International Association of Coaching Blog

Living the Masteries

Living the Masteries is a regular column where we invite coaches to share their experiences of Living the Masteries in their everyday lives. As we become aware of the Masteries and really understand and use them, we realise just how powerful they are and how, used effectively, they can truly make a lasting difference to the world.

This month Alison Davis gives us her experience of being on the receiving end of coaching when Mastery 4: Processing in the present is used skillfully and Alberto Calderón shares some of his insights into this Mastery.

When she was lead certifier for the IAC, Nina East wrote this about Mastery #4 in her VOICE column: "Processing in the Present represents the leading edge; the next evolution of coaching skills."

And as Alberto Calderon mentions below, "Other coaching models do not contain a skill quite like Mastery 4."

The Coaching Masteries E-book tells us that Processing in the Present is demonstrated when, "The coach is attentive to the client, processing information at the levels of mind, body, heart and/or spirit. The coach expands the client’s awareness of how to experience thoughts and issues on these various levels."

When I want to process what I’m feeling or what is going on for me, I often work with a coach who understands the IAC Coaching Masteries™. Using Mastery #4, my coach shares what she is noticing and engages me in a coaching conversation that helps me find deeper meaning, has me gain new insight and helps me see a situation from different perspectives. My coach helps me to identify what is happening for me right now in the present moment.

The way I think, feel and behave both in the session and outside is full of information for me, and I often need my coach to help me process this information. When my coach uses Mastery #4 skillfully, I end up with heightened self-awareness. I am able to see themes and patterns and explore my own inner knowing. She helps me to acknowledge and address my emotions, often using my body as a touchstone as I tune in to what I’m actually experiencing in the moment physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. I have often seen that the relationship I have with my coach acts as a mirror for other areas of my life, like a microcosm of what’s going on elsewhere. This kind of Processing in the Present enables me to gain meaningful insights and consequently make significant shifts.

Alberto Calderón shares his experience of this Mastery:

As I observe myself "Living the Masteries," I see that my experiences with Mastery #4: Processing in the Present are by far the most powerful. In fact, I believe that this Mastery can make a bigger difference than any other category of skills or competencies in professional coaching.

Often when people converse, mutual understanding can be difficult. Confusion can occur in communication, and problems can arise as a result. In fact, one of the biggest problems in both social and family situations as well as in organizations is communication. We are not taught how to communicate as we grow up, nor is communication usually on the school curriculum.

When we want to explain a theme or concept, we use words and other methods of communication. However, tone of voice, emotions, doubts and complaints—stemming perhaps from judgment, past beliefs or another paradigm—can get in the way. Without realizing it, we communicate on many different levels. Everything gets mixed up, and often the meaning of what we are trying to express is lost.

I lived like this for years, and when I converse socially or when I coach, I notice how many people still live that way, satisfied with mediocre conversations. It is hard to live like this, unable to express ourselves authentically and often feeling misunderstood. It is draining and can be frustrating and distressing.

Mastery #4 has confirmed to me the importance of processing information at the different levels of mind, body and spirit. It has become clear to me that we need to bring all these levels together to gain a clear understanding of what is being communicated. I have to learn how to develop my own capacities to observe, perceive and process the messages that my body, mind, intuition and spirit send, in order to understand what both I myself and others are experiencing.

As I move forward using Mastery #4, I am becoming more aware of these different levels of awareness and of the messages I can receive through each of these different channels. All this enables me to keep focused on what is happening in the moment, letting go of anything that is unhelpful, using the past to bring helpful knowledge in and the future as a place to use my new energy appropriately. This keeps me in a higher state of both inner and outer peace and in harmony with life.

Thank you to Alberto Calderón for another thoughtful contribution.

How much do you listen to your body? Do you hear the messages that your emotions send you? What do your experiences or the experiences in which you are involved say about you or about your life?

 
 

Alberto J. Calderón, MCS, PCC, OC, MBA, doctorate (Social Anthropology) is the President of MORE Global, CCS-Comunidad de Coaching Sistémico and the IAC Chapter of Mexico. Alberto is a coach, consultant, teacher, trainer, researcher and life learner, seeking to improve personal evolution, the productivity of organizations and quality of life. www.morecoach.com

 

 

This is your column, it can only continue if you share your experiences of Living the Masteries. Would you be willing to share how you are inspired to see new possibilities for yourself and your life or how you help others do this? Please send us your stories—you will inspire others by your sharing, and by talking about the Masteries, we create an echo chamber where their power takes on new meaning in the world.

