IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 10, January 2007, Circulation: 10,892
January 15, 2007
Angela
From the Editor
Hello, I'm Angela Spaxman. I'm honoured and excited to be the new Editor of the IAC VOICE.
It's a new year, you have a new editor and there are many new things happening at the IAC. Over the coming months, I hope to bring you answers to the myriad questions you'll have about all the exciting new systems, events and services that will be coming your way.
In this issue, we've got new information to share about the development and implementation of the IAC Masteries that over time will replace the 15 Proficiencies as the description we use for masterful coaching.
Sali Taylor IAC-CC, the Chair of the Certification Committee, answers your questions about the implementation of the IAC Masteries. Sali was instrumental in encouraging the IAC to develop it's own set of international standards for certification and worked for 18 months as the coordinator and team leader for Phase 1 and Phase 3 of the development of the Masteries. In 2004 she was awarded the Thomas J. Leonard "T" Award for contributing to the evolution of coaching. As such, she is very well-placed to explain the Masteries and how they will be used.
Des Walsh, one of the dedicated team members on the Masteries development team, shares his experiences with the development process and gives some insights into the intentions, methods and frameworks that were used.
An announcement from 6 Advisors, a coach training organization, confirms the value of the IAC certification system for coaches, coaching organizations and, of course, coaching clients.
I'm also very excited to announce that with the support of Multiple Stream of Coaching wizard Andrea Lee, we are planning for the IAC's first Annual Tele-Summit. We want to create a highly accessible, interactive conference to share great thinking in the coaching world. As I live in Hong Kong, I can hardly wait for a chance to connect with the best minds in coaching worldwide right from my own living room! More on this event in the coming months.
As we go through 2007, if you ever have questions that are not addressed here, please drop me a line at voice@certifiedcoach.org.
I'd like to begin this year, in this issue, by honoring the work of the few people who are transitioning out of their roles at the IAC, and introduce some of the new players.
Barbara Mark (www.fullcircleinstitute.com) accepted the nomination for the presidency at a time when the IAC was most vulnerable. Thomas Leonard's death left a void that the initial team worked to fill, and did so with dedication and finesse. When the time came for that team to make some difficult decisions, Barbara threw her hat into the ring and gracefully moved the IAC into its next phase. Her commitment to global identification and progressive standards in coaching certification set the course for her time at the helm. With the launching of the Masteries and the ongoing work the certifying board is conducting with our international constituents, she has left a legacy of coaching innovation that will serve us well into the future. Hats off to Barbara Mark for all she contributed on behalf of the IAC membership!
Barbra Sundquist (www.becomeacertifiedcoach.com) stepped in as editor of our publication when the VOICE was in dire need of a voice! She took on a project in which the enormity of the task was not evident until the time came to replace her. Never missing a deadline, gently but firmly keeping the rest of the crew on target, she has left us a well-oiled machine that has earned several accolades from our membership. (Thanks, by the way, to those who offered kind words and praise over the past several months.) We're pleased that she will continue at the IAC in her other capacity as certifying examiner.
Michelle Casto (www.getsmartseries.com) reared the membership services through a couple of administrations, and never lost sight of the big picture: listening to our members. She contributed countless hours to surveying, answering questions and bringing to the IAC the idea of Community Outreach Groups (COGs) which will be launching soon. These groups will allow our members to collaborate with one another on all things coaching and certification related. We wish Michelle great success as she works toward her PhD.
And as it can be difficult to say goodbye to trusted friends, we as coaches of course also see the opportunity that arises with transition.
Angela Spaxman (www.spaxman.com.hk), who has served on the IAC Board for 1½ years, has been the communications coordinator and also served on the team that created the Masteries, has further offered her services as the new editor of the VOICE. She is taking over at a time when great change and exciting enhancements are the focus of the IAC. I'm excited that she is taking a more visible role, as now the members will benefit from her wonderful insight and wisdom more directly.
Tara Robinson (www.zugunruhecoaching.com) joins us as the test pilot for the COGs. Tara comes to the IAC with much experience in group communications, and we are thrilled that she will soon be announcing the specifics of these innovative and robust communities.
Karen Doll (www.americaslifecoachusa.com) has been extremely busy processing volunteer applications and making appropriate placements for members interested in serving the IAC in this capacity. It's been my pleasure to work directly with Karen as we get ready for the projects that will be in need of dedicated members, in order to continue to grow and enhance for the benefit of the coaching community and the coaching profession.
