coaches share. There is a great deal of information to digest when learning to coach masterfully, information that can sometimes create anxiety, self-consciousness and, at its worst, discouragement. So let’s look at this from a more empowering point of view; one that will help assuage some of these concerns. To begin, the beauty and brilliance of the IAC Coaching Masteries® is that they support one another and naturally blend to create a powerful coaching environment. What that means for the coach is that these Masteries will weave in and out of one another as you and your client create a tapestry of new insights and perspective. One example of this interconnectedness is evident where Mastery #1 is defined as "the ability to ensure a safe and supportive relationship." Several of the other Masteries will help foster the trust that is necessary for this to be demonstrated. Mastery #2, for instance, incites the "offering of sincere encouragement," and "reminds the clients of capabilities and strengths." From this encouragement, the clients willingness to "share bold hopes and dreams" (one of the measures of Mastery #1) might arise, as well as feeling empowered and ready to accept responsibility (a measure of Mastery #2). And certainly the ability to use pace and energy effectively while expressing (Mastery #5) can assist in "expanding versus stretching" the client (Mastery #2). For another example, Mastery #6 suggests identifying patterns and asking either/or questions. You can see how this might correlate with Mastery #8 where the "conversation enters new and potentially unrelated areas." The coach might then have an opportunity to check in with the client about thoughts, feeling and intuition and effectively demonstrate Mastery #4 (processing in the present). These are just two of countless examples of the relationship between the Masteries and how they can build on and enhance one another. Does this mean it’s easy? Well, not necessarily. Coaches who have achieved the IAC-CC designation will tell you that the standards are high and they devoted many hours to learning and practicing the Masteries. Each of the Masteries requires a combination of skill sets which incorporate a unique blend of intellect, intuition and intercommunication. These skills are best mastered through the trial and error that can occur through practice. Let part of your practice be deliberate awareness of how the Masteries intertwine, supplement and advance one another, as well as their practical applications. So join an IAC Chapter, start or join a live or virtual study group, participate in coaching triads, work with an IAC licensed mentor coach or join an IAC-licensed training program. Any of these steps will give you the coaching practice to develop your coaching mastery and demonstrate that mastery within the 30-minute testing session. Do you have a question that you’d like to ask the certifiers? Submit your questions here: http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html.   Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC, is the Lead Certifier and a certifying examiner at the IAC, as well as Past-President. She is Dean of Students and a Master Instructor at the School of Coaching Mastery. Natalie is founder of Ageless-Sages.com Publishing (www.ageless-sages.com), and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™.   Please send your questions on the IAC Coaching Masteries® and the certification process to certification@certifiedcoach.org. Comment Now "Coaching Moments" takes a thoughtful look at how coaching can be interwoven into our daily lives.  Track of Light by Janice Hunter, IAC-CC “I will not wish thee riches, nor the glow of greatness, but that wherever thou go some weary heart shall gladden at thy smile, or shadowed life know sunshine for awhile. And so thy path shall be a track of light, like angels' footsteps passing through the night.” ~ Blessing from a church wall in Upwaltham, England The road to our nearest big town winds through hills and valleys. As I drove my daughter to a class today, I felt we’d entered an enchanted fairyland of frosted branches, hedgerows and fields. Morning mist lingered in the hollows, unwarmed by the winter sun, low and dazzling in a pearly sky. Only the brightest red berries and the occasional flash of a red STOP sign stood out against the muted shades of pale green and silvery greys. As we reached the town and drove through the suburbs, the roads were treacherous with black ice. The heater—on on full—made it harder than usual to tune into the engine noise. My fingers and toes, frozen even in gloves and hiking boots, felt less connected than usual to the steering wheel and pedals. I focused, senses alert and concentrating, until we arrived outside the community centre where the class was due to take place. I parked with relief, switched off the engine, wrapped myself up in a fleecy, plaid travel blanket and waited for my daughter’s class to finish. As I sat, watching the cars go by, I was struck by something strange and worrying. Because it was sunny and eerily bright for winter, no-one had their headlights on. Yet every car that passed seemed to blend like a silvery wraith into the frosted monochrome of pearly skies and glistening concrete. Driving home, along a busy section of dual-carriageway, I saw folk driving one-handed, shading their eyes from the glare, but once again, I saw very few cars with their headlights on. I saw bumper-to-bumper near-misses, and with every animal instinct in my body alert and aware, I kept the lights on full, the heater off and my bare hands fixed firmly on the wheel until I got my precious daughter safely home. For many of us, all over the world, these are troubling times. Fear can close us up like frost-blackened petals, leave us feeling as if we’re standing on thin ice, an indifferent river flowing beneath our cold feet. It’s tempting to curl up and swaddle ourselves in layers of security, shutting ourselves off from bitter blasts, harsh truths and the risk of ruin. But maybe the safest way to navigate through these tough times is to trust our gifts and our instincts, to shine as brightly as we can, not just to illuminate the road ahead or carve a swathe of light for others to follow, but to stand out, really stand out, like the bright red berries on frosted branches that carry the promise of spring, or a beacon of hope on the summit of a distant hill. How will you brighten the world with your gifts today? Janice Hunter is an IAC certified homelife coach who lives in Scotland with her husband and two children. She created and co-wrote Sharing the Certification Journey: Six IAC Coaches Talk About Their Journeys, and her blogsite, www.sharingthejourney.co.uk, provides soul food and support for coaches, writers, parents and home-based workers. Janice has compiled all of her Coaching Moments pieces from the last two years into a free 46-page ebook, 'Coaching Moments: A Collection of Articles about Coaching in Everyday Life' which can be downloaded here or from her site. Comment Now Your Feedback We'd love to get your feedback on any issue related to the IAC. Do you have any questions, concerns, encouragement or ideas for improvement regarding membership benefits, certification, the VOICE, the direction of the organization or anything else at all? Please send an email to feedback@certifiedcoach.org. Please help us improve.

IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 43, January 2010, Circulation 13,415

Linda From the Editor As I enter my second year as Editor of the VOICE, I want to say what an honour it's been. I'd also like to send a special thank you to our wonderful production team, VA extraordinaire Diana McFarlane and generous and savvy proofreader Elizabeth Nofziger. Thanks also to Angela Spaxman, Sue Brundege, Bob Tschannen-Moran and the entire BOG for your support behind the scenes. It's been an absolute joy to work with our fascinating and talented contributors and columnists, and one final thank you goes out to YOU for reading and being here with us. In this first issue of the year, IAC President Bob Tschannen-Moran jumps into 2010 with some extraordinary resolutions for the IAC. In other IAC news, this month we're introducing another IAC Member Benefit from JournalEngineTM Software, and Marc Manieri will tell you more in his article about the power of journaling. While New York City is certainly well known for its exceptional theatre, did you know that there is a coach working behind the scenes? Andrew Frank gives us a glimpse of his work in his article about goal-setting for artists. Our second feature article has veteran coach Tonia Boterf challenging conventional marketing ideas as she warns, "Don't niche me in!" This month's Tools for Coaching Mastery column welcomes back Alison Davis with an inspiring message about just how far the Masteries can take us to bring a coaching approach to the whole world. In today's Inside Scoop—Ask the Certifiers column, Lead Certifier Natalie Tucker Miller untangles the distinctions between collaborating, sharing, inviting, suggesting and telling, to help you determine when you might be too directive with your clients. We're expecting Janice Hunter to be back next month with a new instalment of Coaching Moments. In the meantime, please feel free to browse the archives of her rich contributions to this newsletter. If you enjoy what you read in the IAC VOICE, be sure to follow our feature article authors, columnists and IAC Board members on Twitter. You can check in on them anytime at http://twitter.com/lindadessau/iac-voice-contributors, or subscribe to the list from your Twitter account. Our 2010 submission guidelines for the VOICE are available here. I would love to receive your article submissions by January 20th for the February 11th issue or by February 17th for the March 11th issue. Please contact me with your article ideas and your feedback about this issue. Enjoy! Warm wishes, Linda Linda Dessau, CPCC Editor, IAC® VOICE Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org Comment Now Bob From the President by Bob Tschannen-Moran, MDiv, IAC-CC, CWC president@certifiedcoach.org New Year’s Resolutions Cynics like to point out that less than half of all New Year’s Resolutions result in sustained, long-term behavioral changes. That "glass half empty" framework discounts the fact that more than 40% of all New Year’s Resolutions do result in sustained, long-term behavioral changes. In other words, setting intentions—an essential part of coaching—makes a huge difference for significant numbers of people (and the success rate goes up when intentions are coupled with designs). Since I prefer this "glass half full" orientation when it comes to intentions and possibilities, I would share with you a few of my own as the incoming President of the IAC. Significant and Rapid Membership Growth. The IAC has now been in existence for almost seven years. In that time we have attracted a significant number of subscribers—more than 13,000—to our monthly newsletter, the IAC VOICE. We have not, however, turned many of those subscribers into annual, dues-paying members. Our current membership numbers are so small—around 550—that it limits the impact and threatens the viability of our organization. My intention is to at least double the paid membership of the IAC by the end of 2010, and double it yet again by the end of 2011. 