IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 34, March 2009


Linda

From the Editor

I would like to open today's issue of VOICE with an exciting update from Sue
Brundege, Chair of the IAC® Communications Committee:

"I'm pleased to officially announce the arrival of our new IAC®
Blog: http://blog.certifiedcoach.org.
This blog is a repository of our VOICE newsletter archives. The blog categories
reflect our VOICE features and columns; the blog also includes a search function
and the ability for readers to leave comments. Many thanks to everyone for their
work on this effort, and most particularly to Diana McFarlane, who made it happen!
Please take a look at the blog when you get a chance, and feel free to post
any questions, comments, and suggestions you might have."

In other news from the web, IAC® members are creating a stir over on the
New Coach Connections blog, where Don Morris has put together an intriguing
podcast series called
Innovations and Trends in Coaching. So far the series
has included:

Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC® Past President (click to listen), Des Walsh,
IAC® Board of Governors Chairman (click to listen), Diane Krause-Stetson,
former IAC® Board of Governors member (click to listen) and feature author
in today's issue and Angela Spaxman, IAC® President (click to listen).

Perhaps spurred on by the chat with Don, Angela's
President's Message clearly
shows that she is looking forward and thinking big.

Want a peek behind the scenes? We're pleased to introduce the IAC®'s newest
certifier, Elizabeth Nofziger. And helping you on the journey to certification
is Nina East's latest installment of the Inside Scoop, exploring
Mastery #6–Clarifying.

In this month's Tools for Coaching Mastery column, IAC® licensee Joseph
Liberti answers the question, What Does Emotional Intelligence Have to do with
Coaching?

Especially for newer coaches, coach and author Aryanne Oade presents the most
common challenges you might face when starting and running a coaching business.

Established coaches, if you've been thinking about how to give back, Diane
Krause-Stetson shares the inspiring story of The Coaching Initiative–how it came to be, how it works and how you can contribute.

Janice Hunter takes us on a treasure hunt of words and wisdom, opening our
minds to the Coaching Moments that are just waiting to be discovered.


Submission guidelines for the VOICE are now available on the website. I would
love to receive your article submissions or article ideas by March 16th for
the April issue or April 20th for the May issue.

As always, your
feedback about this issue is greatly appreciated.

Warm wishes,
Linda

Linda Dessau, CPCC
Editor, IAC® VOICE
Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org

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Angela

From the President

by Angela
Spaxman


president@certifiedcoach.org

As our 6th anniversary approaches, the IAC® Board is planning to renew
our long-term strategy with a participatory process involving you! Within the
next month or two, we will be inviting you to tell us what you envision for
the coaching industry as a whole and specifically what you want from the IAC®.

The IAC®'s success so far has been largely due to the brilliant concept
of our certification system as envisioned by Thomas Leonard in 2002. The leaders
of the IAC® have now implemented the foundations of that concept and made
it a reality. It's now time for us to dream bigger. How can we serve you, our
members, better? How can we create a flourishing and innovative coaching profession
that drives human evolution as we are called to do?

Although the strategy process has not started yet, we are already collecting
your ideas. To be an early contributor, please join the discussion on the IAC®
Volunteers Forum at:
http://IACvolunteers.collectivex.com/discussion/topic/show/147665
(members only – to join, please visit
https://IACvolunteers.collectivex.com/join).

This month I am thrilled to welcome three new Board Members, all of whom have
committed to serve you through the IAC®:

Walter Besecker is a highly experienced, qualified and humble man who
will fulfill the role of Treasurer. I am most grateful to have his expertise
and commitment for this crucial role in our team.


Tony Betts is a coach, coach trainer and businessman based in the U.K.
with much international experience. He will bring a European perspective and
a very wise approach to leadership.


Kristi Arndt has been contributing her enthusiasm and energy to the
IAC® for the past year as the Volunteer Coordinator. By joining the Board,
she will be more connected to all our behind-the-scenes activities and better
able connect you, our members, to the perfect volunteer opportunities for you.