Send your contributions to Alison Davis at Alison@foundationsforliving.com, so she can share them for you in the Living the Masteries column in the VOICE each month.

 

 
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. 

Wrong About Being Right

by Sue Johnston

"We have to be right. It's a point of pride. If we suspect we might be wrong, we argue even more strongly for our position." The speaker is a young engineer describing members of his profession. He could be talking about anyone. It seems part of the human condition to insist on convincing ourselves and others that we're right about things.

Our coaching clients are often navigating work or personal relationships where the need to be right—their own and/or someone else's—is getting in the way of effective collaboration. That's bad for them and their teams, organizations and families. Questions we ask as coaches can help them deal with this in three important ways:

1. Help them discover whether they need to be right.
2. Encourage them to think about their stance and possible alternatives.
3. Model language they can use when they interact with others.

Humans hate being wrong. Neuroscience suggests that, while no two brains are identical, there are many shared patterns. One is that the part of our brain that processes information (the prefrontal cortex) is small, relative to the part that retrieves connections we've already made. It's easier for our brains to pick up old, comfortable ideas than to create a new insight. Old beliefs, real or imagined, give us certainty in an uncertain world. Thousands of times a day, we form opinions based not on thoughts but on unconscious beliefs.

People become conscious of those beliefs when things start to fall apart. That's when they may look to a coach for support. They're walking around in a veil of beliefs that guides their behaviour but can obstruct their view of reality. Coaching questions help them pierce that veil to see clearly, by:

Unveiling their thinking process:

• Help me understand your thinking. How did you come to this conclusion?
• What leads you to think that?
• Is that a fact? An idea? A belief?

Unveiling their goals:

• What's it worth to you to be right in this case?
• How serious is it if you're wrong?
• Do you want to be right? Or do you want to be accurate?

Unveiling what's true:

• Do you know that's true? How do you know?
• Could something else be true?
• Is there another way to look at this?

The brain's preference for certainty isn't the only thing driving our need to be right. There's also its ancient recognition that being part of the tribe ensures our continued existence. We want people to think well of us so they'll keep us around. Author and coach David Rock suggests that, to the brain, a threat to status is as fearsome as a threat to physical well being. Being wrong is a scary thing.

Our beliefs also distort what we see. In The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons share stories about perceptual blindness, how we don't notice things we aren't looking for. Another brain bias, confirmation bias, means we only see information that confirms our beliefs or decisions. Example: Until I bought a Subaru, I never noticed them. Now I see those cars everywhere. Another bias, subjective validation, makes us perceive something is true because we want it to be true. I'm among the 80% of people who believe they are better-than-average drivers. (Do the math; some of us are wrong.) "We're bad at recognizing when we don't know stuff, and we are very, very good at making stuff up," Schulz suggests. So I may also ascribe safe and courteous driving habits to all Subaru drivers. It's hogwash, but it's human.

"The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new," suggests Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron. A coaching client caught by a need to be right can use our help shifting from knowing to learning.

In that spirit, coaching pioneer Thomas Leonard discovered a distinction that worked for him and his clients. He discovered his need wasn't 'be right.' it was 'be accurate.' Needing to 'be right' makes us push and preach in a bid to convince people to see things our way, he said. When you aim to be accurate, "you are continually seeking to learn instead of to teach. After all, in a world that's constantly changing, how can you continue to be 100% accurate unless you are constantly learning."

As coaches, we're also obliged to examine our own need to be right. My background and experience makes me believe every interpersonal challenge is a communication issue. Other coaches see things through a lens of attraction, emotional intelligence or the tool or concept they most strongly embrace. We serve our clients best when we are aware that our favourite approach is but one of several. (Of course—wink—those with the communication bias are right, eh?)

 

Sue Johnston, IAC-CC, believes real conversation is our most powerful tool. Blending experience in journalism, corporate communication and psychology, she founded It’s Understood Communication to help create better workplaces through effective communication. Sue is also the author of the forthcoming book, Talk To Me: Workplace Conversations That Work.

The "New" Coaching Masteries™

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in May 2008.

The "New" Coaching Masteries™
by Nina East, IAC-CC

As the buzz about the IAC Coaching Masteries™ continues to grow, coaches are noticing differences between the Masteries and the ways other organizations describe coaching skills. This is exciting because it means coaches are studying and integrating this next generation of coaching mastery carefully! Coaches are telling us the Masteries are helping them become even more clear and precise in their coaching. This is leading to greater confidence overall!

