IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 26, May 2008, Circulation: 12,372


Kerch

From the Editor

Taking over for someone else is always
a task fraught with stumbling blocks. Not
only are there somebody else’s shoes
to fill, but also there are systems and structures
that you just haven’t figured out
yet. Couple that with a new organization
where you don’t know anyone in particular
and you've got the makings of a real
duck soup.

It’s not unlike the problems that
might come up when you get a new client
from another coach. Do you even try to match
what the previous coach did? What if it
were working great? What if that style is
different from your own?

It’s fitting that this month Nina
East talks about Mastery #9, "Using Support
Systems and Structures." I work mostly with
adults who have ADHD. Systems and structures
are key to success with my clients. So how
come I’m not doing any better for
myself?

I know Angela had systems in place to get
VOICE out on time. And man, I am struggling
to find a structure that works for me. So
here’s my request: I know there are
more than 12,000 readers out there. And
if even a small fraction of you with ideas
for articles or questions that could be
articles… if even a couple of you
drop me a note each month, I bet I can say
thank you and keep this train rolling a
little closer to on schedule.

Thanks.

Kerch McConlogue, CPCC, PCC
Editor, IAC VOICE
Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org
Web: www.mapthefuture.com

Here’s the list of information we
have for you this month:


  • President Angela Spaxman talks about
    the leading edge of IAC growth here.

  • Are you getting the most from your
    IAC directory listing? Read more here.
  • We've got a new Voluntary Life
    and Health Benefits Program. Read more here.

  • Nina East, IAC Lead Certifier, writes about Masteries
    4 and 9 and how to use them in your practice
    here.

  • Welcome to Dr. Ariel Orama López
    who leads the new IAC Spanish Translation
    Team. See what’s going on as the
    IAC works to expand its reach in the world
    here.

  • Members in the news here.
  • Got all the clients you want?
    Check out the three step process outlined by Christian Mickelsen
    here.

  • How does the “R word” affect you.
    Read what Janice Hunter thinks here.


Angela

From the President

by Angela
Spaxman


president@certifiedcoach.org


What is going on at the IAC? What are the
growing edges?


Since I took up the role of President last
month I’ve been focusing mostly on
the big picture of our organization. So
I thought it would be useful to share with
you some of the growing edges, so you can
clarify your expectations of us and find
the sweet spots that are of most benefit
to you.


The growing edges are the most important
parts of the IAC, because those are the
places where coaches enthusiastically contribute
their energy. They include:


  • local chapters and triad/buddy groups,

  • the certification process itself,

  • the communications happening through
    the VOICE and the website,

  • the continuing translation and development
    of the IAC Coaching Masteries™ and

  • the leadership opportunities on the
    Board and in the Chapters.

The Board is actively working to develop
stronger foundations in all of these areas
over the coming year.

I want to highlight the first growing edge,
our local chapters and triad/buddy groups.
For most people, the experiences that make
IAC membership really special happen in
these small groups. That’s when you
have a chance to connect with other coaches
who are also keen to develop themselves.
These experiences often result in tremendous learning. The certification challenge
encourages us (forces us?) to delve really
deeply into our own coaching skills and
abilities.


For myself, I meet regularly with a small
group of wonderful coaches in my local community,
and we’ve devised a way to practice
our coaching with each other. We listen
to each other coaching and we use the IAC
Coaching Masteries™ to evaluate the
results with both compassion and honesty.
Even though we are all busy people, the
experiences we have are so valuable that
we continue to find time to be together.


Right now, we have seven official Chapters
world-wide
. In addition, I know there
are also many other pockets of coaches who
meet regularly by telephone or in-person
to support each other in improving their
coaching skills. These valuable experiences
push the benefits of coaching further and
further into the world.

If
you’d like to get more involved in
this growing edge of the IAC, you can start
by connecting with other coaches who have
indicated on their IAC directory listings
that they are available as triad or buddy
coaches. Start your search here.
You can also check to see if there is an
IAC
Chapter
in your area. And if you’d
like to start one, contact Kerri
Laryea
.

Is
there another way I can help you get into
the growing edge that’s most important
to you? Please let me know.

