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Linda |
From the Editor
Welcome to the September 2011 issue of the IAC VOICE!
In his President's Message, Bob Tschannen-Moran examines the links between the IAC and Open Space Technology, and offers a compelling summary of this meeting facilitation tool.
This month's featured member benefit is the Inspired Steps Coaching System, and creator Annette Sharpe shared her thoughts about measuring the success of coaching.
Alison Davis and Alberto J. Calderón continue to examine what's it's like to experience the IAC Coaching Masteries™ in everyday life. This month they delve into Mastery #6 – Clarifying.
Jennifer Day is back this month with a feature coaching article about burnout, including insights and strategies that will help you coach your clients through turbulent times.
As you grow your coaching business, do you ever find yourself weighing out different options for services, programs or products, unsure of which to develop? In our second feature article this month, product mentor Marcy Nelson-Garrison shares her Five-Step Process for Making Powerful Choices.
Speaking of member benefits, please note that there is a new round of ReciproCoach reciprocal peer coaching starting on September 27 (registration closes on September 25). This round consists of eight 30-minute sessions. You give eight sessions to one IAC coach and receive eight sessions from another IAC coach. This round is free for IAC members who have not yet used the ReciproCoach resource voucher, included in your annual IAC membership (click here for more information).
As IAC Board of Governors member Kerul Kassel says, "The benefit for newer coaches through ReciproCoach is obvious, but even as an experienced coach with multiple certifications, every round I have participated in has offered strong development and growth opportunities."
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 the IAC at http://twitter.com/IACCoachMastery. There is also a list of VOICE authors, columnists and IAC BOG members at http://twitter.com/lindadessau/iac-voice-contributors.
From the President
by Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC
president@certifiedcoach.org
The IAC: An Open-Space Organization
Are you familiar with Open Space Technology or OST? OST was created by Harrison Owen in 1997 as a method for encouraging groups of people to identify, discuss and explore issues of interest. In case you have not experienced OST as part of a small-to-large group process, here is how the process works:
- At the beginning of the OST session, everyone is seated in a large circle of chairs.
- The facilitator describes the reason for the meeting as well as the norms and rules of OST.
- Individuals then come to the center of the circle, announce a topic they want to talk about, and present a summary of that topic on a piece of newsprint, along with their name.
- The newsprint sheets are posted on a wall, along with a time and place a sub-group will join together to discuss the topic.
- The individual who posted the topic in the first place serves as facilitator of that particular sub-group. The topic and the conversation evolve as the facilitator and the group members see fit.
- At the end of the meeting, everyone comes back together to get an “Evening News Report” on what each of the small groups talked about.
- Voting with colored sticky dots is often used to decide what people want to spend more time talking about in future meetings.
The norms and rules of OST include a number of self-organizing principles, not the least of which is the freedom to join and leave any group at any time, as well as the freedom to be alone for a time. Participation is always voluntary. There is, of course, an emphasis on mindfulness and acceptance. No one is ever blamed or faulted for what they have to say. Rather, they are celebrated and credited for what they have to share and what they can contribute.
The purpose of OST is to expand awareness and increase responsibility in a group. It is understood that the best groups are not organized from the top down, in hierarchical fashion. They are rather organized from the bottom up, in collegial fashion. By getting people to call out and claim responsibility for matters of interest, the process creates a transformational dynamic that can best be described as life-giving.
If OST sounds a lot like coaching, then perhaps you can sense the connections between OST and the IAC.
- Coaches are responsible for holding the space where clients can create something wonderful.
- Clients drive the coaching process, with their areas of interest and their passions.
- Clients operate in complete freedom, to participate in the coaching process as they see fit.
- Coaches never make clients wrong for their comments or decisions.
- Coaching is all about expanding awareness and increasing responsibility.
- The coaching process is also a transformational dynamic that can best be described as life-giving.
As a global coaching association, the IAC has fully embraced, adopted and incorporated these values in our way of working. The organization is largely volunteer-run and we are definitely a bubble-up kind of organization. Indeed, if things don’t bubble up, things don’t happen. Self-responsibility is key. When someone says they are going to do something, no one chases after them to make sure they follow through. Whatever we are and whatever we become is in our hands.
Although some may find this form of organization rather inefficient and frustrating, I find it to be refreshing and exciting. One thing is certain with this form of organization: the IAC is talking about and working on what people want to talk about and work on. Whether that is a concern or a curiosity, a problem or a possibility, the IAC takes its lead from its volunteer members and Board of Governors.
Many organizations like to boast that they listen to their members or serve their members well. The IAC takes that one step further: the IAC IS its members. We work together only in so far as our members work together. How well the IAC does that job is in our hands and I, for one, hold that as both a sacred trust and a great opportunity.
Won’t you join with me in making the IAC the best organization it can possibly be? In the spirit of OST, what do you want to talk about and how can you collaborate with others in the IAC to make the IAC a truly premiere global coaching association? What fills you with passion and energizes you about the thought of working together with other coaches through the IAC? What is one step that you can take to make it so?
May you be filled with goodness, peace and joy,
Bob
Bob Tschannen-Moran, IAC-CC, is CEO and Co-Founder of the Center for School Transformation and President of LifeTrek Coaching International. Bob is the co-author of Evocative Coaching, which incorporates the IAC Coaching Masteries® in a coaching model designed for leaders and coaches in schools.
Like It or Not, Your Success Is Determined By How Well Your Clients Can Measure Their Own Success
by Annette Sharpe
As a newer coach, it had been both frustrating and disappointing for me to have a client declare that they were not making headway. Perhaps they had reached a small plateau in momentum, but I knew that over the longer term they had been making incredible progress towards their intentions and goals.
There will always be ups and downs in a coaching relationship, but I have found the key in measuring success is to look at the big picture. Explaining that to my clients often fell on deaf ears unless they were able to see their success for themselves, especially when finances came into the picture and they were questioning their return on investment.
So how do you tangibly measure your success with your clients?
That was a big question of mine when I began coaching almost 10 years ago, and the answer came in the creation of a simple, quarterly system that serves as a summary of the coaching work. With it, I can help my clients to effectively acknowledge their wins from the past three months, set new intentions for the upcoming quarter, track their progress over time and ultimately achieve what they are wanting in their life and/or business. Having hard copy materials for them to review later gives them something to look back on if and when they do plateau—and almost every client does.
You can create your own system, or there are turn-key, ready-made, professionally designed coaching systems that will save you the often time-consuming and frustrating process of going through it on your own.
Regardless of your past successes, glowing testimonials or engaging marketing material, once your clients choose to move forward with you, their only criteria for assessing your value is their own success, or their perception of it. So make sure you have a tracking system that helps keep your clients' perception of success in the right perspective.
Annette Sharpe is the founder of the Growing For Success multi-coach coaching company, and the creator of the Inspired Steps Coaching System. Visit Annette at www.growingforsuccess.com/inspiredsteps.html to learn how you can license the tools and system that will help you attract, engage and retain more clients.
IAC Member Benefit: IAC members save 40% on the annual licensing fee for the program (use the coupon code on the IAC Members page).
Your Feedback
We'd love to get your feedback on any issue related to the IAC. Do you have any questions, concerns, encouragement or ideas for improvement regarding membership benefits, certification, the VOICE, the direction of the organization or anything else at all? Please send an email to feedback@certifiedcoach.org. Please help us improve.