At the same time, there are a couple of the Masteries which are either new or just different enough that coaches are having a hard time fully integrating them into their ways of coaching.

Two significant differences between the Coaching Masteries™ and what came before are Mastery #4 (Processing in the Present) and Mastery #9 (Helping the Client Create and Use Support Systems and Structures). Not surprisingly, these are the two Masteries coaches are having the most difficulty with in Part 2 of IAC Certification.

To help jumpstart your coaching and use of these two Masteries, here are some pointers:

Processing in the Present

From the Coaching Masteries Ebook , Mastery #4, Processing in the Present is demonstrated when the coach is “attentive to the client, processing information at the level of the mind, body, heart and/or spirit, as appropriate. The coach expands the client’s awareness of how to experience thoughts and issues on these various levels, when and as appropriate.”

Think of it as addressing or “surfacing up” what’s going on for the client right here, right now, in the midst of the coaching. In addition to what the client says, how he thinks, feels and behaves during the coaching session is a rich resource for coaching. Often what the coach senses the client is not saying is what is most important.

Masterful coaches process in the present—using what’s happening for the client in the moment, appropriately sharing what they notice in the client’s voice or body language and identifying themes or inconsistencies in what the client is saying. This can provide meaningful insights and initiate significant shifts for the client.

Novice coaches tend to get caught up in the words or details of the issue or story, missing the deeper thoughts or feelings that are the root of the issue.

For example, suppose a coach makes a suggestion or asks a question and the client hesitates before saying yes or does so tentatively. The masterful coach will back up and ask the client about their hesitation. Is that yes accurate; is the client really ready to move forward?

The novice coach tends to accept the yes without questioning the hesitation or verifying that the client really does agree. In doing this, the novice coach forges ahead based on what may not be the client’s true feelings.

Systems and Structures

Mastery #9, Helping The Client Create and Use Support Systems and Structures, is demonstrated when the coach helps “the client identify and build the relationships, tools, systems and structures he or she needs to advance and sustain progress.”

The two keys in this Mastery are systems and sustain. Thinking—and coaching—in terms of systems is fundamental to effective and lasting change. When this Mastery is used effectively, the client is more confident and secure in moving forward, knowing that resources are available or can be created. They may not have everything figured out yet, but neither are they worried about whether they’ll be able to figure it out, or get themselves to take action. The confidence is built from approaching the problem holistically, rather than generating an isolated list of action items or homework. The most effective systems are the ones that will support the client’s goals without requiring significant willpower from the client.

For example, when faced with a client who is behind in paying bills (and wants to do something about it), a novice coach might suggest the client commit to paying their bills by the end of the day. As an action item, this may help the client accomplish the goal for a day. But it doesn’t help the client to address this continuing challenge. In other words, it neither sustains the client’s goal nor prevents the issue from coming up again the following month.

The masterful coach helps the client find a way to address this kind of recurring issue. One system the client might use would be automated bill paying through his bank. Then the payments are automatically made on time. This structure doesn’t rely quite as heavily on the client’s memory or attentiveness every month. It supports the client in taking action, even when the client’s pattern may be to avoid.

These are just a few examples to illustrate the meaning and intent of Masteries 4 and 9. They are certainly not the only ways to demonstrate them nor are they the only systems to address these types of issues. Coaches using these masteries effectively are limited only by the creativity of the client and coach collaborating together.

Nina East, IAC-CC is a coach who helps online businesses maximize their marketing and affiliate programs through coaching, training, and sometimes a little cattle prodding. She has been a Certifying Examiner for the IAC since 2003 and was the lead certifier for several years. You can see what Nina is up to at http://NinaEast.com.

From the Editor

Linda

Welcome to the May 2011 issue of the IAC VOICE!

We are so excited to announce the launch of the new IAC website—Bob Tschannen-Moran has more details in his President's Message. Please visit soon and let us know what you think of the site.

(And congratulations to Bob, who was recently in Costa Rica celebrating the wedding of his daughter.)

Our featured member benefit this month is Bullseye Coaching, with the story of a very satisfied customer who achieved some extraordinary results using coaching to evaluate a management development program.

Alison Davis will be back next month with another instalment of Living the Masteries.

Some long-time IAC-certified coaches are wondering how the Learning Agreements will apply to them if the IAC Coaching Masteries™ were developed after these coaches were already certified. Lead Certifier Natalie Tucker Miller has the answer in today's Inside Scoop.