Cheers,
Angela Spaxman
President, IAC
Email:
president@certifiedcoach.org

Web:
www.lovingworkandleading.com


IAC Certified Coaches

Congratulations to Gigi Blair
from Alexandria, VA, United States who recently
passed her Step 2 Exam and became an IAC
Certified Coach!




Are you getting the most out of your IAC member listing?


One of the benefits of membership in the
IAC is a listing in our on line data base.
Hey, a listing is great, but without contact
information it has limited value. Take a
minute, log
in here
and scroll to the bottom of
the page. Then update your profile. You
can make public a web address and a short
bio. Take advantage of a great opportunity.


And as you scroll down the page to find
your information, notice the great deals
available to IAC members. (If you’re
reading this, you must be a member? Right?
Oh, no? Join
here
! Join now!)


Here’s one IAC member deal: Get a free domain and
discounts on web design and hosting through
Register.com, also on the member
benefits page
.




New Voluntary Life & Health Benefit Plans Available


The IAC is pleased to announce Voluntary
Life and Health Benefit plans for its membership
through Annuity Managers Agency, LLC. As
a member of the IAC, you and your entire
family, as well as your employees, are eligible
to participate in all of these exciting
and premier programs! All plans are voluntary
and available in most states! Just go to
www.AnnuityManagers.com. Click on
the blue “Association Plans”
button at the top of the left navigation
pane. You’ll need to fill in “IAC”
(without the quotes) on the next page in
order to review information on the following
programs:

  • National health plan PPO
  • Guaranteed issue short-term & long-term
    accident income with AD&D
  • Guaranteed issue whole life insurance
  • Guaranteed issue critical illness plan
  • Guaranteed issue hospital cash indemnity
    plans
  • National defined benefit health plans
    (mini-meds)
  • Guaranteed issue, fully insured delta
    dental & discount vision plan in one
  • National discounted long-term care insurance
  • National discounted simplified issue
    long-term disability, business overhead
    & disability buy-out insurance
  • National guaranteed issue accidental
    death and dismemberment
  • International medical & travel accident
    insurance
  • Rx gold prescription drug plan


Call Annuity Managers directly at (877)
676-9900
or check the website at

www.AnnuityManagers.com
.




by Nina East

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
, (requires a password) 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.

Stay tuned

In upcoming “Certification Tidbits” each
of the masteries will be explained in greater
detail!


 
Nina East is the IAC’s Lead Certifier
and the author of PersonalGrowthEnthusiasts.com.
As a coach she works with personal growth professionals, helps coaches master
the art of coaching and coaches students and their families through the complex
and emotional transition from high school into college. Find her on the
web at
www.MyMentorCoach.com
.


 

Please send your questions on the IAC
Coaching Masteries™ and the certification
process to certification@certifiedcoach.org.




En la IAC SE HABLA ESPAÑOL

by Dr. Ariel Orama López, CCC, CE,
FA

¡Saludos colegas y miembros de la
IAC!

My name is Dr. Ariel Orama López
and I have the pleasure to lead the new
IAC Spanish Translation Team. As part of
the new projects and challenges of the IAC,
we are enlisting members to translate and
edit the Spanish Version of The IAC Coaching
Masteries.

Si puedes leer lo que aparece a continuación,
esta oportunidad es para ti. Sabemos que
nuestra respetada organización cuenta
con miembros destacados del mundo hispanohablante.
Por tal razón, comenzaremos el proceso
de edición y estandarización
de varios documentos de la IAC para el beneficio
de nuestra comunidad hispana. Iniciaremos
nuestras funciones con la elaboración
del documento El arte y la destreza del
Coaching según la IAC™.

Queremos agradecer al reconocido y respetado
Coach Roberto García de la Mora por
su entrega y dedicación en la traducción
de The IAC Coaching Masteries ™. A
partir de su narrativa, estableceremos un
diálogo y análisis sobre la
versión del documento en español;
esto, con el fin de crear un documento estándar
que beneficie a todos los miembros de los
distintos países hispanohablantes.
Contamos con aquellos colegas que quieran
formar parte de esta nueva encomienda.

Éste será sólo el
comienzo de una serie de esfuerzos para
continuar la dirección de nuestra
organización hacia el público
internacional. A través de las sugerencias,
la diligencia y el consenso de nuestro equipo
desarrollaremos más y mejores recursos
para los miembros cuyo idioma principal
es el español.