2,012 by 2012 is my new mantra! With more than 2,000 paid members, the IAC brand and capacity will have reached the critical mass it needs to substantially influence the future of coaching and the infusion of coaching values in our world today. Enhanced Certification and Licensing Programs. To dramatically increase our membership, I see the IAC striving to enhance its certification and licensing programs. There is much that we can do to strengthen the integrity, visibility and diversity of our brands. To that end, our long-range strategy process is focusing on creating entry-level designations (not certifications) for those coming into the profession as well as making our certification and licensing programs even more vital and accountable. Our commitment "to inspire the on-going evolution and application of universal coaching standards" requires the rigorous and continuous application of those standards to all who use the IAC Coaching Masteries® in their coaching, training and mentoring. Dramatically Improved Web Presence. We already offer an impressive and growing array of member benefits. During 2010, the IAC plans on investing a significant amount of time, money and energy in a vastly improved website that will increase the value of IAC membership and attract new members. With the help of our new media design company, Ripe Media, we expect to completely redesign our website, optimizing its usability and visibility. One result will be that IAC-certified coaches and our other members will rise to the top of search engine inquiries. We also expect to include new vehicles for online collaboration, conversation and connection. Greater Collaboration and Diversification. The IAC's recent presence and activities at the 14th annual ICF Conference in Orlando, Florida reflect our intention to cooperate more actively and passionately with the ICF. This followed an earlier agreement that the IAC and ICF would jointly issue a set of model standards of conduct for professional coaches. We may each have distinctive understandings of and approaches to coach certification, but we agree on the basics when it comes to our legal, ethical and professional standards. Such agreement foreshadows future collaborations, not only with the ICF and other coaching associations, but also with different associations and organizations that share our values and commitments as professional coaches. I envision the IAC growing into a large, umbrella organization where coaches can share our work and way in the world. Increased Social Responsibility. It has been striking to me how often our conversations regarding the future of coaching have come back to the question of coaching’s impact on the future of our world. What difference does coaching make? How can that difference be measured? Are some techniques more effective than others? The IAC aligns itself with the following "coaching values": innovation and change, diversity, mastery, openness and transparency, abundance thinking, integrity and high ethical standards. How can we best promote those values in our world today? How can we best encourage coaches and wannabe coaches to live into those values, regardless of their financial capacity or stage of development? The IAC is wrestling with those questions and is uniquely situated to find answers that will help our profession to soar. With the start of 2010, the IAC Board of Governors has doubled in size, with wonderful new energy and leadership for the work at hand. We will be featuring our new Board members in future issues of the IAC VOICE and on the IAC website. Expect to be touched by their work and recruited by their leadership. When everyone pitches in, the work of the IAC will rise to new heights in 2010 and beyond. We look forward to welcoming and working with you on the journey. This month we are pleased to introduce the newest IAC Member Benefit with an article from Marc Manieri, President of JournalEngineTM Software. May you be filled with goodness, peace and joy, Bob Tschannen-Moran, MDiv, IAC-CC, CWC President, IAC® Email: president@certifiedcoach.org Web: www.LifeTrekCoaching.com Comment Now New IAC Coaching Masteries® licensed schools and mentors Name City State Country IAC-CC   TEAMCOACH INTERNATIONAL SDN.BHD. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia   Malaysia No View Details Comment Now How to Read Your Client’s Mind by Marc Manieri If I told you that you’ve been operating at about 50% of your coaching ability, would you be offended or curious? Well, I’m telling you that you are operating at half-mast, and I’d like to invite you to be curious. Read on. I have personally interacted with several hundred coaches over the last two years. During that time, I have identified three common themes: The coaches I’ve met love what they do and are genuinely inspired to help others; The coaches I’ve met have clients who are happy but not necessarily transformed; The coaches I’ve met struggle with consistent business development. Sound familiar? Doctors who perform miracle surgeries have tools at their disposal to assist them in their work. So why should coaching be any different? The answer is: it shouldn’t. Journaling is one tool that can be a key to success for both you and your clients. When you integrate journaling into your coaching practice—making it the very foundation of your work—you can effectively address each of these three themes. You can help your clients in leaps and bounds, because you literally gain the ability to read your client’s mind. By strategically guiding your client’s journal writing with relevant questions or prompts, you gain access to their real time thoughts and beliefs. You know exactly what’s going in their mind and in their life as things unfold. You can facilitate life-altering transformation. Before, it may have taken weeks or months to get to the client’s real “stuff;” no longer. You’re now better equipped to guide your client past their resistance and towards their goals at warp speed. You can count on consistent referrals and repeat clients. Every time your client journals they are instantly reminded of the growth they've accomplished, and when they see your coaching comments after each journal entry they associate their breakthroughs with your coaching guidance. Soon they will be singing your praises to everyone they know. Plus, with a journaling system in place, your former clients can keep using it and remember that you're there if they ever want a "tune-up." By reading your clients’ minds, you become a better coach and earn more consistent business all at once. Not a bad play!   Marc Manieri is a coach at Frame of Mind Coaching and President of JournalEngine™ Software, the most robust online journaling software on the planet. IAC members save 50% on customization and 20% on membership. Check it out at www.journalengine.com and use the coupon code on the IAC Members page.        Comment Now How Coaching Helps Artists Strive for Process, Not Achievement by Andrew Frank In my work with artists, many of them actors and writers, I find that a common goal is to get an agent. Okay, I completely understand that desire. Most artists believe that an agent will help them get to the next level of their career, a level that doesn’t appear to be open to them without the guiding hand and business connections of an agent. Let us ignore for a moment the reality of this statement and instead take a look at the goal itself. "My goal is to get an agent." Is this an effective goal? My answer is no. It is a great dream but as a goal it is problematic because whether or not an agent signs you is beyond your control. You can do everything in your power perfectly—send out mailings, network with casting agents, go to all open calls, have the perfect headshots, a great website and credits—and still not get an agent. So why create a goal that is beyond your control to achieve no matter what you do? I may ask an artist client to consider the goal, "To take weekly diligent action in my pursuit of an agent." This is a goal that they have the ability to achieve and feel good about. The path to obtaining it is in their hands and not someone else’s. There is now nothing stopping them from achieving this goal and feeling great about achieving it. In addition, as a result of the action and attitude they apply to meet this goal, it is often the case that their dream becomes a reality. I also help my clients to understand the difference between their achievement-based goal and my process-based goal. The first is something you get or are awarded. The second is something that you do or act upon. So what if they actually get the agent they’ve been dreaming about, what now? Has achieving this goal given them a true sense of accomplishment? Have they grown or learned anything by accomplishing this? I know many actors and writers that have agents and they still aren’t getting sent out for the projects they want. Compare this to the process-based goal, "to take weekly diligent action." If they’ve accomplished this goal, what have they learned? Maybe some new life skills, such as: Making the most of their time Balancing their schedule Self-promotion and marketing Communication Networking Prioritizing Working through "boring" tasks Listening to their own inner voice If they do get representation, these skills will come in extra handy as they continue to work on building their career with the help of an agent. There is much to be gained by setting goals around process instead of achievement. Additionally, as I work to help artists tap into their internal energy, this process-oriented approach can dovetail nicely with the way they approach their art making. I encourage artists to set goals that they can achieve by themselves alone; goals that will provoke action, that will build life skills and that will transfer to any area of life; goals that inspire them to act and to be the best they can. It is the challenge and opportunity of every artist to present their best self to the world every day. Ultimately, each artist is going to be their own greatest agent, even after they've been signed by one!      Andrew Frank is certified in Personal Coaching by NYU. He has helped hundreds of artists build life skills for a successful creative life, including networking, diversifying income streams, health, relationships, and New York living. He is a director, writer and producer and the Founding Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatre Source. www.frankcoaching.com.       Comment Now Don’t Niche Me In by Tonia Boterf Over the last year, I’ve been poked and prodded to ‘find your niche’ as an Internet life coach and I’ve fought it kicking and screaming. All I ever heard and was told was that you must have a niche, in order to target your audience effectively for marketing purposes and that you can’t be successful without doing so. Phooey! Life coaching started with Executive Coaching, and then Corporate Coaching, but then became more mainstream in applying the coaching techniques to people’s everyday lives. Before the Internet, coaches worked from offices and thus had to have the skills for a broader range of issues. Along came the Internet and everything changed, especially if you coach via the phone and do not get your clients primarily from your local area. Through the Internet, you can now find life coaches specializing in diverse areas: Christian, Divorce, Relationships, Career, Marketing, Small Business Development, Spirituality, Over 50, Youth, Organization and so forth. In the Internet sea, coaching businesses have become more specialized for primarily two reasons: (1) Internet search engines deliver results based on specific key words that consumers type in when they are looking for a life coach and (2) Coaches who want to be found by those consumers are aiming to identify and target their audience in order to laser focus their marketing efforts to reach that group. Woe to us who prefer to be more generalized in practice—for us the road is harder. If a life coach’s background is specialized, then it makes sense to confine their coaching practice to those skills. This makes sense—as long as they are professional enough to refer their customers to another coach, or to work in tandem when appropriate. There are some of us, though, who have the skills and background to offer a broader range of coaching services. The Internet doesn’t like generalists or those of us who don’t want to be niched in. This reality makes the marketing of our services through the Internet more challenging; it is more difficult to get high "search rankings" and it may be harder for customers to find us. With 25+ years of professional coaching in all kinds of life areas and enjoying most of them, the idea of niching or creating boundaries for myself has left me with my phrase of "Don’t Niche Me In." Oh, I’ve succumbed some but my passion and experiences are broad and the more complex the situation, the happier I am. I would be bored if confined to a single topic area. So, I market the best that I can, but as a generalist, you just can’t list all the areas of life you can coach in. There are subjects that I am not as well versed in as others, and there are some I really don’t enjoy and will refer a customer to another life coach as appropriate. I encourage all coaches to be clear and honest about their skills, and build a network of coaches they can refer to in areas that are outside their specialty. I also recommend that they list their specialties in some of the many coach directories that are available. My passion as a life coach is to make other’s lives better. If someone has more skills or passion in an area then I do, my loyalty is to the customer and finding them the right coach to help them. By playing to my strengths and those of other life coaches, I feel the entire life coaching profession benefits. Satisfied customers spread the word of how beneficial life coaching is—isn't that what all of us would like to see more of – whether we are "niched in" or not?   Tonia Boterf – The Practical Expert™ (617-895-0249, www.thepracticalexpert.com) is a Certified Life Coach, Holistic Health Practitioner and LSW with 25+ yrs of experience offering strong results-oriented coaching services for those over 40 dealing with major life challenges, including caring for aging parents. Offering free and affordable sessions, quality e-books and articles.       