Finally, I want to echo a message I received this week from one of my coaching
friends. She reminded me that this time of economic challenge is a time of readjustment
and a perfect time for slowing down, stepping back and reflecting. The natural
laws are bringing us 'yin' to balance the 'yang' we have been running on. It's
a time for change and for personal growth. It is a perfect time for coaching.

Let's not forget to see the perfection in the times we are living in.

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

Web: www.lovingworkandleading.com

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IAC Certified Coaches

Congratulations to
Sue Brundege
from Boulder, CO, USA and Deborah Deane from Evans, CO, USA who both recently
passed their Step 2 Exams and became IAC®
Certified Coaches!



Current Listing of IAC Coaching Masteries™ Licensed
Schools and Mentors


Alison
Davis, Foundations for Living

Clarens,
Montreux

 

CH
Switzerland



View Details

Bonnie
Chan Coaching School

Hong Kong

 

CN
China



View Details


Coaching By Example 9-CD Series with Mentor Coach Barbra
Sundquist


Lethbridge

AB

CA
Canada



View Details


Coaching Ontológico S.C.

México
D.F.

 

MX
Mexico



View Details


Competent Consulting


Bucharest

 

RO
Romania



View Details


Destination Coach

Canmore

AB

CA
Canada



View Details

EQ At
Work


Colorado Springs

CO

US
United States



View Details

Escuela
Internacional de Coaching Avanzado (EICA-MORE Global)

Mexico,
D.F.

 

MX
Mexico



View Details

JMC
Coach Mastery Sdn. Bhd.


Petaling Jaya

 

MY
Malaysia



View Details

Modelli
di Comunicazione Srl

Milan

 

IT
Italy



View Details

Ruth
Ann Harnisch

New
York

NY

US
United States



View Details

SCHOOL
OF COACHING MASTERY (Julia Stewart Coaching & Training
LLC)

ST
LOUIS

MO

US
United States



View Details

SMG
Training Systems (S) Pte Ltd


Singapore

 

SG
Singapore



View Details

The
International School of Coaching


Barcelona

 

ES
Spain



View Details


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Meet Elizabeth Nofziger, Certifier


We are pleased to introduce our newest IAC® Certifier, Elizabeth Nofziger,
who joined our team in January.

How
and why did you become involved with the IAC®?

Early in my coaching career, I decided that I wanted to coach at an advanced
level, and many of my own coaching mentors were involved with the IAC®,
or recommended IAC® certification as the industry “gold standard.”
So, I knew it was where I was meant to be.

What
inspired you to become a Certifier?

I was approached by a former certifier about the possibility. My intuition
said YES!, and the logical side of me thought it would be fun, too.

Also, I saw my coaching skills improve immensely during the time I focused
on certification, and noticed the same happen for my colleagues. I thought,
what a great opportunity to be working with (and for) people who are also committed
to improve their coaching skills.

In
what ways do the IAC Coaching Masteries® help you to certify
coaches?

The level of detail and specificity of the Masteries® provide a very clear
blueprint to help identify when coaching is done at a masterful level.

What
do you enjoy most about being a Certifier?

It’s an honor and a pleasure to be part of the certification process.
I continually learn from and am inspired by each of the coaching sessions that
I listen to, and also by working with the other certifiers.

Tell
us about your coaching practice.

I help people to do their calling, whether that’s figuring out what’s
next (e.g., “Do I want to be a coach?”), or making it happen (e.g.,
“Now that I know I want to start by own business, how do I do that in
a way that I make money AND do what I love?”). Answering those questions
and helping my clients put the answers into practice is a true joy.

Learn more about Elizabeth at
www.freshvisioncoaching.com.

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The Coach Initiative—Volunteer Coaches Making A Difference


by Diane
Krause-Stetson, IAC-CC

The Vision

An opportunity for coaches to contribute something meaningful while doing something
we love to do. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Partnering with other not-for-profit organizations, The Coach Initiative uses
coaching to support not-for-profit initiatives by helping them deliver on their
missions. Confident that coaching works, the premise is that projects supported
by coaches will have an even greater positive impact on the world. It is an
organization whose mission it is to exponentially expand the positive global
impact of projects that focus on bettering the human condition and uplifting
the human spirit.