Si quieres formar parte de nuestro Comité
de Traducción al Español (CTEsp)
y eres miembro activo de la IAC, no dudes
en comunicarte al siguiente correo electrónico:
droramalopez@gmail.com.

¡Sé parte del gran futuro
de la IAC! Recibe un caluroso abrazo,


  

Dr. Ariel Orama
López, Coordinator
IAC Spanish Translation Team (CTEsp)

(El Dr. Ariel Orama López es Psicólogo
Clínico, Coach Creativo Certificado
(CCC), Coach Ejecutivo/Corporativo (CE)
y Facilitador Autorizado (FA) de CoachVille
Spain/The Internacional School of Coaching.
Es Coach Asociado y Editor de TISOC.) 

  




Members in the news

President, Angela Spaxman and Lead Certifier,
Nina East, were interviewed for the Coachville
Caffeine
online radio show. They talked
a little about the history of the IAC and
what makes our certification system special.
Angela talked more about the growing edge
of the IAC.

The show aired on May 20. Here’s
a link
to the recording. Check it out.

PS: If you’re in the news, please
let me know. Send a link
to the online article or to a recording
of the event. And tell me what other coaches
might learn from your experience.

 




The 3 Step Process for Getting Coaching Clients

by Christian Mickelsen

Are you making it easy for clients to hire
you, or are you making it hard? Many coaches
find it hard to get clients because they
make it hard for potential clients to hire
them. What ends up happening could be something
like this:

You put a lot of hours into your coaching
business, learning and improving your coaching
skills as well as implementing new marketing
ideas, creating new programs that you hope
people will be hot for and you keep at it.
Until, eventually you might start to feel
a little—or a lot—burned out.

This thing you love and have been so excited
about becomes something you might be thinking
about giving up! But, it may not be entirely
your fault. You see, most coaches haven’t
been told the right things to do to get
clients. Let me shed some light on this
for you with a three step process for getting
clients.

Clients Who Hire You Follow These
Steps:


  1. They somehow hear about you and what
    you do.

  2. They have a sample coaching session
    with you.

  3. They give you their credit card info.
    Or write you a check.

That seems simple! But, let me elaborate
a little further.

People can “hear about you and what
you do” from networking events,
from articles you write that appear in newsletters
or online, from presentations you give in
person or via tele-classes. People can be
introduced to you by a strategic alliance
partner—someone who works with the same
clients you do, but helps them with something
other than coaching. For example, if you
coach small business owners, an accountant
might be a great strategic alliance partner
for you. These relationships can be a valuable
source of referrals.

All of these initial pieces of the marketing
puzzle are designed to move the prospective
client to the next step: the sample session.

The sample coaching session is the place
to make the real connection. Use this session
to find out about your potential clients—about
what they want, why they want it, what's
not working, why it's not working and the
impact these challenges are having on them.
This is the key to moving them to the next
step; these are the reasons a client will
hire you. If you don’t surface this
stuff, they’ll have very little reason
to start paying you hundreds of dollars
every month for your coaching. Good clients
want help achieving their goals and overcoming
their challenges. A painful or frustrating
situation is what leads people to hire you,
not some fantastical dream life that many
coaches are trying to sell.

Getting
payment is the third step to getting hired.
If a client doesn’t pay you on the
spot, it’s rare that they’ll
come back and hire you later. So at the end of the sample session, ask if a
client wants to work with you. Say thank you and then, “Let me get you entered
into the system.” Be sure to get all of their information—including their credit
card payment information.

With credit cards, people will sometimes
pay for the full contracted amount—like six months worth of coaching—right up front.
It's always fun to get a few thousand dollars
all at once. And if you give them incentives
for doing so clients, will love it, too!
At the very least get the client’s
permission to charge their card on the appointed
day each month with no fuss. Accepting credit
cards is essential. If you haven’t
already, get set up with a way to accept
credit cards. I use the system associated
with my online shopping cart, www.CartsForCoaches.com.

Here’s the bottom line: Let your
coaching business follow this basic three-step
process. Make it easy for clients to figure
out what to do. Remember, more sample sessions,
more clients!