Comment Now This column is provided by an IAC Coaching Masteries®-Licensed School or Mentor. The Coaching Masteries®—Foundations for Living by Alison Davis, IAC-CC I’ve recently been wondering how different the world would be if we were all able to actually "live" the Masteries and use them naturally in our everyday lives. The idea intrigues me and I have begun to experiment with the concept in my own life. As I explored how to use the Masteries appropriately in my everyday life, with others and with myself, I found that I was experiencing new levels of centeredness and confidence in myself and mastering the Masteries even better! This worked so wonderfully well for me that I really recommend you try it too. As coaches we learn that it is important not to just coach others in everyday life without their permission, however tempting this might be at times. But I wasn't sure how I could "live the Masteries" in my daily interactions without coaching people. What I found that not only did it improve my relationships and shift them to a whole new level, it also created a different kind of energy in me, and between myself and others. I began to wonder how the world might be different if we were all to master the Masteries and use them in our everyday lives skilfully and appropriately with ourselves and in our interactions with others. How might our relationships with ourselves and with others be different if using the Masteries became as natural as breathing? As I looked at each Mastery and began to explore what it would mean to use each one in my everyday life, I remembered that one of the first things we learn to do when are learning to demonstrate the Masteries is to connect fully and deeply with the client, building rapport and trust. This is what happens when we apply Mastery #1, through the way we are being, our presence and our tone of voice. So how would our relationships and interactions in the world at large be different if we were able, using this Mastery, to get into relationship with others quickly and connect more fully and deeply, whatever the mood of the other? If we always listened actively and remained connected, respectful and engaged in order to establish and maintain a relationship of trust? What if we were able to listen to ourselves in this way? How would this change our relationship with ourselves, our confidence and our self-esteem? What would we ourselves get from this different way of being with ourselves and others? How would others feel? What would they get out of it? How would our experiences be different? I applied a similar line of questioning to each of the Masteries, and have had rich experiences answering them. As a mentor coach, I have also been encouraging my mentees to use the Masteries in their lives to prepare them for the IAC exam. One mentee was willing to share this extraordinary story of relationship transformation: Whilst I can feel the benefits for me and those around me of living the teachings of the Masteries in my daily life, I would not want to become the shrink at the dinner party. You know, the one who nobody wants to be seated next to, for fear of being analysed, judged and processed! But here are some examples taken from a situation in my life where I used the Masteries successfully. As always, I find that I use more than one at a time: My mum and I have had a mercurial relationship made up of rare moments of bliss and peace and many more of distrust and judgement. Yet, with the arrival of my newborn son, I have made the commitment to myself to make every effort to change this to a relationship of acceptance and love. For example, every time we see each other, she expects me to run countless errands for her, but then complains that we never have quality time together. With the use of Mastery #1, Mastery #3, Mastery #4 and Mastery #5, I suggested that on a specific day that we were due to meet, I may not spend our time "together" running errands for her and "looking after her" but rather focus on realising her wish to spend "quality time" together. I also acknowledged to her that I had not been honest with her about resenting being asked to be her personal shopper, driver, etc. I invited the possibility of being something else to her and asked what she would like to get out of our time together. Expressing and clarifying were both important as our conversations are very rich in subtitles. At the end of that day, spent lunching and shopping and having tea, she opened up to me saying, "I always felt you were angry with me for divorcing your dad," a belief she had held for 30 years, but never shared with me. That is when Masteries #4 and #8 kicked in. By bringing the feeling back to today and inviting the possibility of an evolved relationship, which I asked her to describe, we managed a real breakthrough when untainted love started to seep through. Sustaining such a start, we used Mastery #9 by looking at what was needed to continue our journey. We committed to authentic communication when discomfort occurs, also using Masteries #5 and #6. We also agreed to have moments together at least every fortnight and arranged for my son to be looked after by his other grandmother at these times. Mum also started to open up about her lack of self-confidence and her feeling of having missed opportunities in her life. She shared that she would have loved to teach or be in fine arts. By using Masteries #6 and #2, the conversation just flowed, opening up a realm of possibilities. The energy between us has shifted from destructive to positive. Without the use of the Masteries in this conscious yet easy way, we would not have jumped over the hurdle of the first affirmation, "I always felt you were angry…" and might not even have gone there at all. It is really worth considering: How might your relationships be different if you were to apply the Masteries this way? How might the way you feel about yourself be different? How might your friends, relations, work colleagues and children feel about themselves? What might become possible? What miracles might occur? If you have a story or example of using the Masteries in your everyday life to make a real difference in a situation, please comment below or submit it to voice@certifiedcoach.org.       Alison Davis, IAC, CC, is a certifying examiner at the IAC, coach, mentor coach and founder of the IAC–licensed virtual coaching school Foundations for Living. Discover more at www.foundationsforliving.com.      Comment Now   Inside Scoop: Too Directive? by Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC Q. I received feedback that I was too directive with my client. Is being directive always viewed as negative? A. Collaborate with your client. Brainstorm. Share what you’re noticing. Make statements to increase understanding. Suggest relevant resources. But don’t be directive? Sounds like a little bit of double talk, doesn’t it? However, when you look at how being directive affects the coaching, the definition comes into focus. What is the impact on the specific client? In what context is the approach applied? What is the most appropriate action for the given situation and/or how reliant is the coach on that action? Does the coach demonstrate an understanding of the difference between being direct and being directive? These are just a few indicators to be aware of when pursuing the most effective approach. In this article, we’ll delve into some of the specifics of those examples for better understanding of when and how being directive might serve your client. The Masteries e-book has several examples that can help demystify this concept. Members can download the e-book for free, and non-members can purchase it for a nominal fee. Please visit the website for details. Members, continue reading here. To join the IAC, click here. Do you have a question that you’d like to ask the certifiers? Submit your questions here: http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html. Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC, is the Lead Certifier and a certifying examiner at the IAC, as well as Past-President. She is Dean of Students and a Master Instructor at the School of Coaching Mastery. Natalie is founder of Ageless-Sages.com Publishing (www.ageless-sages.com), and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™. Please send your questions on the IAC Coaching Masteries® and the certification process to certification@certifiedcoach.org. Comment Now Your Feedback We'd love to get your feedback on any issue related to the IAC. Do you have any questions, concerns, encouragement or ideas for improvement regarding membership benefits, certification, the VOICE, the direction of the organization or anything else at all? Please send an email to feedback@certifiedcoach.org. Please help us improve.

IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 42, December 2009, Circulation 13,354

Linda From the Editor Are you tweeting yet? If you are, be sure to check out the new IAC Contributor's list so you can follow our feature article authors, columnists and IAC Board members on Twitter. Check it out at: http://twitter.com/lindadessau/iac-voice-contributors. And if you're not on Twitter yet, Suzi Pomerantz has a great social media primer for you in today's feature business-building article. While we're sad to see Angela Spaxman's last column as President, it's inspiring to read President-Elect Bob Tschannen-Moran's tribute to Angela and her work with IAC. This month we're highlighting the New Coach Virtual Chapter as a member benefit, and Chapter Founder Doris Helge shares an exciting example of the kind of impact these groups can have. If you had trouble finding any of your Christmas ornaments this year, or if you've gone out and bought new supplies because you forgot you already had them, you might identify with the Clutterbug Clients in our feature article by professional organizer Claire Tompkins. In Tools for Coaching Mastery, Aileen Gibb introduces a tool from the field of transactional analysis, and explains exactly how she uses it effectively in her own coaching practice. Shhhhh! Lead Certifier Natalie Tucker Miller has a very important message in today's Inside Scoop—Ask the Certifiers column. And in Coaching Moments, Janice Hunter shares a beautiful Christmas message and poem, and invites your support for an emotional situation in her own life. Enjoy the issue, and please note that revised submission guidelines for the VOICE are available on the website, along with submission dates for all 2010 issues. I would love to receive your article submissions by December 14th for the January 8th issue, or by January 19th for the February 12th issue. Please contact me with your article ideas and your feedback about this issue. Warm wishes, Linda Linda Dessau, CPCC Editor, IAC® VOICE Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org Comment Now Angela From the President by Angela Spaxman president@certifiedcoach.org Coaching is at a key crossroads within a maturing industry. Some see the need for additional standards, licensing and credentialing. They would use the new coaching research to codify the practice. Others see the need to diversify the practice of coaching, to facilitate the spread of the coaching approach into many realms in society and across the world. They would use the new research to innovate and increase effectiveness. Our recent strategic visioning process has confirmed that the IAC is firmly in the second camp. We are here to help coaches do excellent work that brings them success. And we also aspire to bring coaching more fully into the world so that it can be of most benefit. The IAC was born as the result of dissatisfaction with the trend of other coaching organizations. So it is inspiring to me to see us re-confirming our values now. I hope that other coaches who support this vision of coaching will join us too. Help Us Set Our Strategy While our direction is clear, how we will do it is unfolding every day. This week I summarized hundreds of ideas from our strategy sessions into 38 possible strategies. In January we will be sharing this draft and asking for your input again, to help us choose our priorities and gather more ideas on how to achieve our goals. Please join us. We need your ideas and support. Strategy Call #4 (IAC members only): Jan 12, 2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time (01/12/2010) OR Jan 14, 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (01/14/2010) Please click here to register for the calls or to receive the recordings. This is my last missive as IAC President. I will turn over the reins to incoming President Bob Tschannen-Moran on December 31, 2009. It’s hard to describe my feelings about completing my term as President. It is easy to relinquish the responsibility, which was heavy at times, as the role of President brought surprises often just beyond what I felt I was ready to do. Serving as President has meant doing what’s called for, and welcoming the challenge with pleasure and confidence. The role has brought me many priceless lessons and rewarding experiences. My energy and commitment to the IAC remains strong as I move into the role of Past-President. I'm anticipating the pleasure of choosing new ways I can help move our organization forward from amongst the many great ideas before us. And as a friend reminded me recently, the IAC is not my cause, but our cause, so I know you will be with me too. I want to say a huge and heart-felt thank-you to two other Board members who will also be stepping down. Des Walsh, our resident social media expert, has been consistent in his support as Chair of our Board meetings and in prodding us towards better web technology. Parker Anderson, outgoing Vice President, has been a wise companion for me as our longest-serving Board member. The energy of her support can be felt