So stayed tuned. There is so much going on at the IAC these days, I don't want you to blink and miss anything! We'll be simultaneously launching all the upcoming enhancements when we begin our new annual paid membership, due to begin in the next few weeks. We look forward to offering you a professional organization that meets your certification needs as well as serving the coaching community in myriad ways.
The IAC Masteries are Coming FAQ's Answered by Sali Taylor, IAC CC IAC Certifier and Chair of the Certification Committee
We have spent the last year and a half developing new intellectual property for the IAC to use as the basis of masterful coaching for the IAC certification system. The new Masteries are now ready for release and posted on the IAC website (http://www.certifiedcoach.org/learningguide/masteries.htm). Because we recognize that many of you have invested considerable time and resources in preparing for certification based on the original 15 Proficiencies, we have allotted a generous transition period. Next month we will post the specifics of the transition timeline, and how the implementation of the Masteries will apply to your certification goals. We are taking thoughtful steps to ensure a smooth and seemless transition.
Why did the IAC decide to develop the Masteries?
We believe there is a need for an independent organization offering certification for coaches who can prove their mastery by demonstrating their skills regardless of the type of training they've received or the number of clients they have coached. The purpose of the Masteries is to provide the basis and standards for a truly independent certifying body, without allegiance to any coach training schools or organizations. Our goal is to create a vehicle for evaluating effective coaching in the moment. Specifically, the IAC certification focuses on masterful coaching skills that are observable and can be measured by our certifiers during recorded, half-hour sessions with two different clients.
Replacing Thomas Leonard's Fifteen Proficiencies (15P) seemed like a daunting task, but truthfully it was Thomas' style to rework and evolve coaching standards, and we are confident he would be pleased at the direction the IAC is taking. One significant element in our process was having three IAC certifiers participate on the Masteries development team. We made every effort to design the content from the perspective of how certifiers would evaluate the coaching demonstrations, making sure all points are observable and measurable.
How are the Masteries different from the Proficiencies?
There are only 9 Masteries as opposed to 15 Proficiencies. We believe the reduced number of categories and very simple and clear descriptions of the Masteries makes them more user-friendly for the coach candidate as well as for the certifiers.
Are the Masteries complete?
There will always be a need to refine and update the Masteries from time to time, as coaching continues to evolve. That said, we believe we have identified some basics that are evergreen, providing an enduring foundation.
Where do you stand in terms of Implementation?
We have developed a certifier's scorecard and have been doing parallel Masteries/Proficiencies scoring for the past few months to ensure consistency. Coaches are passing or failing similarly under both sets of materials. We feel the language of the Masteries is more concrete and not as conceptual as the Proficiencies. The Masteries are proving more effective by eliminating gray areas, making it easier to identify and credit the behavioral cause of a specific effect.
What will I have to change about my coaching in order to get certified using the IAC Masteries?
If you have understood and effectively incorporated the Proficiencies into your coaching, its highly likely you will pass under either system. Certification under either the Proficiences or the Masteries is not about your individual coaching style. Bot sets of standards require that you use high-level communication skills and relationship skills to connect with you clients to support them in their journeys.
What support will the IAC provide for people learning to use the IAC Masteries?
The Masteries are very thorough and we believe give enough content to start using them right away. We will have some open tele-meetings with members to determine any questions or confusion around the Masteries. This will be an invaluable contribution to help us to determine if there is a need to develop possible additional study guides. Watch for the announcements of these tele-meetings in the next few weeks. While the Masteries are the intellectual property of the IAC, we will encourage coach training schools and mentor coaches to integrate our material into their curricula. The IAC is not a training organization. It is and will remain an independent certifying organization and membership organization.
Do you see these standards applying to coaching worldwide?
While our international team has made every effort to use the simplest language possible and to reflect a truly universal perspective, we recognize that we are not going to be able to anticipate every permutation of cultural differences. Rather we see this as an evolving and organic process. There will be opportunities for review and evaluation as we go along to ensure effectiveness or appropriateness of the standards in each situation.
What are your feelings about the IAC Masteries implementation?
All the certifiers are excited and ready to go forward with this new system. Our experience using the Masteries so far has confirmed that this system is able to provide the most objective, clearly observable and measurable system for fair and accurate evaluation. And while we have been very pleased in our relationship with the CoachVille team, we are thrilled to now be able to offer materials leading to a certification that is completely independent of all training organizations.