Resource Box:
Get your Free Report: "How to Get a
Rush of Potential Clients Lining Up to Have
a Free Session With You." Go to http://www.CoachesWithClients.com
and you'll also get access to more great
articles on how to get coaching clients.


 

Christian Mickelsen has been seen in Forbes,
Yahoo Finance, MSN
and the Boston Globe.
He served two years on the Board of Governors
for the IAC. He is the author of the book
How To Quickly Get Started In Professional
Coaching
, available at www.CoachingQuickStartKit.com
and has developed several programs to help
coaches be more successful. Christian can
be contacted through his website: www.CoachesWithClients.com.

  




"Coaching Moments" takes a
thoughtful look at how coaching
can be interwoven into our daily lives. 

‘R’ words…
by Janice Hunter

I’ve recently read a surprising number
of newsletters and blogs which have used
the phrase “the ‘R’ word”
to refer to economic recession. Now these
aren’t coy writers I’m talking
about; they’re highly respected, powerful
coaches who inspire and lead many others.
I don’t know why they use the phrase,
but it got me thinking about what recession
means to the coaching world and also set
me off on a journey exploring ‘R’
words.

Real estate, reaction, response,
re-positioning and relief…

I live in a tourist area where many local
newly-weds can’t afford to buy homes
because of inflated house prices. In other
parts of the country, families are faced
with the prospect of downsizing or negative
equity because of the post-boom drop in
property prices. I’ve seen how distressing
this can be, so it’s not a topic I’m
being dismissive of or disrespectful about.
I’d like to share a story with you
about one of the best coaches I’ve
ever known.

He started to feel the waves of worry over
the US sub-prime mortgage situation last
year; his wife works in real estate and
they have a young family. His initial reaction
was to increase his networking and marketing
until the pace became almost hysterical
and frenetic. Then, after an aha phase,
he responded from his heart by putting the
theory of ‘letting go’ into
practice. He focused on the abundance he
already had—his family, friends, training,
experience, wisdom and qualifications—and acknowledged that they weren’t
going to evaporate if he didn’t fill
his coaching practice immediately. Instead,
he started applying for other jobs to supplement
his coaching income, even though he already
had more clients than most coaches I know.
The job offers came flowing in. He accepted
one that allowed him to work from home and
the relief was almost tangible, like a breeze
of fresh air blowing through his life, bringing
with it financial security and a continuation
of the family dynamics and routine he’d
worked so hard to build. And then—no surprise
to those of us who believe in the law of
attraction—the clients came pouring in
too. Eleven new clients in two weeks.


Redundancy, re-evaluation, readiness,
relocation and resourcefulness…

My husband works in the Scottish branch
of an international company and we’ve
been affected by the global crisis too.
Every October for the last three years,
his bosses have announced that hundreds
of people in the company are to be made
redundant. The list of those about to lose
their jobs isn’t released until December.
It’s become harder for me every year
to celebrate Christmas in the carefree way
we used to. It’s become increasingly
painful for my husband to lose colleagues
at a time when workmates all over the world
are celebrating the holiday season with
office parties and frivolity. But as we’ve
narrowly ‘escaped’ for three
years in a row, we’ve been given a
great gift—the chance to re-evaluate what’s
most important to us in a deeply authentic
way.

We have to ask ourselves what we’d
really like to do with our skills and talents
and which risks we’re ready and willing
to take, seeing as our children are thriving
at school. If we were to move anywhere in
the world for work, where would we go? What
would we do? Why would we choose to stay
here in Scotland? My dad is 84 but has another
daughter and grandsons here. Heart-searching
talks, provocative conversations. Despite
my heart-wrenching wanderlust, we always
end up feeling that we’re here in
Scotland because we want to be. We’re
always left knowing what we’re willing
to fight to keep.

Not moving house also makes us more resourceful
with what we have. Downsizing our consumption,
expenditure and stuff is a pleasure for
us, a solution, not a form of imposed deprivation.
It makes us feel prepared for anything,
like we’d be ready to move if we had
to. It makes us feel ‘clean and clear’
while we choose to stay. Most of what we
own is useful, beautiful or treasured.