At the Beginning

Bobette Reeder, Donna Steinhorn and Guy Stickney had a vision of supporting
not-for-profit initiatives through coaching. In 2006, they founded The Coach
Initiative. They asked a number of influential coaches to join them on its Founding
Board. Within just a few months of its existence, The Coach Initiative had
engaged dozens of coach volunteers and launched its first project.

In its first project, The Coach Initiative partnered with Virgin Unite to support
Stand Up For Kids by providing coaching to the management team and its key volunteers.
Stand Up For Kids
operates in a number of U.S. cities and in Tijuana, Mexico. It has volunteers
who go to the streets in order to find, stabilize and otherwise help homeless
and street kids improve their lives. Recently, Rick Koca, its Founder and Chief
Executive, was featured in a video in the online AARP magazine. Not only will
you be moved and inspired, but you will also get a flavor of the caliber of
organization supported by The Coach Initiative. www.aarpmagazine.org/people/rick_koca.html

How It Works

The Coach Initiative invites experienced coaches to join its volunteer ranks
and invites non-profits that could benefit from pro-bono coaching to request
its support. After projects are reviewed and accepted, The Coach Initiative
matches the coaching needs of client organizations with coaches in the volunteer
database.

What transpires in each coach-client relationship remains confidential between
them. However, The Coach Initiative does request that the clients complete a
brief survey at the beginning and at the end of the coaching process. In this
way, The Coach Initiative is able to evaluate its effectiveness, track its progress
and enhance its services. The Coach Initiative will also be able to generate
useful statistics to underscore the positive impact of coaching and, thereby,
attract even more worthy projects and amazing coaches to serve them.

Who Is Served

The Coach Initiative, at the request of Michael Bungay Stanier, a former and
founding board member, also supported the management team of Free
the Children
. This is an organization that was founded in 1995 by international
child rights activist Craig Kielburger who was moved to fight against child
labor when he was only 12 years old. Free the Children is an international organization
that is a network of children helping children.

Through education, young people in North America are encouraged to become socially-conscious
global citizens to work toward social change. Through financial contributions
and the Adopt-a-Village program, children and their families in China, Sierra
Leone, Kenya and Sri Lanka are empowered to escape poverty and exploitation.
Today, more than one million young people are involved in innovative education
and development programs in 45 countries.

“If we build it, will they come?” At first, the founders sought
out organizations to coach. Now, The Coach Initiative has a process whereby
organizations can be nominated by others or can apply directly for support.
The projects range in scale and may be local, national or international. Two
organizations that recognized the power of coaching and recently requested coaching
for their leadership are:

  1. The Israel-Palestine Center
    for Research and Information (IPCRI)
    , “founded in Jerusalem in 1988,
    is the only joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy think-tank in the world.
    It is devoted to developing practical solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian
    conflict.”
     
  2. The Center for
    Amazon Community Ecology
    . The mission of the Center for Amazon Community
    Ecology is “to promote the understanding, conservation, and sustainable
    development of human and other biological communities in the Amazon region.”


What's Next

Thus far, the focus of The Coach Initiative has been on coaching nonprofit
leaders (executives, management staff and key volunteers). But, the vision of
The Coach Initiative is far more expansive. It is poised to support nonprofit
initiatives by providing coaching in any way that will advance their missions.
For example, The Coach Initiative could provide career or financial coaching
to women in shelters who seek to be independent or to low-income folks trying
to get into the workforce. Well on its way to fulfilling the dreams of its founders,
The Coach Initiative has already supported the security and well-being of children,
the health of the environment and world peace. The possibilities are limitless.

What It Takes

Joining the founders of The Coach Initiative in their commitment to changing
the world through coaching are the current members of the Board of Directors:
Scott Blanchard, Laura Berman Fortgang, Kimberly George, Phyllis Haynes, Donna
Karlin, Diane Krause-Stetson, Sandy Vilas and Eva Wong. The Board of Directors
is international, as is our cache of experienced volunteer coaches. The founders
envisioned this organization as having broad appeal. They hoped to attract volunteers
from a wide variety of coach training organizations, as well as from both major
certifying bodies—the IAC® and the ICF. Through generous contributions
of time and talent, The Coach Initiative continues to grow.