thousands of miles away. The IAC owes both Des and Parker an unpayable debt for their time and energy. All my best for the holidays and the New Year. Cheers, Angela Spaxman President, IAC® Email: president@certifiedcoach.org Web: www.lovingworkandleading.com Comment Now Bob From the President-Elect By Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC PresidentElect@certifiedcoach.org A Tribute to Angela Spaxman The closer I come to taking over as President of the IAC next month, the more intimidated I am by the prospect. That comes in no small respect from the incredible shoes I have to fill, of my predecessor Angela Spaxman. Wow! Angela has offered the IAC the perfect combination of hard work, wise counsel, eloquent expression and institutional memory. I’m not sure what else Angela does with her life and work in Hong Kong, but one thing is clear: the IAC has been a heartfelt passion that receives far more time and attention from Angela than the organization has any right to expect. We have benefited greatly from her exceptional efforts and I look forward to continuing that tradition as best I can. In the past year alone, Angela has been instrumental in: Raising the visibility of the IAC, Improving our organizational policies and procedures, Creating the Mastery licensing program (currently with 26 licensees), Launching a far-reaching strategy process that will serve us well for years to come, and Initiating a website makeover process that will support the evolution of the IAC as a global leader in coaching certification, community and mastery. It is hard to imagine anyone doing more in one year to launch us into the future. Thank you, Angela, for all that you have done, are doing and will do for the IAC. I say "will do" because the best news is that Angela is staying on the Board of Governors (BOG) as Past President, as my special advisor and to work on a number of other projects. That will help us to preserve institutional memory and get the work done up to the high standards that Angela has set. With others on the BOG retiring and moving on at the end of this month, including our Vice-President, M. Parker Anderson, and our BOG meeting facilitator, Des Walsh, Angela’s continuing presence and work will prove to be especially important. You can catch wind of what Angela has meant to this community by reading a few select remarks from those who know Angela best. The final comment, from our retiring Vice-President, says it best: "Thank you hardly seems to be enough." "Angela is a paradox of laid back efficiency. And that ability to lead and get things done in such an easygoing way is a rare talent." ~ Tony Betts "Angela's commitment to the IAC is evident in the visible positions she's held as Editor of the VOICE and President of the Board. What people may not know is that she had worked tirelessly for the IAC well before her name was ever printed in the newsletter or posted on the website. I've had the distinct honor to work with Angela on a variety of projects, and her dedication, vision, reach and insights have helped to shape the IAC into the global organization it is today. She continually reflects on her leadership and models a coaching approach that inspires others to do the same. I am one of the lucky ones who will continue to work with Angela on various projects while the IAC continues to benefit from her contributions." ~ Natalie Tucker Miller "Angela has been supportive and encouraging with her guidance over this last year as I settled into my role as editor of the VOICE. She has helped me connect with the bigger work of the IAC as a whole. That has made a huge difference to the pride and investment I feel in my small part in that important mission." ~ Linda Dessau "When I approached the IAC with an interest to volunteer, Angela was my first contact. In our very first conversation, she so clearly embodied the type of organization–one with integrity, compassion and vision–that I wanted to become involved with. As I’ve worked with and have gotten to know Angela better over the past year or so, she continued to impress me with her clarity of thought, her leadership skills and her capacity to make decisions that benefit both the IAC and the coaching profession in general. Not to mention that she’s a wonderful, caring, interesting person! It has been a pleasure and an honor to be on the IAC board with Angela at the helm, and I look forward to our continued professional collaboration for years to come!" ~ Sue Brundege "The IAC will always be in particular debt to Angela for maintaining the continuity of highly dedicated and professional leadership set by previous Presidents. She was willing to step up and be President, when no one else was available to be nominated. What could have been a time when the BOG lost momentum became a time of consolidation and further achievement under her intelligent, imaginative and always inclusive leadership." ~ Des Walsh "Angela stepped into the role of leadership both kicking and screaming and also with that thoughtful and calm manner in which she approaches life. She truly understood that her time was NOW to be an IAC leader and what a difference that has made to and for all of us. She has demonstrated a leadership style that is inviting and welcoming. She has shared her skills and talents in a broad-based manner and has never faltered when it comes to expanding her own learning and growth potential. As a result, Angela led the IAC into new realms of possibilities across the globe. She truly made the organization international in scope. It is a real coup for the IAC to have had a leader such as Angela emerge from the ranks of volunteer into being a premier and masterful, coach, motivator and leader extraordinaire. Thank you hardly seems to be enough to say, however, thank you is said with heartfelt appreciation." ~ M. Parker Anderson-Mabry Comment Now New IAC Coaching Masteries® licensed schools and mentors Name City State Country IAC-CC   Rev Training and Coaching Shanghai   United States No View Details Comment Now IAC Certified Coaches Congratulations to Gwyn Hayward-Ryan from Auckland, New Zealand and Sara Connell from Chicago, IL, USA who recently passed their Step 2 Exams and became IAC-Certified Coaches! Comment Now Featured IAC Member Benefit: The New Coach Virtual Chapter While all are welcome to join, IAC members can get recordings of the calls while guests can only call in live. Visit http://www.newiaccoach.com for more details or to join. In the following article, Chapter Founder Doris Helge illustrates the benefits of collaborating with other coaches. IAC Coaches Collaborate for Success by Doris Helge, IAC-CC Successful IAC coaches understand the power of collaboration. They know that every time a single IAC member builds a thriving practice, all coaches benefit. How? Coaching becomes more visible and more people comprehend the value of our services. With billions of potential clients around the world, there is plenty of business for all coaches. Successful coaches refuse to be distracted by social programming that promotes competition. In a world that so desperately needs coaching skills, competition is an outdated paradigm that is crumbling like a clump of dried mud. Thriving coaches are empowered by their confidence and their sense of personal responsibility. They know their talents, wisdom, experience and skills are a constant source of abundance and joy. They know they are always connected to potential clients and other resources. Because they are not functioning within a framework of lack or limitation, they're excited about collaboration. All of this begins with coaching confidence. When you grow your coaching self-esteem, your heart spontaneously and effortlessly connects you with clients who've been eagerly waiting your arrival. Once these people discover you, they are drawn to you like bees to honey. Edna Johnson is an excellent coach and a brilliant creative writer who graciously shares her wisdom with other coaches. With Edna's permission, here is a brief excerpt from a story she wrote recently after an advanced coaching class. "My Aha! moment today was thinking about being a 7-inch frog straining to leap up a 9-inch step. I've sometimes felt this way about becoming a certified coach. At best, a little 7-inch frog can only jump as high as 7 inches, so a 9-inch step seemed insurmountable. It felt like the effort to hurtle the step would exhaust the little frog. Then I expanded my thinking using IAC Mastery #8, "Expanding the Client's Potential." What if another frog came along? The two frogs could play leapfrog and jump up the entire staircase. They would forget that it was supposed to be impossible to jump up the 9-inch stair. They could make their goal an adventure and playfully explore the pond around the step together instead of feeling like they were individual frogs faced with an impossible task and endless work. They could be curious, like a good coach. All of a sudden, I was no longer afraid regarding how to become a certified coach. The journey to certification isn't about jumping through hoops. It's a fun quest!" Collaborative coaches are using their intentions to support each other to create a perfect circle of light around the world. We are helping each other leapfrog forward by using collaborative mastermind groups. We think of ourselves as tuning forks. When one coach sends supportive intentions to another and that coach does the same, a tone is created that is much more beautiful and powerful than the original coach would have had alone. With an organized international group of IAC coaches, the power of "one for all" rapidly travels across the world. Each positive intention magnifies through group effort. The torch of light is given from one coach to the next and the next, growing stronger and more brilliant with every leapfrog forward. By the time the positive feelings boomerang back to the original coach, they are a thousand times stronger than the initial intention of that coach. Pause for a moment and reflect on the magnificence of what so many IAC members are consciously co-creating. We help each other while we boost IAC's visibility and the entire profession of coaching. This is the loveliest and purest form of power on this planet . . . and it's all about collaboration. So, please turn your attention back to IAC Mastery #8, "Expanding the Client's Potential." How do you think the momentum we are building can become even stronger? There are no limits. As described in the November 2009 issue of the VOICE, the IAC leadership actively supports the "one for all" approach. I hope this article helps you feel deeply connected to an ongoing coaching support system that will help you shine your very special light on a planet that is hungry for your special talents. Just imagine what we can to do as a united force for positive change!   Doris Helge, PhD, is an IAC- and CTA-certified coach, coach mentor and founder of the IAC-licensed training school, Confident Coach Connection. She also created the New Coach Virtual Chapter of IAC, a mastermind that boosts coaching confidence and collaboration. Discover more at http://www.newiaccoach.com/.   Comment Now Clutterbug Clients: How Partnering with a Professional Organizer Can Help by Claire Tompkins Your coaching client comes up with wonderful, uplifting and life affirming goals they want to achieve with your help. But, as time passes, it seems the client isn't making or sticking with the desired changes. Of course, dealing with obstacles is part of the coaching process. A skilled coach works to ferret out what’s behind those obstacles and helps the client overcome them. In the case of clutterbug clients, though, a professional organizer might just be the missing link that could help your client move forward. Clutterbugs find it hard to focus on goals because they are easily distracted by their many projects and interests. They're reluctant to make decisions that would move them forward because that cuts off other equally wonderful alternatives. Clients can be ashamed of their disorganization. This makes them feel unworthy of their own goals. Sometimes one of the most productive things I do for my clients is assure them that their clutter is not hopeless and that having too much stuff is a common situation when you live in an affluent society. I acknowledge the client’s feelings about the clutter and gently remind them that it’s still just stuff. No matter what story they have about it, clutter is made up of inanimate objects that they are the master of. Change is scary, even good change. Clutter insulates people and protects them from change. Having lots of stuff around means there is always something to do, something to occupy their time and their minds. When a goal feels too scary, it’s easier to turn to sorting the stamp collection. While I never insist that a client get rid of things, I do think it’s important that they’re consciously aware that they’re holding on to things for reasons that don’t make much sense, when they really stop to look at them. That’s a first step toward being able to make rational decisions. Sometimes people are reluctant to address clutter because it's not as important as working on their life goals. Yet clutter creates a gnawing, guilty feeling that they need to clean up before they can go on to something more rewarding. That's why they're stuck. They put off tidying the studio because they want to paint. And then they put off painting because the studio is too full of clutter to move around. Each gets in the way of the other. Physical clutter represents unmade decisions, paths not taken, promises not kept and potentials not realized. Reflecting on those choices can be paralyzing for some people. I encourage my clients to live in the present, where they can make changes. Change requires taking—or even making—opportunities today, rather than holding on to any possible opportunities. Being disorganized is about more than having too much stuff or being messy. Even if there aren’t emotional issues involved, disorganization is distracting and time consuming, taking the client away from what’s really important. Life coaches realize that movement in one area usually inspires movement in others too. When a coach and a professional organizer team up to help a clutterbug client, that synergy can help him or her make amazing progress.   