by Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC
president@certifiedcoach.org
The IAC: New Year, New Opportunities
As the calendar turns to 2011 and I begin my second year of service to the IAC as President of the global Board of Governors (BOG), I find myself filled with gratitude for the year past and hope for the year to come.
Let’s start with the gratitude. The work of Angela Spaxman and Joan Marie Johnson on the IAC’s long-range, strategic plan stands out both for the effort it took and for the impact it generated. We will be living into and benefiting from this plan for many years to come.
Unfortunately, neither one of them will be continuing on with the BOG in 2011. Joan left the BOG in November for personal reasons while Angela completed her term in December after five years of service. I have been mourning their departure even as I have been celebrating the opportunity to serve with them and to benefit from their many talents. There’s no telling where the IAC would be today without the contributions they have made.
With Angela’s departure, the BOG is losing a huge piece of institutional memory and continuity, all the way back to the crafting of the Coaching Masteries® themselves. Fortunately, she has offered to serve as my special advisor during 2011. I have already taken advantage of that offer!
There are other people who have left the BOG in 2010 after making significant and enduring contributions: Sue Brundege and Jenny Blake have both been instrumental in the IAC’s soon-to-be-unveiled new website, replete with new social networking functionality, interactivity and member services. Thanks also to Bonnie Chan in Hong Kong, Nad Phillips in Paris, Yoram Gordon in Israel and Doris Helge in the United States for their roles.
No wonder we’re all a little nervous! That’s a turnover of almost half the Board over the course of the year. Yet transitions occur and everything is perfect, just the way it is, even when it may seem otherwise.
Take leadership as a case in point. Just as people have transitioned off the Board of Governors, so have many fantastic people come onto the BOG. This month alone we welcome three new members:
- Xia Parvathy, Sedona, Arizona. A graduate of Columbia Law School with coach training from the School of Coaching Mastery and wide-ranging international experiences, Xia has applied for IAC Coach Certification and is looking to make a strong contribution to the global coaching community through the IAC.
- Richard Winfield, Birmingham, England. After ten years as a civil engineer and transportation planner in the UK, Richard went into business administration and organizational development. His studies in Neurolinguistic Programming led him into coaching and training, which he is now developing throughout Asia, Arabia and Africa.
- Teo Jin Lee, Singapore. Jin has been a driving force behind the organization of an IAC Chapter in Singapore. After 14 years of work with IBM, Jin went on to found SMG training systems in Singapore and China. Jin’s success in this capacity led her to receive the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2001. She hopes to create a pool of IAC Certified Coaches in Singapore and to expand the global reach of the IAC.
I know we will all benefit greatly from the work of Xia, Richard and Jin with the IAC in the months and years to come as they build on these accomplishments of the past year:
- Kerryn Griffiths has worked with IAC virtual assistant Diana McFarlane and design company Ripe Media to finish up a sensational website with lots of new features. Watch for the launch before the end of this month.
- Susan R. Meyer and IAC lead certifier Natalie Tucker Miller have spearheaded the effort to develop the “IAC Learning Agreements”—a brilliant new approach to accountability and support for coaching professionals. The Learning Agreements will apply to both Certified Coaches and to those who are pursuing the new IAC-Practitioner designation. Be sure to read Natalie’s article in this issue of the VOICE to learn more.
- Kate Larsen, Alberto J. Calderón and Tatiana Abend have completed work on the just-approved Chapter Handbook that will guide the development and practice of IAC Chapters around the world. This Handbook has been distributed to existing chapters and is available through the IAC website for those looking to start chapters.
- Angela Spaxman has worked with Nad Phillips, Uta Guse and others on continuous improvements to the Licensee program, with new distinctions, orientation and support opportunities. These improvements will enable the IAC to better serve and equip Licensees for their work with coach training and mentoring.
- Kerul Kassel has almost singlehandedly spearheaded the effort to develop an ever-growing portfolio of impressive member benefits. Not a month goes by where the IAC BOG is not considering some new opportunity to enhance the value of an IAC membership. If you have not looked at all the member benefits lately, I encourage you to log in and check them out.
- Speaking of member benefits, Kerryn Griffiths, founder of ReciproCoach, has negotiated a partnership agreement between the two organizations so that every member of the IAC will receive a free round of ReciproCoaching during 2011. That’s a US$60 value. You will learn more about this exciting new benefit next month. Stay tuned!
- Alison Davis, Alberto J. Calderón, Bonnie Chan and others from the IAC Certification Board have all but completed the necessary work and testing for Spanish and Mandarin Chinese versions of the written Step 1 certification exam. We have budgeted for many more languages to be developed in 2011 and beyond. Next up? The ability to process oral exams in multiple languages. It can and will be done.
- Speaking of certification, the IAC had 36 people pass the written Step 1 exam and 2 people pass the oral Step 2 exam in 2010. Although small in number, those aspiring and certified coaches stand to make a large impact with their clients and in the world. The IAC owes its certifiers a huge debt gratitude for their high-quality work.
As if all that wasn’t enough, I am pleased to announce that the IAC BOG Executive Committee has just completed its search for a part-time capacity building specialist. After working through 22 applications, many of excellent quality, we selected Ed Britton, originally from Canada but living and working in China since 2004. Ed is the Chief Executive Officer of the Tian Jiao Education Group in Xiamen, China, as well as the owner operator of his own coaching practice. He fully understands and aligns himself with the IAC approach to certification and coaching professionalism and he brings a unique ability to think strategically about the capacity-building requirements and opportunities for the IAC.
If all goes as planned, the IAC will have grown significantly by this time next year, due to Ed’s work as capacity building specialist, the prospect of other major new alliances, and the IAC’s recent foray into coaching research. Although every region stands to benefit from Ed’s work, his positioning in China makes him uniquely able to help the IAC tap into the growing Asian market, which has clearly expressed an interest in what the IAC has to offer.
2011 stands to be a pivotal and banner year for the IAC. We are now growing at the most rapid pace since our founding in 2003, welcoming 75 new and renewing members every month—a number that is steadily increasing.
If you want to be part of this excitement, or volunteer to help us make it happen, then I invite you to join or to renew your membership in the IAC today. There’s no time like the present to take full advantage of all that the IAC has to offer and to contribute all that you have to give. I hope you make it so.
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