Sali Taylor, IAC-CC, trained at Coachville's Graduate School of Coaching and received the Thomas J Leonard "T" Award for contributing to the evolution of coaching in 2004. She has a private practice as a Creative Life Coach and is also an award-winning artist. http://www.SaliArt.com
Describing the Masteries Development by Des Walsh
I had the privilege of being on the teams for two stages of the development of the new IAC Masteries. This was a great experience, especially once we figured out the practical implications of working simultaneously across different time zones.
Organizational challenges such as time zones aside, this exercise of working with groups of wise and highly experienced coaches from around the world on the IAC Coaching Masteries was one of the most interesting and stimulating experiences of my life.
Paradoxically, among memories of many great conversations, always friendly and civilized but often vigorous, stretching debates about the right word or phrase, is the memory of silences.
It was actually quite amusing at times, to be sitting there, phone to my ear, for what seemed like several minutes after someone had shared a profound insight or given us a brilliant form of words to express, in part, the often barely-expressible, and wondering had the line dropped out. It never had. We were all just relishing the moment. Eventually someone would speak up, so we could move on to the next point.
Not that the process was always, or even mainly, that sublime.
There was a lot of hard work, a lot of being challenged by one another about the implications of how the masteries statements, definitions of criteria and descriptions of effective and ineffective behaviors might play out across a range of cultures and values-frameworks.
In that regard, it was a decided benefit that the groups included people not only from different countries but also from countries where the primary language is not English. It was one thing to discuss the perceived meaning of a word or phrase as between UK and American, or Canadian, or Australian English. It was a whole new conversation to have the perspective of a fluent English speaker whose first language was nevertheless not English.
One aspect of the work which I found most interesting, most tantalizing and sometimes most frustrating was how to provide recognition and scope, in how we worded the Masteries, for different types of coaching and different perceptions of the purposes and aims of coaching. We knew that to have a set of Masteries which would be seen as appropriate, by our peers and by those seeking to be credentialed in terms of those Masteries, we would have to be as sure as we could be that the conceptual framing and the language and expression would have to be very clear and as unequivocal as possible.
My own framework for that task included wanting to see the Masteries defined and described in such a way that coaches and others would recognize that there are some key skills and behaviors to be possessed or learned and practiced, which are not bestowed just by being knowledgeable in a particular, other-than-coaching field. For example, a person with a particular profession or skill who decided tomorrow to call herself or himself a coach in that field would realize from studying the Masteries that there are certain coach skills and behaviors they need to have or acquire, in addition to their predominant, non-coaching expertise to date, in order to be confident of giving real coaching value to their clients.
Another challenge was the requirement for us to be original in our formulations of the Masteries. The IAC Masteries had to be a new creation, neither a copy nor an adaptation of some other schema and yet as comprehensive as we could manage.
I believe we did well. And I am aware that even more has been done since I was directly involved.
In all of this, the focus and dedication of the IAC leadership and the project team leaders has been inspiring. I've seen a lot of professional and volunteer organizations in my time and helped to run some. Consistently visionary, practical and assured leadership of the quality we have with IAC does not come along often.
Des Walsh
Des is a business coach and blogging evangelist. He is based on Australia's Gold Coast region. A former senior government executive and subsequently a communications consultant, he was inspired to become a coach after meeting Thomas Leonard in Sydney in 2002. http://www.deswalsh.com
Adopting The Masteries for Coach Certification by Dave Blanchard
Even though the IAC Masteries have only recently been finalized and released, there is already one coach-training group that has decided to adopt and integrate the nine IAC Masteries into its core training. 6 Advisors™ assessment and related coaching helps organizations and individuals identify and accelerate breakthroughs on thought patterns and behaviors that maintain professional and personal barriers to progress. The 6 Advisors leadership team believes that weaving the IAC Masteries into training on insights from their proprietary assessment will result in more highly-evolved follow-up coaching and a more time and cost-effective way for clients to achieve breakthroughs and results.
"Many of the coaches that seek us are experienced speakers and trainers, and have both corporate and social service backgrounds", says Harvey Schoof, Vice-President and Training Director. "We originally looked at the Proficiencies on which the current IAC certification is based, but upon closer inspection, found that the IAC Masteries map nicely to our philosophy and mission, and we believe will lead our coaches to gain a clearer, faster and deeper understanding of excellence in coaching. The IAC Masteries will be fully integrated into our next class starting in late January 2007.