Professional organizer Claire Tompkins specializes in creating customized organizing techniques for each client. By addressing their unique needs, she provides solutions that make their lives easier and give them more free time to do what they love. In-person and telephone sessions are available. Visit www.cluttercoachblog.com for more information.     Comment Now Why Social Media is Ideal for Coaches: Are You in the Game? by Suzi Pomerantz To grow your coaching business or practice, it is no longer acceptable NOT to be engaged in social media. That luxury has passed. If you were waiting for this "fad" to go away, it’s time for a mindset shift! Here’s why social media is ideal for coaches: 1. It's networking at its best: across all time zones, from the comforts of your own home and aligned with the best coaching mindsets of service, connection and contribution. 2. It's free: free marketing opportunities work in every budget, in every economy. 3. It's a platform to do what you do best: engage in conversation, share wisdom, and be truly global. So what is social media? It is a series of online platforms that utilize Web 2.0 technology, which is basically anything that lets you interact and participate rather than just read. Blogs and wikis are part of social media, but in this article we'll just discuss social networks. For coaches, the key uses of social media are to build your brand, increase your visibility and exposure, network internationally, share your wisdom, find service providers, have conversations with clients, prospective clients, and colleagues, and create opportunities for large-scale collaborations. General Social Networking Strategies Each site has its own culture, personality, etiquette, and communication protocols, so take some time to get to know each one before you dive in. Design your profile once and then customize it to fit each site. If you have a blog, use a service such as Tweetmeme or TwitThis so it's easy for your blog readers to publicize your post on Twitter. You can also connect your blog to your social network accounts so each new post is automatically distributed to your network. Be sure to connect your Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook to each other so each post is leveraged and shows up in all three places. The Big Three Social Networks There are literally hundreds of online social networks you can join, but these are the Top 3. LinkedIn: This one is primarily professional, although to the extent that you serve as a connector of others, you may wish to include your broader community as well. The power of LinkedIn for coaches is in the Groups function (search for "coaching" and you will find many potential groups to connect with) as well as the Questions and Answers sections (position yourself as an expert by answering questions in your specialty area). LinkedIn has nearly 50 million users from over 200 countries, and has been around long enough to rank very high on search engine rankings pages. Facebook: This one is primarily social, although many businesses are using both profile pages and Fan Pages to engage in conversation with clients and stakeholders. As a coach, I definitely recommend having both a profile page for you and a Fan Page for your business. If you have any products, you can also create a Fan Page for each product. Facebook has over 300 million people on it, and while that’s an outrageous number of people to try to target, especially for coaches, you can’t beat that kind of free marketing exposure opportunity! Twitter: The power of Twitter is the ability to network and be in an online streaming conversation with 44 million people all over the world. Unlike Linked In and Facebook, relationships are not reciprocal, which means you don’t have to approve invitations to connect. People become your "follower" and you can follow whomever you choose: thought leaders, authors, celebrities, politicians, other coaches, executives, etc. Sign up for a Twitter account and secure that "real estate" in your name, your company’s name, and any brands or products you carry. Tweets are short posts of 140 characters, usually with links embedded. This makes tweeting very speedy. The Big Three Coaching Networks Because social media is so ideal for coaches, there are now many coach-specific social networks. Here are three that you might begin with, and all are free to join: The Coach Exchange (tce): tce is an elite coach-to-coach network for showcasing talent and sharing knowledge, resources and vision. This is where coaches and opportunity meet! The Coaching Commons: A non-partisan "big tent," under which coaches can freely create the future together in a non-commercial setting. Leading Coaches’ Center: LCC is an online community center for executive coaches, where leaders play, learn, contribute and advance our profession together. Coaching is about profound connections and social media is perfect for coaches because it is basically a set of tools to support and foster expanded connections! Get involved, get online and play in one or all of the social networks discussed in this article. You owe it to yourself and your future.     Suzi Pomerantz, MT, MCC is an award-winning master executive coach and author of Seal the Deal. She teaches at top coach training programs worldwide and co-founded ICCO as well as the Library of Professional Coaching. Suzi founded the Leading Coaches Center and invites you to connect! http://LeadingCoachesCenter.com.          Comment Now This column is provided by an IAC Coaching Masteries®-Licensed School or Mentor. I'm OK, You're OK: Transactional Analysis for Coaches by Aileen Gibb In his book I’m OK, You’re OK (AVON Publishing, 1967), Thomas A. Harris promotes the idea that transactional analysis (TA) is not just a tool for specialists, but a technique that many people can benefit from. As a coach I’ve found that one of Thomas Harris’ frameworks has been a hugely powerful tool for my clients–who have become some of those "many people" Harris hoped would benefit from his work. When working with IAC Mastery #2, "Perceiving, affirming and expanding the client’s potential," we often hear that our client has assumptions, perspectives and unspoken beliefs that are holding them back. I call it the "programming" that unconsciously tells us one story, when our success depends on us living a more constructive, empowering version of the story. One of the common scenarios I come across is the client who is giving up their personal power in favour of another person’s position or perceived power. I might expect to hear them use such language as "I can’t tell her that," "It’s not my place to point that out to him," or "I don’t think he’d listen to me on that point." When I become alert to this as a pattern for the client, I will ask them to draw the following diagram on a piece of paper in front of them (this works equally well when coaching by phone): I’m not OK You’re OK I’m OK You’re OK I’m not OK You’re not OK I’m OK You’re not OK Next I ask them to think of the situation in question and ask them which of the above squares they’re standing in as they look at this situation. Invariably, they will quickly realize that they are standing in either the upper left or bottom right quadrant. There is usually an "aha" moment at this point. As soon as the client sees that this is what’s going on for them, their energy often immediately changes. "Gosh, I never realized that’s what I’m doing." In the more therapeutic context this transactional model might be used to move into a counseling process for the client to analyse why they find themselves in this quadrant. As coaches, we can let go of the need for such analysis and move our client forward by trusting that awareness is the first step to change. This will lead us to a future-focused question to support the client seeing their position differently: "Which quadrant would you like to be standing in as you approach this?" I have yet to come across a client who doesn’t want to step into the top-right "I’m OK, You’re OK" quadrant. I find that by this point the client has moved to being focused on self–and will almost unconsciously move out of any blame, victimization or defensiveness about the other person. It’s one of those simple yet magically powerful coaching shifts that doesn’t even need to be named. A masterful coach will be aware of it and will hold it with empathy and understanding, trusting the client to step metaphorically into the top-right quadrant–thereby claiming more personal power. Sensing and observing this shift, the powerful coaching question might be: "What will it take for you to stand in that top-right quadrant in this situation?" OR "What do you need in order to stand in that top-right quadrant in this situation?" OR "What’s different when you stand in the top-right "I’m OK, You’re OK" quadrant?" My experience is that the "aha" moment is often powerful enough to unconsciously clear a lot of the old programming, assumptions or beliefs. Once the client can see herself standing in the top-right quadrant it also becomes clear exactly what she needs or have or do in order to follow through to success. I’ve used this tool many times in this simple way to help clients shift from a limiting belief and to feel more encouraged and empowered to take action–outcomes we expect to see in the effective use of Mastery #2. To honour Dr. Harris and his work, I’ll often mention to the client that this tool came from the field of TA, though to be honest my client is generally so focused on their anticipated action or conversation that they’re not too worried about how they got there. Months later, however, clients have told me that they still have that 4-square diagram on their desk or tucked away in their journal as a reminder to step into the top-right quadrant. Thank you, Dr. Harris! I do believe many people are benefiting from your work and that it’s been a gift to the coaching field.       Aileen Gibb is founder and lead coach with IC International, dedicated to inspiring a better future in life and work. Her vision is to connect 100,000 people with their inspired future over the next 10 years. Email agibb@icinternational.biz or visit her new website www.inspiredfuture.org (coming soon!).     Comment Now   by Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC Silence Can you hear it? You might be surprised to learn what can be discovered in silence. In the kind of silence that is present when a coach senses that the most useful thing to say is…….nothing. The following question and answer addresses two different kinds of silence. One is the quiet that presents itself in the old proverb, "Will my words improve upon the silence?" The other addresses the verbal mannerisms that often show up in conversation as more habitual than conscious. Here’s a look at how coaches can offer more when they say less. Q. What’s so great about silence? Isn’t it awkward to let a client sit there wondering what’s going on? A. There certainly is such a thing as awkward silence and I’m sure we’ve all experienced it at one time or another. However, silence in coaching is not designed to leave someone hanging, or to use because you’re unsure where to take the conversation (which can indeed feel awkward for both the coach and client!). In the latter situation, in fact, full disclosure would be an appropriate response, as in, "I’m not sure where you’d like to go with this". Learning to become comfortable with a purposeful use of silence will provide more opportunity for growth than you might imagine. So what’s so great about silence? The simple answer is that there is great processing that can happen when the noise around us ceases. In the elegant words of Byron Katie, "When I became quiet, they could hear themselves." In those words is an understanding that the voice of one’s own heart and mind holds the key to personal greatness. The client’s inner guidance and wisdom comes forth in profound ways when there is an environment that encourages this guidance. This also reminds us that, although coaches can and do offer their wisdom and knowledge, the knowing that comes from the client is what creates the shifts and sustainability that true transformation requires. And now for the more complex answer about what's so great about silence. Members, continue reading here. To join the IAC, click here. Do you have a question that you’d like to ask the certifiers? Submit your questions here: http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html.     Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC, is the Lead Certifier and a certifying examiner at the IAC, as well as Past-President. She is Dean of Students and a Master Instructor at the School of Coaching Mastery. Natalie is founder of Ageless-Sages.com Publishing (www.ageless-sages.com), and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™.   Please send your questions on the IAC Coaching Masteries® and the certification process to certification@certifiedcoach.org. Comment Now "Coaching Moments" takes a thoughtful look at how coaching can be interwoven into our daily lives.  May the sun bring you new energy by day; may the moon softly restore you by night; may the rain wash away your worries; may the breeze blow new strength into your being. ~ An Apache blessing What does Christmas mean to you? by Janice Hunter, IAC-CC Is it a festival celebrated by folk of another faith? Is it the brightest light in a glowing season of gift giving and gratitude that stretches from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day? Or one special day that begins with a family feast of fish on Christmas Eve and the opening of a few gifts before you crunch through the snow to church on an icy cold day? Do you barbecue at the beach under the sweltering midsummer sun or shop till you drop in a city full of towering skyscrapers? Does the hype leave you feeling lonely and unloved, despite the dedication you lavish on others all year? Or maybe the credit crunch has crushed the cheer from your spirit? Which values shine and resonate most with you at this time of the year? For me, it’s all about love, hope and home. It’s about making the world a bit warmer and brighter, about cherishing children and taking the time to honour the spirit of childhood, family and community. My friend Maria is a very strong, passionate, life-loving person, a wife and mum, grandma and active member of our community. She spent most of last December in excruciating pain, waiting for blood test results. When she learned she had cancer, she spent Christmas week praying for a cancellation so her surgery could be scheduled as soon as possible. While fairy lights twinkled on frosty trees, and glittering Christmas trees glowed in the windows of cosy homes, her house sat dark and undecorated, shrouded in shock and fear. Every time I was tempted to snap at my kids or succumb to Christmas stressing, I thought of Maria, of how she longed to have many more Christmases with her husband and children and of how the only gift she longed for was life itself—life and more time to enjoy life’s simple daily pleasures. The love of her husband, friends and grown-up family kept her strong throughout her surgery and treatments, and months later she was climbing hills, campaigning for awareness groups and giving thanks for the all-clear she’d been given. I had planned to write a piece about how Maria’s courage, strength and fortitude have inspired me this year, but just as I was about to light a few candles and submerge myself in festive writing, Maria’s husband came to tell me the cancer was back. She’s having treatment right now and there are no Ho! Ho! Ho!’s and sleighbells in my Christmas yet. There is only faith in an unfolding universe that I have no control over, and a heart full of love. Wherever you are, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, please send Maria—and others like her all over the world—some silent prayers and wishes as she faces months of chemotherapy. A friend of mine asked me today what a perfect Christmas Day feels like; I told her it feels like my heart has come safely home. I wish the same for you. May you have a season filled with vibrant health, strength of spirit and a heart brimming over with love, compassion and empathy. May you find hope in every twinkling light, warmth in the smile of strangers and a chance to share your gifts every day. May you have the chance to create magical memories that money can’t buy. No matter who you are or where you live, I hope you go to sleep each night with a grateful, peaceful heart. Wishing you everything you’d wish for yourself… Janice Epilogue: As an extra gift for Christmas, I thought I’d leave you with Max Ehrman’s famous Desiderata, which is Latin for "desired things." I’ve carried a handwritten version of this poem around with me since I first heard it in the early seventies. There are always passages that stand out a bit more brightly for me when I need guidance, lines that resonate with my needs. Try letting this beautiful piece of work guide you the next time you feel overwhelmed or need answers. Just read it silently to your soul and listen for the answers. Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. Janice Hunter is an IAC certified homelife coach who lives in Scotland with her husband and two children. She created and co-wrote Sharing the Certification Journey: Six IAC Coaches Talk About Their Journeys, and her blogsite, www.sharingthejourney.co.uk, provides soul food and support for coaches, writers, parents and home-based workers. Janice has compiled all of her Coaching Moments pieces from the last two years into a free 46-page ebook, 'Coaching Moments: A Collection of Articles about Coaching in Everyday Life' which can be downloaded here or from her site. Comment Now Your Feedback We'd love to get your feedback on any issue related to the IAC. Do you have any questions, concerns, encouragement or ideas for improvement regarding membership benefits, certification, the VOICE, the direction of the organization or anything else at all? Please send an email to feedback@certifiedcoach.org. Please help us improve.

IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 41, November 2009, Circulation 13,330

Linda From the Editor In today's issue of the IAC VOICE, we welcome President-Elect Bob Tschannen-Moran as a regular contributor. Starting in January he will be writing the President's Message, and until then he will have other IAC news to share. Current President Angela Spaxman is reflecting on the power of collaboration, and its role in the IAC strategy process that continues with two calls in January. She also has some news about the website. If you're looking for a compelling story, look no further than our first feature article from Story Coach Lisa Bloom. Kim Clausen and Jonathan Tessier provide our business-building tips this month, with their strategies for using workshops to grow your business. Lead Certifier Natalie Tucker Miller unveils the new Ask the Certifiers format of the Inside Scoop column, with the very tricky distinction of encouraging versus cheerleading. And in today's Coaching Moments, Janice Hunter invites you to question your assumptions and be willing to receive something even better. She gives Disney a run for their money with her own expert storytelling – especially fitting with our feature article about story coaching! Enjoy the issue, and please note that submission guidelines for the VOICE are available on the website, including submission dates for our upcoming issues. I would love to receive your article submissions by November 16th for the December 10th issue, or by December 14th for the January 8th issue. Please contact me with your article ideas and your feedback about this issue. Warm wishes, Linda Linda Dessau, CPCC Editor, IAC VOICE Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org Comment Now Angela From the President by Angela Spaxman president@certifiedcoach.org IAC Strategy Process and the Future of Collaboration One of the key words emerging from our current strategy process is collaboration. This word is both attractive and challenging. The extent to which we are willing to be guided by this word will be the extent to which we can create what we most want for coaching and the world. It indicates the trend of our times, as by necessity the world must work together to achieve our joint aims. Our strategic goals are not for us to "be the best" (implying competition) but for us to "create the best" (through collaboration). We can do that most effectively when we collaborate with the other people who want what we want—and there are literally millions of them. Coaches are good at collaborating since we do this with our clients all the time. But how well can we collaborate with each other, even when we disagree? How do we feel about collaborating with so-called competitors such as other coaching associations? Are we mature enough to stand up for our own values while respecting and even supporting others? Are our goals compelling enough to entice the best collaborators worldwide to work with us? I'm asking myself these questions as we enter the next phase of our strategy process. So far we've worked on our vision—what we want for coaching and the IAC. I outlined the main points last month. We're now working with all the ideas we've collected so far to create a coherent vision which will be ready next month. Next we will be asking how we will make that vision a reality and we've scheduled two calls in January 2010 to brainstorm and collect ideas. Once again this will be a chance to share with fellow IAC members worldwide in two stimulating conversations led by Dave Ellis. Please mark your calendars. I am keen to understand you and collaborate with you. Strategy Call #4 (IAC members only): Jan 12, 2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time (01/12/2010) OR Jan 14, 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (01/14/2010) Please click here to register for the calls or to receive the recordings. Other News IAC Chapters are the most direct ways for us to collaborate to support each other, improve our coaching and our businesses. We've updated our web page so that you can now find our virtual chapters more easily. Take a look here, and follow the links to join a Chapter or start a new one. The IAC Website Make-Over Committee has been reading dozens of proposals to select a contractor who will help us add features and usability to our website. It's proving to be an amazing learning opportunity for the Committee. We're still looking for web-savvy people to help us with this exciting project. The work will begin before the end of the year. To find out more, email Communications Committee Chair Sue Brundege. Cheers, Angela Spaxman President, IAC Email: president@certifiedcoach.org Web: www.lovingworkandleading.com Comment Now From the President-Elect: IAC Meet-Up at the ICF Conference in Orlando As President-Elect of the IAC, I want to begin by introducing myself, inviting dialogue, and announcing an opportunity to meet at the ICF Conference in Orlando. A little about me: After graduating from Yale Divinity School in 1979, I worked for about 20 years as a pastor before becoming a full-time coach. I’ve loved every minute of coaching and was certified by the IAC in 2005. What a privilege we have to be learning professionals! Whether it is in the most personal of life coaching relationships or in largest of organizational contexts, to come up alongside our clients and to share in their journey is quite an opportunity. Like every coach, I’ve learned as much from my clients as they’ve learned from me. You can read more about my background and work by visiting www.LifeTrekCoaching.com. Inviting dialogue: I have so enjoyed and appreciated the work that we are doing through the Strategy process. So many great ideas are surfacing that will serve us well for years to come. Our President, Angela Spaxman, has spearheaded a great process here that will leave quite a legacy. As we move forward, I promise to do my best to follow in her footsteps and to support the continued evolution of the IAC. Please do not hesitate to write me with your ideas, questions, and suggestions at any point in time: PresidentElect@certifiedcoach.org. Invitation to meet in Orlando: Several of us from the IAC, including Joan Marie Johnson, Kristi Arndt and myself, will be attending the ICF Conference in Orlando during the first week in December. If you will be in attendance, please let me know so we can connect. The IAC is hosting a get-together on Thursday evening, December 3, 2009 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, 9939 Universal Boulevard, Orlando, Florida 32819. We will watch the video, “Celebrate What’s Right With The World” by National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones, and use the occasion to appreciate what the IAC has to offer in the coaching world. Whether or not you are attending the ICF Conference, if you're in the Orlando area you can attend the IAC gathering on Thursday and we would love to meet up with you. Please RSVP to PresidentElect@certifiedcoach.org so we can reserve the right size room at the Resort. That’s enough for now. I hope to see you in Orlando and/or to hear from you soon. May you be filled with goodness, peace and joy.   