The Coach Initiative is a 501(c)(3) organization. The biggest challenge is
financial sustainability. Initially, it was funded by the founders’ personal
contributions, by a generous establishing grant from Ruth Ann Harnisch through
The Harnisch Foundation, and generous donations from Sandy Vilas, a Founding
Board member and CEO of Coach U, Inc.. Today, The Coach Initiative seeks its
financial support through grants and also relies on individual donations from
members of its Board of Directors and people in the coaching community (you
can donate now at www.coachinitiative.org).

Later in 2009, The Coach Initiative will be conducting an online charity auction
and will be seeking donations, such as autographed books, scholarships to coaching
schools, original artwork, electronics, theater and sporting event tickets,
and other valuable tangible items. If you have something that you would like
to contribute, please contact Diane
Krause-Stetson
.

And if you are an experienced coach, I hope that you are inspired to join us
in service at www.coachinitiative.org.


 

Diane Krause-Stetson, IAC-CC, MBA, JD, currently serves as President of The
Coach Initiative. Diane became an IAC-Certified Coach in May of 2005; served
as Secretary and then as Vice President of the IAC® from 2005 through 2008;
and, was on the global team of coaches that developed The IAC Coaching Masteries®.
Diane is a coach, consultant and catalyst for principled success in life and
in business. She inspires and challenges her clients to "discover who you
are, decide what's important, and do what matters™." Diane is the
founder of Lead Your Life, LLC.
www.leadyourlife.com 
 

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Starting and Running a Coaching Business


by Aryanne Oade

The work of an independent coach is satisfying, demanding and stimulating. Depending
on your coaching niche your work will provide you with the opportunity to make
a positive contribution to other people’s workplace or private lives.
You will meet rewarding clients and interesting coaches. You will enjoy levels
of autonomy, independence and flexibility that are hard to find in employment
and you will learn and grow as you facilitate development in others.

You will need to learn how to operate autonomously, taking sole responsibility
for running every aspect of your coaching practice. You will also need to learn
new skills and acquire fresh perspectives on your areas of interest on a regular
basis. Above all you will need to place your clients at the centre of what you
do, how you do it and why you do what you do. Coaching will motivate you, inspire
you, frustrate you and, at times, drain you. It might also be the most rewarding
role you’ve ever had.

At the end of the day, as an independent coach, you are the only person who
can get your business off the ground and keep it busy and productive with top
quality services for your clients. To become and remain a consistently effective
coach will require resolve, perseverance, flexibility and a degree of pluck
on your part.

Starting and Running Your Coaching Practice
So what are the key issues that you are likely to face as an independent coach?
In order to start and run your coaching practice successfully you will need
to:

  • Sell and market yourself effectively: Many of you have
    a lot of passion for your subject but find selling yourself and your coaching
    services challenging. You may not have sold yourself before becoming a coach.
    You may struggle to find the words or phrases you need to convey your coaching
    offer in sales situations. You may simply not know how to put yourself across
    consistently well, and hope instead that your credentials and qualifications
    alone will be enough to influence potential clients to work with you. Sadly,
    they rarely are, although they will sometimes get you a hearing. As an independent
    coach you need to become proficient at selling and marketing yourself pretty
    fast if you are to survive and thrive. You will need to learn to locate potential
    clients and outline what you can do for each of them in detail. Your coaching
    offer must convince them that you are the coach they need to work with.
     
  • Own up to being the sole decision-maker and problem-solver:
    As an independent coach you are primarily responsible for making all the decisions
    that need to be made in your business, and for identifying and solving all
    the problems that crop up as well. Performing these two essential functions
    well is critical to the success of your coaching practice. As the sole member
    of your own workforce you won’t have ready-made colleagues against whom
    to bounce ideas and discuss possible ways forward. You might find the isolation
    quite disabling, especially if you used to work as part of a team. You need
    to learn to handle the isolation and perform these two key functions if you
    are to make headway with the issues facing you and your coaching practice.
     
