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Linda |
From the Editor
Welcome to the February 2011 issue of the IAC VOICE!
For those who are paying close attention, you will have noticed a pretty big change in our circulation numbers this month—from 14,118 to 7,988. We didn't lose 6,130 subscribers in one month; we've recently changed to a new email broadcast service and we now have a much more realistic count of our active subscribers—engaged readers who want to hear from us and stay involved in the IAC community. And we appreciate each and every one of you!
In this month's President's Message, Bob Tschannen-Moran explores the theme of coaching in society, and how the IAC is poised to lead this dangerous revolution.
This month's featured member benefit provider is IJCO—The International Journal of Coaching in Organizations. John B. Lazar, Executive Editor, unearthed a gem from his 8-year archive of coaching articles for us.
Congratulations to Bonnie Chan and the rest of the Masteries® translation team who have an exciting announcement for us this month!
In case you missed the Inside Scoop column when we posted it at the beginning of January, Lead Certifier Natalie Tucker Miller walked us through the IAC's new certification renewal process.
Ed Britton, IAC's new Capacity Building Specialist, is also the author of this month's Living the Masteries column. He writes about Mastery #3—Engaged Listening, and reflects on what's involved when you "lend your mind" to someone else for awhile.
Alex Carter is back this month with some excellent guidance for anyone who is thinking about non-profit coaching, in our coaching feature article.
Last, and certainly not least, Kathy Mallary delivers the business-building goods with her feature article, 3 Simple Steps for Rocking Your Coaching Biz in 2011. Rock on, coaches, rock on!
Our 2011 submission guidelines for the VOICE are available on the website. Submissions are welcome anytime through the month.
Please contact me with your article ideas and your feedback about this issue. Enjoy!
Warm wishes,
Linda
Linda Dessau, CPCC
Editor, IAC® VOICE
Email: voice@certifiedcoach.org
www.contentmasteryguide.com
P.S. Are you on Twitter? You can follow our VOICE authors and columnists as well as some of the IAC BOG members. Simply visit http://twitter.com/lindadessau/iac-voice-contributors or subscribe to the list from your Twitter account.
From the President
by Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC
president@certifiedcoach.org
The IAC: Coaching in Society
By now, I hope you have heard about the upcoming international coaching forum in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on Saturday, March 19, 2011. If not, you can download the brochure from the IAC website.
I am really quite excited about this event for many reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity to connect with my colleagues and friends on the IAC’s Board of Governors. The last I heard, the following current and former members of the Board will be in attendance: Angela Spaxman, Bonnie Chan, Karen Lim, Jin Lee Teo and myself. How delightful!
In addition, Ed Britton, the IAC’s new Capacity Building Specialist, will also be in attendance. That time together will give all of us an opportunity not only to get to know each other better but also to represent what the IAC has to offer the coaching world and society at large.
"Coaching in society" is the theme of the coaching forum in Kaohsiung and it could well be the theme of the IAC’s strategic plan. The IAC not only wants to serve the professional coaching community, it also wants to serve coaching clients as well as the wider global community.
What is the impact of coaching in society? I like to think of it as instigating nonviolent revolutions. That may sound rather dramatic, and perhaps even dangerous, but the message of coaching moves people beyond traditional models of compliance and control into the free-wheeling world of self-awareness and self-responsibility. What can be more revolutionary than that?
Self-awareness and self-responsibility are the two main themes of Sir John Whitmore in his classic work, Coaching for Performance (now in its fourth edition). These themes also come through in my own new book, Evocative Coaching, where they are described in terms of the No-Fault Turn and the Strengths-Building Turn. The point of both turns is to ramp up awareness and responsibility without ramping up evaluation and blame.
These dynamics of self-awareness and self-responsibility come through clearly in the IAC Coaching Masteries®. Mastery Two, “Perceiving, Affirming, and Expanding the Client’s Potential” and Mastery Six, “Clarifying,” are all about increasing self-awareness. Masteries Eight and Nine, “Inviting Possibility” and “Helping the Client Create and Use Supportive Systems and Structures,” are all about increasing self-responsibility.
What happens when we increase self-awareness without increasing self-evaluation, criticism or judgment? What happens when we increase self-responsibility without increasing anger, fear or shame? We energize people and unleash potential. Instead of playing the blame game or waiting for someone to do something, we accept the perfection as well as the promise of the present moment. Simply put, we become change agents.
No wonder so many people and organizations view coaching as subversive. The world has long been organized around “tell and sell.” People get told what to do, and then get sold on doing it, often with the use of extrinsic rewards and punishments.
Coaching moves in a different orbit altogether. Masterful coaches awaken self-awareness and self-responsibility so people can find their own best path to their own best future. Although this may sound rather self-centered, this orientation actually makes people even better team players. Instead of doing what has always been done, self-motivated and self-designing people are more likely to find new ways to collaborate and innovate a rewarding future.
The IAC’s strategic plan makes clear statements regarding the impact of coaching in society. It happens through values such as:
- Lifelong learning
- Innovation and change
- Diversity and inclusiveness
- Partnership and caring
- Openness and transparency
- Abundance thinking and trust
- Sustainability and responsibility
- Inner peace and centering
- Integrity and high ethical standards
Such values are not everywhere apparent or even universally embraced, but they are the values of the IAC and they are the values that coaching awakens in professional coaches, clients and the world at large. They are among the values that bring good things to life.