Bob Tschannen-Moran, MDiv, IAC-CC, CWC www.LifeTrekCoaching.com PresidentElect@certifiedcoach.org     Comment Now New IAC Coaching Masteries® licensed schools and mentors Name City State Country IAC-CC   IMPACT COACHING ACADEMY San Jose CA United States No View Details Dream Facilitators - Hypnotic Mastery Coach Training Parksville BC Canada No View Details Comment Now IAC Certified Coaches Congratulations to Jan O’Brien from Houston, TX, USA who recently passed her Step 2 Exam and became an IAC-Certified Coach! Comment Now Story Coaching – A Powerful Combination for Success! by Lisa Bloom, MBA, PCC Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, the stepmother was ugly but good, and the princess was beautiful but mean! What would you do if you could rewrite the classic stories of your childhood? What if Cinderella forgot to leave the ball at midnight, the prince hated her in peasant clothes and the whole kingdom laughed her out of the palace? What if they thought she was a witch because she transformed herself, and that she ought to be drowned? What if all that time spent sweeping the chimney gave her consumption and the spoiled prince couldn’t stand the sound of her coughing? What if they didn’t actually get on very well and fought constantly? What if Cinderella had fallen for a princess instead? Here are some broader questions about storytelling, which we will answer in this article: Why is storytelling experiencing a dynamic revival and how is that relevant to coaching? Why do we love stories so much and how can they transform our lives and business? What is the role of storytelling in coaching and why is it becoming such a hot topic in business? Storytelling is an age-old tradition in every culture. It happens in many different settings, around the fire, over the washing of clothes in the river or by the well. It is the way people have connected and shared their lives with each other since the beginning of time. Throughout the generations, communities have passed down their stories from parent to child, preserving their history and culture, recording their experiences. In The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations, author Stephen Denning says, "Stories provide continuity in our lives, conveying a sense of where we have come from, our history and our heritage…through stories, our values and principals have been passed from one generation to another." We now live in a world where there is a huge reliance on technology and where there is a vast amount of knowledge on every subject readily available to huge populations of people. In spite of this, or perhaps as a result of this, storytelling as an art form is in the midst of a revival world-wide. People are craving the simplicity of traditional storytelling. Annette Simmons in The Story Factor says, "Information simply leaves us feeling incompetent and lost. We don’t need more information. We need to know what it means. We need a story that explains what it means and makes us feel like we fit in there somewhere." We are fascinated by stories and instinctively understand and experience the power of both telling and listening to stories. Storytelling is being used more and more in therapeutic environments, increasingly recognised as a powerful tool to help people better understand themselves and make positive changes in their lives. There has been an explosion of interest in social media, human development, and coaching as a profession; people are searching for connection on so many levels; they are looking for truth and a sense that their life has meaning. "When you tell a story that touches me, you give me the gift of human attention – the kind that connects me to you, that touches my heart and makes me feel more alive……We crave something that is real or at least feels real...", according to Annette Simmons in The Story Factor. Storytelling is the perfect complement to the coaching process, helping us answer the questions we bring into coaching. On one level, storytelling gives the coach an additional tool to get to a level of understanding or awareness which may be inaccessible to the client. This level may be blocked for many reasons; through listening to a story, the client can hear and subsequently deal with more difficult issues. On another level, we are all storytellers and our narrative is the story of how we talk of our lives. As we experience life, we "tell" it. We pass along almost every event that happens to us–as an anecdote, complaint or amusing tableside story–sometimes lightly and sometimes purposefully and with interpretation. And in the "telling," in the narrative we choose, we define the experience. When we look closely at the narrative and examine the stories we choose to tell, we begin to understand how committed we can become to these stories. We also understand the fascinating potential to create new and better stories–stories that empower us and allow us create a more fulfilling reality. Businesses in every industry, including coaching, are discovering that as we develop our storytelling skills, we learn how to better market our services by creating our own compelling story–the authentic story of what we can offer. It is the story that people remember, it is the story that has the potential to attract clients, it is the story that is becoming increasingly recognized as an effective business tool. Likewise, as we develop advanced "storylistening" skills, we can better understand the stories that our prospective clients tell us. From that, our sales and marketing process becomes more exact and this helps us grow our business and break through to a new level of success.      Lisa Bloom, MBA, PCC, founder of Story Coach Inc., is the creator of "Cinderella and the Coach – the Power of Storytelling for Coaching Success," an ICF-accredited continuing education program. Visit www.story-coach.com to download the free e-book, "5 Common Mistakes People Make That a Good Story Can Fix," or contact lisa@story-coach.com.        Comment Now Three Strategies for Using Workshops to Grow Your Business by Kim Clausen and Jonathan Tessier Workshops are a powerful tool for growing a coaching business. Used effectively, workshops can generate substantial additional income, establish you as a creditable expert in your market, attract more prospects into your business, and convert participants to clients. Plus you get the satisfaction of providing a valuable service that impacts the lives of those you serve. Here are three powerful strategies that you can use to create, market and facilitate more impactful workshops: Strategy #1 – Make Your Workshops Compelling Learning should never be regarded as something that’s boring, agonizing, or tedious. What makes the idea of learning a turn-off for so many is their past experiences of being lectured to with no opportunity to participate. For learning to be effective, workshop participants need to be actively engaged in the learning process. For example, at the beginning of any workshop, make sure to warm up your participants so they are receptive to learning. Preparing participants this way will establish positive feelings, generate interest, and get them primed for the learning that’s about to take place. The easiest way to prime your participants for learning is with an icebreaker activity that loosens up the participants and makes them feel comfortable. Another strategy to make workshops compelling is to present new information to participants in a way that requires active involvement. Traditional techniques such as lecturing should only be used as a last resort – never your main vehicle for delivering content. Once new information has been presented, let participants reflect on, discuss, and actively experience what they are gaining. And finally, participants need some time to reflect on their experiences from the workshop and apply what they have learned. Reviewing and then applying what has been learned is critical for long-term retention. Strategy #2 - Market for Maximum Attendance Once you have designed a compelling workshop, the next step is to get people to attend. Using proven marketing strategies to fill your workshops will give you a much higher attendance rate, greater client conversions, repeat customers, and lifelong friends! Here are a few tips for filling your workshops: Target your marketing: Typically, coaches struggle with filling their workshops because their marketing is random rather than targeted, with activities like posting fliers, running miscellaneous ads, and sending a single email to their potpourri list of contacts. In order to get the best results for your workshop, focus your efforts toward a specific market so that you can speak their language, get their attention, and deliver compelling workshops that meet their greatest needs. “Touch” frequently and regularly: The best way to have maximum attendance at your workshops is to start marketing early by “touching” (contacting) your prospects numerous times in advance, offering them free, value-added products and services about a related topic. For example, you could offer a special report, an article, an audio product or a teleseminar. The key is to send several messages, giving your prospect more opportunities to become familiar with you, like you, trust you, and be willing to invest in your workshop. Compel them to act: In today’s market of constant bombardment and media overload, it is more important than ever that your marketing efforts “rise above the noise” so you can be seen and heard, and capture the attention of your market. In order to effectively capture your market’s attention, create compelling offers with incentives, deadlines or bonuses. Strategy #3: Deliver a Workshop That Makes an Impact When facilitating a workshop or training program, the number one element for success is to make the learning experience be all about the learner. Facilitation is not about being the "sage on the stage," but instead, about being simply a "guide on the side." In workshops, effective facilitators manage the learning process as well as each and every learner within it, and create a setting where discussion, interaction, and learning can take place. The best news is that anyone can lead powerful workshops that produce positive results, once you've mastered some basic facilitation techniques. Workshops are a powerful tool to grow a coaching business. Learning programs such as workshops, teletrainings and seminars allow you to reach your market with a valuable service that impacts both the lives of those you serve, and your bottom line.   Kim Clausen is the President of Ready2Go Marketing Solutions, Inc., a company that creates ready-made workshops, teleseminars, speeches and other materials that coaches can brand as their own to grow their business. Kim is a professionally-trained coach who has more than 20 years of marketing and business development experience.          Jonathan Tessier, Senior Instructional Designer with Ready2Go Marketing Solutions, Inc., is a successful training manager, professional coach, and award-winning instructional designer with more than 10 years experience creating quality training programs. For more information about creating, marketing and facilitating workshops, call 303-465-0454 or visit www.Ready2GoMarketingSolutions.com and download our free training materials.     