"For coaches seeking to become expert in highly-evolved coaching that leads to significant and lasting breakthroughs for clients, the IAC's tremendous work in this area is a great path, both for serving our growing client base, and for the coach serving those clients", says Dave Blanchard CEO of the Og Mandino group, parent company to 6 Advisors. "We believe in the mission and high bar the IAC has set and to which it had demonstrated commitment to experienced professionals coming from various disciplines. We expect the demand for our assessment and related coaching will shortly outstrip our supply of trained coaches, and we are taking this opportunity to offer dually certified coaches the lead position in our corporate engagements. Together with our own tool certification, the IAC Masteries will help our coaches accelerate their coaching abilities, and enable clients to achieve broader and deeper understanding of themselves. In fact, we refund the IAC fee back to anyone who shows up at our door with a verifiable IAC coach certification on top of our own tool certification, regardless of the order in which they were taken."
We sincerely hope that many more coaches, coaching organizations and especially coaching clients will benefit from the clarity and depth of understanding that the IAC Masteries provide.
Dave Blanchard is the Chairman and CEO of The Og Group, Inc. and family of companies, The Greatest Salesman, Inc. and 6 Advisors, Inc. He is the co-developer of the 6 Advisors Assessment Report™ and coaching curriculum. http://www.6Advisors.com
Coaching Moments "Coaching Moments" takes a thoughtful, and sometimes lighthearted, look at how coaching can be interwoven into our daily lives.
skin deep by Janice Hunter
We enjoy some precious coaching moments at our kitchen table which I'd really miss if my kids were more tactful!
I cooked one of our favourite meals the other day, a homely pasta dish made with a rich sauce of olive oil, mountain herbs, oven roasted peppers, baby tomatoes, garlic and onions. As we were sitting laughing and chatting at the table, out of the blue, my nine year old son said: "Mum, are you still using that stuff from the telly on your face? I think it's working. Your spots have gone and you're looking younger."
I was still smiling at this when I went shopping yesterday and slipped the eye cream from the same skincare range into my trolley. One of my goals for last year was to boost my confidence with a clear, glowing skin but I hadn't shared it with anyone, not even my family.
My weight and complexion are triggers in the minefield of my self esteem. I have a medical condition which went undiagnosed for years, resulting in confidence crushing symptoms like chronic fatigue, fluctuating weight gain and skin problems. Since I began treatment, waves of returning good health have made me feel unstoppable! A grubby, football playing nine year old boy telling you your skin's looking younger is an unexpected but welcome way to measure the results of a goal you're achieving slowly but surely!
And it's a goal with great knock on effects. Over the past few months, I've cleared out my bathroom cabinets, bagged up and binned the Big Me clothes from my wardrobe and started tackling scary bits in every room, even the dark side of the garage. My creativity and coaching confidence have blossomed and my communication is cleaner. To be honest, after months spent buffing myself up, gutting the house and paring back our life to the basics of simple abundance, I don't know which came first, the clutter clearing or the coaching confidence.
With the help of my mentor coach, I've been peeling away my coaching sins, upgrading my defaults and letting my natural skills shine through. A couple of weeks ago, I did a call I was thrilled with, full of silences that resonated and questions that tapped into a deep, clear pool as I just relaxed and enjoyed being present with the person I was coaching. Moments like that I can score.
But today, as I applied the eye cream that's so expensive it had better miraculously attract George Clooney into my life, I remembered how important it is to make sure my non-coaching goals are measurable. If we lose track of how we define and measure success in every aspect of our life, in the details of our day, then we run the risk of never feeling truly happy or satisfied. What will have to happen in your day for you go to bed tonight feeling like a happy, successful human being?
EPILOGUE: Richard Carlson, author of the hugely popular 'Don't Sweat the Small Stuff' and countless other books including his latest, 'Don't Get Scrooged', died suddenly last month at the age of forty five. As a tribute, I'd like to leave you with a quote from 'Don't Sweat the Small Stuff'; it comforts me to know that even though we lost him early, he left behind a family, friends and fans who loved and appreciated him. He touched lives and made a difference.
"I find that if I remind myself (frequently) that the purpose of life isn't to get it all done but to enjoy each step along the way and live a life filled with love, it's far easier for me to control my obsession with completing my list of things to do. Remember, when you die, there will still be unfinished business to take care of. And you know what? Someone else will do it for you!" Richard Carlson Ph.D
Janice Hunter lives with her family in Scotland and is currently working towards IAC certification. She particularly enjoys supporting other coaches through her writing and can be contacted at ezinenewsletters@aol.com.
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