Years ago, at a Future of Coaching Summit I was fortunate enough to attend, there was one conversation that stuck with me, one conversation I continue to contemplate to this day.
Teamed with Margaret Moore of the Institute of Coaching, our group contemplated the necessity for domain expertise within a coaching framework. Will it be necessary, we wondered, for coaching expertise to not be enough in the future, and will coaches also need to consider expertise in the domain in which they coach?
Coaching in many ways is still finding itself, so I’m not sure it’s something that we will be overly concerned about in the near future. However, I have found over the years that there is benefit to expanding knowledge in any industry you choose to coach in. When I was coaching administrators in the elder care industry, for instance, I found it useful to earn a certificate in gerontology. It served me well, as it provided the language and context that might otherwise have been compromised.
Today I find myself studying for a state exam in insurance, to procure my producers license, after over a year of providing my services, both coaching and management, with a major insurance carrier.
Necessary? Not exactly. However, if you look to the Masteries you’ll agree they support expansion, possibility, and strengthening systems, in a way that aligns with the idea of domain expertise.
Coaching is becoming more and more accepted – nay, revered – as a way to enhance efficacy, increase productivity and create environments that become powerful forces for positive change in the world.
Together, as coaches, as members of the IAC, we have the opportunity to lead the coaching world with the language of the Masteries. There was great interest generated at that same summit around the IAC’s comprehensive framework of coaching. If you look around, you’ll begin to appreciate the depth, power, gracefulness, and the humanity inherent in the Masteries.
IAC members are so fortunate to be part of this! Part of the family that developed this framework, part of the force that is changing the way we are in the world.
You probably already have domains in which you have expertise, be it formal or by audit. Now, look at how naturally you can weave the Masteries into these areas, and go forth and demonstrate the future of coaching!
Natalie Tucker Miller, Lead Certifier, IAC
Natalie Tucker Miller, MMC, is the Lead Certifier and a certifying examiner at the IAC, as well as Past-President. Natalie is founder of Ageless-Sages.com Publishing (www.ageless-sages.com), and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™.