Comment Now This column is provided by an IAC Coaching Masteries®-Licensed School or Mentor. The Influential Difference by Joseph Liberti The following is an excerpt from Chapter 17 of the upcoming book, Coaching Emotional Intelligence: A foundation for HR professionals, internal coaches, trainers and consultants, by Joseph Liberti. Once your student sits down in your classroom, what will make the greatest difference in how much she will learn? Once the coaching conversation begins with your client, what will have the greatest influence on his progress? You! You are the influential difference in learning, change and growth. That is true about the facilitator of any subject, and it is especially true in the development of emotional intelligence. To understand your influence, consider that two elements that are involved in determining your results when you conduct coaching or training are: • What you do, and • How you are being when you do it. What you do is important because that provides necessary support for you and your clients or learners. Presenting the right information, in the right sequence, with the right materials are examples of things that are important for you to do to get good results. How you are being when you do those things makes all the difference. Your way of being, the nature and quality of your behavior, has the single greatest influence on outcomes in your training and your coaching. Nothing that you can do will be more powerful than that. So how must you be to most positively influence learning? The three ways you must be, to most powerfully influence learning outcomes are: 1. Be present 2. Be connected 3. Be contextual Be present What does being present mean to you? When I have asked that question of my students they respond with things like “being in the moment” or “being in the now.” Let’s agree for this conversation that being present is being mentally, physically and emotionally focused on each moment. To be present, you have to be here in his moment—not in the past or future but right now. So that means you cannot be focused on the future as when you are thinking, “oh my goodness, what do I do next? You cannot be focused on the past, as when you are still caught up in the thoughts and feelings of a disagreement you had just before class or your coaching session started. You cannot be focused on other problems, deadlines or whatever. Now those things sound obvious. What’s not so obvious, and frequently happens unconsciously, is losing your focus on the present because you are caught up in an emotional agenda. For example, it’s possible to have an emotional agenda around being approved of. Fear, perhaps of being rejected, has you focused on getting people to like you rather than being focused on being present to the needs of your audience and being effective. What is important about being present? When you are present you can tune in acutely to your client or audience. You can really hear the meaning behind the words they say. You can respond instead of reacting, choosing the most appropriate and effective things to say and do. Being present, moment-to-moment is easier said than done. What enables one to be present? The skills that enable one to focus on this moment are skills of emotional intelligence. If you are emotionally self-aware that means that you are tuned in to you—you are recognizing the emotions that are influencing your thoughts and actions. If you are also effective at emotional self-management, you can be fully available to your clients or students. You must be tuned in and connected to yourself first, in order to be tuned in to, and make full connection with, somebody else. If you are aware of what your emotions are and are able to manage yourself by being a compassionate witness to your emotions, but not have them dictate your behavior, you can be fully present. For example, you may feel anxious and think “I must perform,” so that people will approve of you. Or, you may think, “I hope I’m doing this right.” To experience the feeling of anxiety, to sense and acknowledge your feeling and to be able to stay in the moment, is what’s required to be present. So, your emotional skills, including emotional self-awareness, and emotional self-management are critical to staying present. What disables being in the present is denial or avoidance of your emotions. For example, you may have had thoughts like this: “I am anxious about this presentation today. But I’ve been told to leave my emotions at home and put them behind me and I’m not going to pay any attention to that fear. I’m not really afraid anyway. That’s nonsense, that fear stuff. Come on, I’m able to get past that.” That’s how we were trained by our society and our workplaces to think and act, but it doesn’t work. What does work is to witness the emotion, to acknowledge the emotion and to regulate or command the emotion instead of having it command you. That doesn’t mean denial or avoidance. That means staying present to your experience. And the degree to which you can stay present to your experience is communicated to your audience whether that audience is one or one thousand. That demonstration of being present teaches very powerfully. You are providing your client or audience the vicarious experience of being emotionally aware, self-managing and present. There’s no other way to equal that level of power in teaching and coaching.   Joseph Liberti is the founder of EQ At Work, an organization that trains and certifies emotional intelligence coaches and trainers. If you would like to read the full chapter, "The Influential Difference," contact jliberti@eqatwork.com or www.eqatwork.com.   Comment Now   What's Wrong with Cheerleading, Anyway? by Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC A change in leadership often includes subtle changes that reflect the style of the new leader. This month, Nina East’s VOICE column, The Inside Scoop, goes through some changes as I humbly step in to position of Lead Certifier. Lessons from the Certifiers will be replaced with a new format, Ask the Certifiers. We often hear from coaches who have questions about specific aspects of their coaching and how it conforms to the IAC Coaching Masteries®. Sometimes these questions arise following a recording that did not receive a passing score, or when a coach is unclear as to how to interpret the Masteries Note Card and they seek further clarification. Other questions include the best path to learning the Masteries or technical questions regarding the entire process from start-to-finish! This column will serve to answer those questions posed by our members. The certification board is continually looking for the most appropriate ways to support members who are preparing for certification. We’d like this to be YOUR column, where you can ask your burning questions! This is your opportunity to “pick our brains.” All questions regarding IAC certification are encouraged and welcomed and we will provide the most up-to-date and accurate information. For this month, I’m including a Q & A as just one example of the type of question you may wish to ask. Q ~ In the Masteries E-book there is an effective behavior of offers sincere encouragement while cheerleading is an ineffective behavior (which, by the way, I got marked down for on my certification scorecard). I don’t understand what the difference is, because I am very sincere when I cheer my clients on. A ~ This distinction in Mastery #2, perceiving, affirming and expanding the client’s potential, may seem like a fine line at times. To clarify, the distinction isn’t around sincerity versus insincerity, rather encouragement versus cheerleading. Most of us do appreciate some well-placed, sincere cheerleading in our lives from time to time and we're not saying you can never do a little happy dance for your client! However, in cases when the most beneficial approach is to affirm and expand, cheerleading can be too focused on what the client did as opposed to their potential or who they are, and could have little or no effect, could be embarrassing or could even be annoying. Members, continue reading here. To join the IAC, click here. Do you have a question that you’d like to ask the certifiers? Submit your questions here: http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html.   Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC, is the Lead Certifier and a certifying examiner at the IAC, as well as Past-President. She is Dean of Students and a Master Instructor at the School of Coaching Mastery. Natalie is founder of Ageless-Sages.com Publishing (www.ageless-sages.com), and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™. Please send your questions on the IAC Coaching Masteries® and the certification process to certification@certifiedcoach.org. Comment Now "Coaching Moments" takes a thoughtful look at how coaching can be interwoven into our daily lives.  Up, down, amazing and grateful   by Janice Hunter, IAC-CC The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind. ~ Wayne Dyer My daughter’s 14th birthday was a day full of assumptions, both hers and mine. She didn’t know her best friends were throwing a surprise birthday party later in the week, and her sadness at not receiving presents or cards from them, on the morning of her birthday, seeped through her gratitude for everything else. I stayed quietly positive and cheerful throughout the day, assuming she would rather have the eventual surprise than the truth. We went to the cinema in the afternoon, and as she couldn’t make up her mind which film she’d like to see, my husband bought tickets for the new Disney Pixar film, Up, which had received great reviews. One look at the poster–a house flying through the air suspended by balloons–had her assuming the film would be “babyish.” We settled into our seats, the lights dimmed, the adverts blared across the screen in the darkness, and soon we were surrounded by the sounds and smells of popcorn, hotdogs and nachos. I loved the first five minutes of the film. The music was poignant and moving, and through a sequence of short scenes and vignettes, we saw the quiet, quirky child grow old and grumpy as, one by one, he shelved the dreams of his youth. Thud. My seat jarred forward as it was kicked from behind. I turned to see a boy of seven or eight sitting next to a stony-faced man, a weary washed-out looking mum and a gum-chewing sister. I decided not to say anything. The simple act of turning around is usually enough. The film surprised me; in turns bizarre and surreal, touching and funny, it was strangely mesmerizing. The two main characters, a lonely, overweight boy full of childhood exuberance, and an irascible, heartbroken widower, became unlikely companions on a road trip. The difference in their ages gave the film great breadth of scope and depth, while the themes of disappointment and frustration, stubbornness and letting go, redemption and hope were woven throughout with compassion and wit. Disney films enchant me. The colours are glorious and they evoke memories of watching them with my saucer-eyed kids. A quick glance to the side showed my husband laughing with my son and my daughter giggling, devouring every detail. Thud...thud. I fought the urge to turn round, scared that a negative reaction from the boy or his parents might embarrass my daughter and spoil her birthday film. I took a deep breath, knowing the wriggling kicks were a distraction I had to overcome. My kids have always been very settled and courteous in cinemas, but as I’ve got older, it seems like fewer children can sit still for the length of a film without eating, wriggling or talking. The sounds of laughter, music and talking dogs filled the warm darkness of the cinema. Glorious multicoloured balloons, bright plumage and jungle scenes filled the screen, and I tried my best to simply let go and fill my heart with compassion. The credits rolled and we were the only two families who stayed to watch till the end. As the lights went up, from behind me came a “Wow! That was amazing!” The mum and dad said nothing. “Dad, that was the best thing I’ve ever seen!” “Don’t be stupid,” said the dad. “It was the best film I’ve ever seen, Dad. It was amazing!” His joy was contagious and I turned to smile at his mum, expecting to see her happy at the pleasure they’d so obviously brought him. She looked sad and distant as the man put on his coat in silence, and the older girl pulled her mobile phone from her pocket. I left the cinema curious about who they were and what was going on in their lives. I wondered how long the boy’s delight in films would last and I was glad I hadn’t said or done anything to ruin, what for him, was the most amazing film ever. Epilogue: A few days later, my daughter came home to a room full of bright banners, balloons and birthday party food, all bought and prepared by her best friends. The cries of “Surprise!!” brought her hands to her face in shocked delight, then sudden awareness as she looked at me with tears and comprehension in her eyes. The long, tear-filled hug she gave me was full of gratitude and appreciation for my part in the surprise, which I’d known about for weeks. Laughing and giggling with her friends, she blew out the candles on her cake and made a wish for the second time that week; I could see that all of her sadness from the previous days had disappeared. Surrounded by friends, good food and the determination to celebrate, it’s so much easier to feel grateful. As we all prepare for the coming season of gratitude and goodwill, blessings and bounty, I’d like to take this chance to thank you. I wish I could convey in words how much pleasure it gives me to belong to this community, to know you’ve taken the time to read my words. I can’t offer you food, or tokens of peace and friendship, but I wanted to let you know that I’ll be thinking of you on Thanksgiving Day and giving thanks for the Internet, for the coaching we share and for the wonderful universe whose plan brought us together. I’m not American, but I shamelessly adopt rituals and celebrations from all over the world, special days that make smiles brighter and hearts warmer, days that bring people together in shared gratitude for life, love and blessings, wherever we live, whoever we are. Thank you. My life is better because of you. Janice Hunter is an IAC certified homelife coach who lives in Scotland with her husband and two children. She created and co-wrote Sharing the Certification Journey: Six IAC Coaches Talk About Their Journeys, and her blogsite, www.sharingthejourney.co.uk, provides soul food and support for coaches, writers, parents and home-based workers. Janice has compiled all of her Coaching Moments pieces from the last two years into a free 46-page ebook, 'Coaching Moments: A Collection of Articles about Coaching in Everyday Life' which can be downloaded here or from her site. Comment Now Your Feedback We'd love to get your feedback on any issue related to the IAC. 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