  • Manage your own on-going professional development: Your
    clients look to you as their coach to make a contribution to their continuing
    learning needs. But you also need to look after your own on-going professional
    development. Amid so many competing demands on your time, you may struggle
    to prioritise your own learning and keep these commitments as scrupulously
    as you would a commitment to a client. Nonetheless it’s difficult to
    offer a fresh and incisive service to clients if you aren’t being refreshed
    yourself. You need to make your own on-going professional development a key
    part of your regular business cycle and plan to attend – and, where
    possible, initiate – development opportunities for yourself that will
    keep your coaching stimulating and effective for your clients and interesting
    for you.
     
  • Maintain effective boundaries when working from home:
    Many of you will elect to work from home and that has many benefits. It can
    save you the time and expense of commuting. You can claim back a legitimate
    proportion of your household running costs as business expenses. You can avoid
    charges for renting or buying office space. But working from home also brings
    inherent boundaries issues with it: how do you differentiate between work
    time and personal time when working from home? How do you preserve evenings
    and weekends for non-work activities? How do you resist the temptation to
    download emails or sneak into the office for an hour or two after your evening
    meal? How do you "go to work" at home? Solving these issues is vital
    if you are to enjoy the work-life balance you’d like to have and to
    leave work behind when it's time to do so.

Starting and running a coaching business can be extremely rewarding. If you
watch out for these common challenges and find the support and resources that
will help you address them, you will be well on your way to a thriving practice.


 

 

Aryanne
Oade is a Chartered Psychologist and the owner of an established and successful
coaching practice who works with clients across the UK, Europe and North America.
She is the author of Starting and Running a Coaching Business,
a toolkit for newly qualified and established coaches, which addresses the most
common issues facing independent coaches. For more information, please visit
http://www.oadeassociates.com
 

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What Does
Emotional Intelligence Have to do with Coaching?

by Joseph
Liberti

The goal of coaching is to empower the client to succeed.

For the client, success is achieving their desired outcomes and improving their
experience of life.

For each of us, whether coach or client, the outcomes we achieve are a result
of the choices that we make and the actions that we take. Generally, the role
of the coach is to support the client to recognize their options, make more
effective decisions and do something different-apply new behaviors that enable
them to realize their goals.

That’s where emotional intelligence comes in. Simply
put, emotional intelligence (EQ) is a set of skills that enable one to better
manage themselves, and more effectively relate with and positively influence
others. To be optimally effective in making changes, it is important for coach
and client to recognize the role of emotions in behavior.

Present in every life event are our thoughts and our emotions. Our emotions
influence our thoughts, the choices that we make and the actions that we take–whether or not we are aware of them. When we are unaware of the influence
of our emotions on others and ourselves, we can sabotage results. When we are
aware of the influence of our emotions and are able to effectively integrate
them, we can use emotions to inform our decision making and take more
purposeful action
.

What does that look like?

The Overwhelmed Consultant
This busy consultant’s primary goal for coaching, he said, was to “improve
the effectiveness of my work with a difficult client.” Working with this
organization was taking up lots of his time and he wanted ways to accelerate
their development. He kept talking about how overwhelmed with work he was and
he was looking for new ways to manage the client so his life would be easier.

One obvious coaching approach would be to support him to implement new client
management strategies, e.g., create boundaries for his time, refine client expectations
and use different communications tools. And in fact, he had previously attempted
to make these kinds of changes but it wasn’t working and he was busier
than ever. Doing more of the same was destined to fail.

The EQ Difference
When this client was coached using emotional intelligence coaching techniques,
he became aware of previously ignored thoughts and feelings that were influencing
counter-productive behaviors. He was able to recognize that he thought that
he “lacked the skill to pull off this difficult client culture change”
and he was “feeling scared.”

His previous attempts to cover up his feelings and look like he had it all
handled caused the client's employees to react with distrust and resist the
new methods he was trying to install. That made the work go much more slowly.
Unconsciously trying to compensate for his self-judged inadequacy he gave much
more of his time in extra work, got further behind and even more overwhelmed.