Relishing, ritual and religion

I’ve also coped with looming redundancy
and the threat of ‘forced’ relocation
by strengthening my love of ritual. It can
be a powerful glue in every relationship,
religion and society. My daughter laughingly
told her Religious and Moral Education teacher
at school that her mum steals the best bits
of every religion she comes across!

We love creating our own rituals too. On
Mother’s Day, I never expect presents,
flowers or chocolates. My kids volunteer
to be ‘servants’ for a day and
keep the home running while I stay in my
bedroom and read a book from cover to cover—a rare and cherished treat. They make
me cards and create ‘cheques’
promising to pay me in love, respect, tidied
rooms and fewer tweenage tantrums! I laminate
those and use them as bookmarks.

We also make homemade cards, sweets, presents
and crackers at Christmas and have created
fun-filled, friend and family rituals throughout
December. It gives us all so much more to
look forward to than shop-bought gifts.

It was my mum who instilled in me a love
of details and ritual, and although we didn’t
have much money when I was growing up, we
grew up rich because of her.

I’m sharing this with you now because
if you’re anxious about your future
or your finances, this is the time to start
being open to creative ideas to reduce your
consumption and expenditure. You’ve
time to design cards, make personalised
bookmarks, write books of gratitude and
‘love memories’ for your loved
ones, compile photo albums of treasured
memories, and create works of art from digital
photos. You’ve time to plan home baked
gifts and to research unusual charities
to donate to instead of sending gifts…You
can give away heirlooms now and register
the recipient’s pleasure rather than
wait to die to do it. You can have clothes
swap evenings with friends, bake and take
to the homeless, give away the contents
of your attic or garage to folk who need
it.

I’m having a meltdown at the moment,
trying to decide how to redesign my kitchen
to get a bigger table in. As I hear of the
tragedy unfolding in Burma, it puts my dilemma
into proportion. By not buying meat, wine
or treats for a just a week, I can send
a Burma emergency relief fund enough for
mosquito nets, water purification tablets
or plastic sheeting for shelter. Doing without
pizza or a bottle of Chilean red isn’t
going to kill me.

Remembering, regret and reaching
out…

My mum died a few weeks before Mother’s
Day, while I was expecting my son. She’d
gone into hospital to have an aneurism removed
and never spoke again. Complications meant
she had to be ventilated through her windpipe,
even though she was fully conscious. She
spent her last weeks on a gurney in intensive
care, awake but hooked up to dialysis and
a ventilator, defying all the odds. The
day before she died, she was restless, hardly
lucid and spent the whole day trying to
point to her left wrist with her wrinkled,
right hand. Everyone speculated; was she
experiencing pain down her arms? Was she
wondering where her watch had gone? She
mouthed the words “I love you son”
to my husband before she drifted off and
we were asked to leave. That night, she
developed an infection and didn’t
regain consciousness. My dad was asked for
permission to switch off the machines. The
next day, I watched her slowly slip away.
When the LED displays finally all reached
zero, I looked up to the ceiling and said
“I’m sorry.” So much I
hadn’t said when she was alive. So
many memories I’ve relished since.

I reckon she was pointing to where her
watch had been, telling us it was time,
telling us not to waste it.

Don’t let regret be one of your ‘R’
words. As folk who are involved in the coaching
world, the recession is a chance for us
to reach out, to inspire, to share our skills
and our wisdom and to make a difference.
It’s not all about marketing and money.

A few of my favourite ‘R’ words…
why don’t you make one of your own
or get your clients to make one as an attitudinal
antidote to ‘R’ word anxiety!

  • reading,
  • rose scented laundry,
  • relishing truth,
  • rugs on real wood floors,
  • reaching out and really enjoying people,
  • rainbows (my mum sends them),
  • rock pools,
  • rusty-red painted wood,
  • rose flavoured Turkish delight sweets,
  • retsina and red wine,
  • rustling olive groves,
  • rustic tables (laid with blue and checked
    tablecloths, bread, olives and salads)

Janice
Hunter is a writer and IAC certified coach who lives in
Scotland with her husband and two children. She specialises
in homelife coaching (helping people create authentic,
spirit-filled homes and lives) and also enjoys supporting
other coaches through her writing and collaboration.

www.sharingthecertificationjourney.com

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
.

Contact
Janice at
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