Our feature coaching article this month is from another member of the Certification team, Karen Van Cleve. Listen closely as she counts us in and leads us through the masterful dance of coaching.

Jason Westlake provided our business building article this month. He urges coaches to stop bumbling their way through the business of getting clients.

Our 2011 submission guidelines for the VOICE are available on the website. Submissions are welcome anytime through the month.

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
www.contentmasteryguide.com

P.S. Are you on Twitter? You can follow our VOICE authors and columnists as well as some of the IAC BOG members. Simply visit http://twitter.com/lindadessau/iac-voice-contributors or subscribe to the list from your Twitter account.

From the President

by Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC
president@certifiedcoach.org

The IAC: Online Enhancements

The first discussions on record about upgrading the IAC website, back-end databases, and e-commerce capabilities go back to January 2008—more than three years ago. At that time, the IAC Board of Governors (BOG) budgeted money for basic upgrades.

By April 2009 it was clear that the IAC website needed more than basic upgrades. It was time for a new host with new capabilities and a new design. Given the work involved and the complexity of the task, it is amusing now to think that we ever talked about handling this with volunteers. Hope springs eternal that passion alone will get things done!

Fortunately, the IAC had the wisdom to go shopping for a professional and creative web media company with experience in e-commerce. After clarifying organizational requirements and putting out an RFP, a special task force including BOG members Sue Brundege and Des Walsh reviewed scores of proposals, interviewed the final few candidates, and settled on Ripe Media based in Los Angeles, California. An agreement was signed on January 6, 2010.

Here were just some of the statements in the Ripe Media proposal that led the taskforce to select them for the job:

…Our vision for the new IAC web site is that it be a hub for camaraderie, resources and interaction among members as well as a portal for attracting new members.

…Ripe Media’s approach and philosophy enable close and productive collaborations with our clients…

Ripe has very high standards for quality assurance. …We understand that your web site is an extension of your company, and the site’s appearance, usability and reliability affect visitors’ perception of your brand.

Those were exactly the characteristics the IAC was looking for from a web media company. The other thing that attracted the IAC to the Ripe Media proposal was a timeline of eight weeks from start to finish. Hah! Little did anyone know just how challenging it would be to import, convert and integrate the IAC’s many different legacy databases and systems. Those complications were not even considered at the time of the proposal. The IAC BOG also took longer than expected to complete its strategic plan, to settle on its new slogan (“Expanding the Path to Coaching Mastery”), and to approve its new logo.

As the timeline extended from eight weeks to eight months, the IAC project then ran into other projects that Ripe Media was working on—delaying completion even further. In the end, an 8-week timeline turned into a 15-month timeline that has now, finally and at long last become reality.

If you haven’t visited the IAC website in the past week, then I encourage you to do so today. The URL is the same as always, www.certifiedcoach.org, but everything else is fresh, new and different. The look, the social media integration, the navigation and much of the content have all been revised to reflect the priorities and program of the IAC today. Here is just some of what you can do:

• Become an IAC-Practitioner or an IAC-Certified Coach
• Find an IAC Coach for yourself or your organization
• Find and participate in an IAC Chapter (local, regional, and virtual)
• Become or find an Authorized IAC Licensee for coach training using the IAC Coaching Masteries^®
• Advance your own Learning and Development as a coach through Learning Agreements and Coaching Research, as well as Mentoring and Supervision

The IAC is so committed to coaching as a learning profession that the new website announces an exciting new IAC member benefit: participation in a round of ReciproCoach coaching, mentoring and supervision. This $50 value, which includes 16 coaching sessions (8 as coach and 8 as coachee), is now included with every IAC membership. It is a great way for coaches to give and receive coaching through reciprocal coaching relationships.

If this sounds like the kind of association that you want to be associated with, an association that is continuously expanding the path to coaching mastery, then I encourage you to join the IAC today. The IAC Board of Governors is growing and making exciting plans for the future, including the development of multilingual certification pathways. Be on the lookout for that exciting announcement in a coming issue of the IAC VOICE.

May you be filled with goodness, peace and joy,
Bob

 
Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC, is CEO & Co-Founder of the Center for School Transformation and President of LifeTrek Coaching International. Bob has co-authored a new book, titled Evocative Coaching, which incorporates the IAC Coaching Masteries^® in a coaching model designed for leaders and coaches in K-12 schools. www.SchoolTransformation.com