The Change
This client was coached to manage his emotions in a way that enabled him to
be more mindful, authentic and transparent. That improved both his relationship
with himself and with the client's employees. Moving beyond self-judgment he
had no more need to give up extra time and work trying to prove his value. Being
more genuine and approachable he was able to support client employees to move
beyond their fears and try something new.

The Emotionally Intelligent Coach
An emotional intelligence coach has learned advanced coaching skills and techniques
and is able to take a different approach to coaching. Not every coach will want
to be an EQ Coach, but every coach can use emotional intelligence to improve
their coaching results by managing their relationship with themselves and their
client differently.

Empathy and Validation
One simple EQ coaching technique is to tune in to the client to truly understand
what they are feeling and validate their feelings without judgment. Having someone
really understand them and accept what they are feeling helps them neutralize
their impulsive reaction to the situation and helps them be more resourceful.
It also helps them accept themselves, which boosts self-confidence.

The coach might ask, “In that situation, how do you feel?” The
coach needs to support the client to respond with an emotion and not a thought.
Many clients will say something like, “I feel like they don’t trust
me.” That’s a thought. A feeling response would be, "I feel
sad," or, "I feel anxious." When feeling is expressed the coach
can validate the person’s experience.

Coaching the Coach
Another way that coaches can significantly improve coaching effectiveness, whether
or not they are EQ coaches, is to develop the ability to recognize, manage and
effectively express their own emotions.

In the previous example the business consultant was unaware of the influence
his unrecognized emotion was having on his communication and as a result he
was undermining trust. Similarly, a coach can positively or negatively affect
outcomes by not being aware of how their emotions influence their own behavior
and that of the client. For example, a coach could be in a similar situation
as that consultant where they think they are not adequate in their coaching
and feel scared. Acknowledging and integrating that fear allows the coach to
be present. Denying, avoiding or pretending will create unwanted results.

Emotions are natural; it is what you do with them that increases or decreases
your coaching effectiveness. Even if you are unaware of your emotions you will
still project your reactions to them. When you do so, you will stimulate reactions
in the client that limit their ability to learn and change.


 

Joseph Liberti, Founder of EQ At Work, coaches leaders and coaches to liberate
authentic self using emotional intelligence. EQ At Work trained coaches learn
to administer a proven system to develop and apply EQ in order to create new
positive results. In the process they learn, practice and coach with advanced
emotional intelligence development techniques that will make them a more effective
and happier person as well as an extraordinarily effective coach. Your questions
and comments are welcome at jliberti@eqatwork.com or
www.eqatwork.com

 

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Mastery #6 – Clarifying
by Nina East,
IAC-CC

This month you get the Inside Scoop on Mastery #6–Clarifying. In keeping
with the simplicity of the Coaching Masteries®, the title of this mastery
is very descriptive. The goal of using this mastery is to reduce or eliminate
the client’s confusion or uncertainty about the issue, the appropriate
course of action, or the meaning behind what the client is bringing to the coaching
session. With a greater understanding of what is really going on, the client
can have more confidence about next steps because he/she will be focusing on
what is most important, and letting go of what is not.

I suspect that this mastery will seem fairly obvious to coaches. Of course
we have to help the client clarify, right? If not, we may be assisting them
down the wrong path and/or focusing valuable coaching on time on something that
may not be that relevant. As coaches we want to respect what the client brings
to the session, but we have to remember that it is not uncommon for even the
most sophisticated and self-aware clients to be off-target when identifying
the “problem” or the most important issue facing them.

By taking the time to clarify, you are not implying the client is ignorant
or does not know what they are talking about. Rather, you are respecting the
client by realizing that:

– often clients are too close to their own experience to be able to see or
know all the factors affecting the situation.

– clients may make assumptions based on habit, experience or beliefs, and not
be aware they are doing so.

– clarifying helps clients get “unstuck,” often resulting in improved
focus, awareness of previously unknown information, new possibilities and increased
energy.