If you want to get on the value train towards self-awareness and self-responsibility, or if you want to volunteer and help the IAC embrace and embody these values, then I invite you to join or to renew your membership in the IAC today. The world is hungering for such life-giving values, and the IAC is privileged to share the vision as well as the work of bringing them more fully into being.
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
Organizational Coaching Gems, Straight from Wall Street
by John B. Lazar
I seldom give myself permission (nor have the time) to sit back and reflect on the issues we have published over the last eight years. Normally, I’m consumed with getting the next four or five issues moving ahead, completed well, and out to our readers. This piece of reflection is an exception, one made especially for our IAC readers.
I was going through one of my recent favorites, themed “Organizational Coaching in Financial Institutions.” One of the articles, by Art Gingold, was on coaching executives on Wall Street in the midst of the economic meltdown of 2008. In it, he points out that the leaders of these firms were dealing with intense scrutiny from inside and outside observers. They had specific challenges they needed to courageously face if their firms were to survive. Here are some of them:
- Be aware of the brightness of the spotlight on them and appreciate the influence of their megaphone, especially in a crisis;
- Accept the conundrum of making decisions in chaotic, uncharted circumstances;
- Recognize and choose the power and influence that comes from being vulnerable;
- Make the choice to extend and connect, even though the tendency might be to withdraw; and
- Articulate the path forward and inspire a vision of the (better) future.
Similarly, a coach of such leaders had comparable challenges, including these:
- Be a sanctuary (a safe place) and a lighthouse (a place for reflection);
- Maintain independence and neutrality;
- Earn a place at the table; and
- Be aware of (and challenge) absolutes and hyperbole.
To me, it seems that the above insights, though tightly contextualized in Art’s narrative, are applicable to virtually any circumstance. I hope you'll find them useful on your coaching journey.
John B. Lazar is the Executive Editor of IJCO The International Journal of Coaching in Organizations™, published by Professional Coaching Publications, Inc. (PCPI). PCPI was established in 2003 as an enterprise dedicated to the promotion of professional coaching. Find something of value for your development and performance at www.pcpionline.com.
IAC members receive a 10% discount on all IJCO™ purchases (subscriptions or sponsorships, issues, articles, monographs, reprints), as well as number of other valuable benefits. Please log into the IAC website for more details.
IAC Coaching Masteries speaks in Japanese
by Bonnie Chan, IAC-CC
#1. 信頼関係の構築と維持
定義
個人的な成長、気付き、変容を促す安全な場と協力的な関係の確保。
効果
1. クライアントが、気軽に意見交換ができる。
2. クライアントが、コーチを自分の理解者であると認識している。
3. クライアントが、自分が無理なく変容、成長できると実感する。
4. クライアントが、コーチングの結果と責任について、現実的に理解している。
Don’t be surprised by what you see above. It is the IAC Coaching Mastery #1 in Japanese. We are proud to announce that as of December 2010, the IAC Coaching Masteries® have now been completely translated into Japanese and are available for download from the IAC website, following the release of the Chinese, Spanish and Italian versions.
Coaching itself is a language of continuous inspiration and learning. Through my involvement in this voluntary translation project for the IAC Coaching Masteries®, I had a chance to meet with marvelous coaches around the world who speak many different languages. Over the course of two years, I worked with Japanese coaches Michitaka Sawamura and Shigeru Tabata, who are now living in China and the UK, respectively.
This experience has given me an opportunity to run through the entire Masteries document word for word for several times, deepening my understanding and appreciation of its beauty.
IAC continues to serve as my inspirational virtual platform for global coaching connections. I used the “Find a Coach” search engine on the IAC website to find members in Japan, and found Dr. Dirk Ebert. By the Law of Attraction, I initiated a phone call conversation with Dr. Ebert. The exchange gave me the impression that most of the local and expatriate coaches in Japan are more familiar with the ICF stream. That means there is plenty of room for the choices and alternatives that IAC can offer.
Imagining the possibilities for the IAC in Japan, I immediate recalled Proficiency #12 from my original coach training at Coachville—Enter Into New Territories—and some powerful questions began to merge in to my mind.
- What would be ideal for you?
- What would that look like?
- What would be a new standard for you?
- What if you looked at it from X perspective?
- Can you think of another alternative?
I started to envision the initial IAC Chapters in Tokyo, where they are already IAC-certified coaches practicing. Japan also has IAC licensee schools providing courses on IAC Coaching Masteries® and assisting professional coaches in Japan to attain the IAC accreditation. Having such possibilities in mind, I am seeking a support system, and will throw out this question to VOICE subscribers:
How can we—living and practicing outside of Japan—assist the creation of Japan's first IAC Chapter?
If you have any ideas about this topic, please do help me by sending a response to this article. You may comment on the blog or contact me at my website (below).
Bonnie Chan, IAC-CC is an executive and mentor coach practicing in Hong Kong and China. Bonnie has a vision to see coaching set its milestone in Asia to benefit the people and organizational development in this part of the world. www.bonniechancoaching.com
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