All of these are reasons clients hire coaches. It is important that we give
adequate time and attention to clarifying.

Members,
continue reading here.

To join the IAC, click
here
.

 
 
Nina East
,
IAC-CC is the IAC®’s Lead Certifier and the founder of PersonalGrowthProfessionals.com. As a coach, she helps personal growth
professionals turn creative edge thinking into practical tools and resources,
and helps coaches master the art of coaching. For even more insights about
improving your coaching skills, visit
www.CoachCamps.com.  

 


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

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

Treasure Hunting ~  
by Janice Hunter, IAC-CC

As a writer, you should have a sticky soul; the act of continually taking
things in should be as much a part of you as your hair color. ~ Elizabeth Berg

I'm a quote-hunter, an unashamed gatherer of quotes. Capturing the words that
resonate with me is like gathering wild berries, nuts and seeds, windfalls of
fruit – food for thought.

Some stand out from the page or computer screen like the flash of a robin in
a winter bush. Others are a rainbow of satin ribbons, waiting to be the right
words to wrap around a bouquet of thoughts or to become the bow that sets off
a simply wrapped sentiment. Then there’s the unexpected treasure, precious
gems that dazzle with their brilliance. I keep them somewhere safe so that I
can bring them out later, like a child fingering treasures wrapped in a handkerchief,
hoping to find a special friend to show them to, someone who will understand.

I never go out without a pen, a notebook and a book to read. When I read a
book with a ‘quotebook’ and a pen handy, it’s a signal I send
to myself and to the universe. It says “I’m open. I expect nothing,
but I’m prepared to be moved, enlightened or entertained. I’m a
student, ready and willing to learn from the lives and the wisdom of others.”

In my Filofax, stuck on the fridge, pinned to my pinboard and incorporated
into my art work, albums and blog, quotes serve as flashes of inspiration, mini
mission statements and signposts to keep me on track. Dead poets become heroes,
strangers become mentors.

I use a different instinct, a different skill when I capture a quote. In many
ways, it’s like the honing in and the active listening I do as a coach.

Finding the perfect quote that illustrates several sentiments or pulls together
a complex train of thought is similar to recognising an Aha! moment
in a coaching session. It’s synchronicity’s way of helping us focus
and pay attention.

Our first instincts are often the ones that bypass our censors and cruel inner
critics which is why many quotes become deeply personal and precious to us.
They’re like messages sent from our own souls. Every time you choose a
quote that resonates with you, don’t stop to ask why; just write it down
and keep it safe. Quotes are like photographs, snapshots of who you are, who
you were. They’re music that moves you, lyrics that leave you scarred.
They’re memories of a moment when you came upon someone else’s words
and felt connected, not only to another human being, but to the moment, the
thought and the feeling that overflowed from them and cried out to be heard.
The ‘Me too!!’ or ‘That’s it exactly!!’ moment.

It’s our unique life experience and how we channel, choose and arrange
the moments, the music and the words that makes us writers, creating collages
that turn our lives into works of art.

Learning to resonate with those moments strengthens the treasure-hunting in
our coaching sessions; those repeating words that draw our attention, those
powerful silences when our clients connect to an answer nestling patiently in
their souls, waiting to rise and take flight – they’re
the gems.

I never know how my words will affect others but I do know that my best coaching
happens and my best pieces write themselves in the moments when I’m most
alive, aware and open. Some moments of clarity or emotion are so powerful they
brim up and overflow and make me feel that if I don’t channel them into
words, control them and create something from them that I will drown or that
something very precious, something vital will be washed away and lost. When
I sit down to recreate those moments, I feel like my whole life, everything
I know and everything I am is a prism being used to refract the light of a message
coming, quite simply, from somewhere else.

When I coach well, I feel the same connection.

Know then, that if anything I ever write affects, moves, touches or supports
you, it was meant for you, sent from somewhere that neither of us can
fully comprehend. I’m happy to be the messenger.

Janice
Hunter
, IAC-CC 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. Contact
Janice at
www.sharingthecertificationjourney.com
or
lovingthedetails@aol.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
.


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