IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 87, September 2013, Circulation 4,428

From the
Editor

Picutre of bookcaseGreetings
from a brand-new graduate student! Last week I dove into a new school,
a new home, and a new phase in my life. Looking around my apartment
today, it is safe to say I may never finish unpacking, but I am surrounded
by books and possibilities, so I’m happy.

It seems as though change is on all of our minds this month. Please enjoy our
articles that discuss the many changes you face at the turn of a season, and
the many ways you can continue to grow and improve. As usual, the IAC is growing
and offering helpful resources, so don’t be afraid to browse the website
and stumble upon something new!

A big thank you goes out to Natalie Tucker Miller this month, who has not only
been consistently essential to the VOICE, but to many components of the IAC.
Thanks for all of your hard work, Natalie, it is much appreciated!

Please feel free to contact us at voice@certifiedcoach.org
with comments, questions, event notices, or article contributions. Enjoy the
many changes life throws your way!

Best,
Beth Ann

Beth Ann Miller 

 

Beth
Ann Miller is currently pursuing an MFA in Writing and is a native
New Englander. She has a professional background in editing and higher
education, and enjoys working with youths in the arts. Her stories
have appeared in online and print journals and she is perpetually
at work on new creative projects.


 

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Contents

From
the President
– Susan Meyer

Susan discusses the increasing relevance of coaches in the world,
and asks to hear about what new, exciting projects you’re working
on.


IAC Mastery #2: Perceiving, Affirming
and Expanding the Client’s Potential
– Martha Pasternack

As autumn approaches, Martha admires the “V” formation
geese instinctually create, and reminds you that everyone is capable
of creating a support system for themselves and their clients.


The Coach’s Own Self Awareness
– Venkatesh Seshadri

A deep look into Mastery #4 and how “choiceless awareness”
can be a powerful experience.


Like Attracts Like: Finding Your Passion
in Marketing
– Martha Coons

Take a glimpse into the marketing world and how following your own
passion can lead to success.


Mastery #8 Infographic
Natalie Tucker Miller

The Infographic for Mastery #8 shows how all the Masteries invite
possibility.


Member Benefit: Practice Building
E-Book

IAC members! Check out the e-book that Ed Britton, Capacity Building
Specialist at the IAC, has compiled.

New
Masteries Practitioner


From
the President

by Susan R. Meyer,
MMC

president@certifiedcoach.org

Refresh, Renew … and Hit the Road Running

I’ve never outgrown that first-day-of-school feeling that comes with
the crisp air and colorful foliage that is part of autumn in New York. We had
a lovely preview of this weather last week while I was at Kripalu, a yoga retreat
in Lenox, MA for a workshop with Martha Beck.

Kripalu

What does this have to do with coaching or with the IAC? As it turns out, everything.
Martha coached a number of members in the group. As she worked with them, using
energy and Jungian techniques, it seemed clear to me that her methods also reflected
the IAC Masteries?. I was delighted!

Martha was speaking about her new book, Making Your Way in a Wild New World.
In this book, she focuses on the emergence of people she calls “wayfinders”
or “menders.” I call these people COACHES. There’s a tremendous
increase in the number of us who realize that we are meant to help people and
organizations find their own truth and grow, as well as an increase in demand
for our services.

Stanford University recently released the results of their survey on coaching
in organizations. Here’s an excerpt:

“It’s lonely at the top” appears to be truer than ever,
according to a new study conducted by the Center for Leadership Development
and Research at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University’s
Rock Center for Corporate Governance
, and The Miles Group.
Nearly two-thirds of CEOs do not receive coaching or leadership advice from
outside consultants or coaches, and almost half of senior executives are not
receiving any either, the survey reveals.

“What’s interesting is that nearly 100% of CEOs in the survey
responded that they actually enjoy the process of receiving coaching and leadership
advice, so there is real opportunity for companies to fill in that gap,”
says David F. Larcker, who led the research team and is the
James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting and Morgan Stanley director of the
Center for Leadership Development and Research at the Stanford Graduate School
of Business.

You can read the executive summary here.

In a similar vein, Daniel Goleman is talking about a subject dear to the hearts
of many of us at the IAC – the importance of coaching skills for leaders,
found here.

What wonderful opportunities for the coaching community! Aileen Gibb, Natalie
Tucker Miller and I continue our deep discussion of using the IAC Masteries™
as a framework for helping managers use coaching skills. You can see threads
of this discussion in our WBECS presentations. You can also see how using the
IAC Masteries™ as a framework for professional development works in Bob
and Megan Tschannen-Moran’s book Evocative Coaching. Bob and
Megan show how coaching skills can shape the future of education. Dr. Doris
Helge’s many books, including Transforming Pain into Power, reflect
the IAC Masteries™ in personal development work.

What are you working on? Do you have a book we should be talking about? An
exciting new project? You may have noticed that our Facebook page is now a lively
spot and our LinkedIn group keeps growing. Please use that as one way to let
the coaching community know what you’re up to. We’re working on
building a store on the website, so by the end of the year I hope to announce
a place to list products and programs – first, from the IAC, eventually
from licensees, then members. We’re also working on making the Coach Directory
more robust so potential clients can find our members. Ed Britton reports that
membership is growing – especially in Latin America and in Singapore.
Licensee and head of the North American Virtual Chapter (and Lifetime Member)
Julia Stewart took us up on our offer to make Maestro available to all Chapters.
If you want to use Maestro for your virtual chapter, please contact executivedirector@certifiedcoach.org.
If you have activities, please send them along for us to include in the VOICE.
Your growth is our growth.

Finally, if you want to know what I’ve been thinking about the future
of coaching and of the IAC, go
here
to listen to the latest interview in our Masterful Coach series –
me being interviewed by Natalie Tucker Miller.

Encouraging your personal and professional growth as you expand your path to
coaching mastery!

Warmly,
Susan



 

Dr. Susan R. Meyer, MMC is President of Susan R. Meyer, Coaching and
Consulting. As a Life Architect, she helps wise and wild women construct
a joyful life, provides executive coaching and instills a coaching
approach to leadership for organizational success. www.susanrmeyer.com.

 


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IAC Mastery #2
Perceiving, Affirming and Expanding the Client’s Potential
by
Martha Pasternack

It is unmistakably late summer here in the high country. It actually snowed
on the pass last night. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is my favorite season
of the year. Change is sneaking up on me, as usual, and I like it. For example:

The goslings born in the early summer have molted and re-grown their flight
feathers. These geese are now big enough to fly south, but it is not time yet.
So they are having what I call “flight lessons” and practicing the
“V” drill.

Being the birdwatcher that I am, I pay attention to this sort of thing. When
I see a gaggle of geese take flight and hear the flock honking above me, I naturally
look up. What I see these days is anything but a “V” formation.
I see a tangle of geese flying every-which-way honking at each other. Silly
goose/geese.

All this makes me smile and feel so happy to be witness to the mystery of migration.
They are “harbingers of winter” and “They get the urge for
going. They've got the wings to go,” as Tom Rush sings so beautifully.

They have many tools to eventually master the skill of the “V”
formation other than their wings. They have size, entrainment to follow their
parents and the instinct to fly south when the light changes. It is their second
nature, yet by the looks of the “V” so far, they still need to practice.

As life coaches, we introduce and re-introduce our clients to the tools they
need to go forward into life as well. Some are personal growth and development
tools like journals, clear communication, decision-making, meditation, time
management, curiosity, insight and intuition. Focus is a particularly powerful
tool.

We have focused conversations with our clients about fear, limiting beliefs,
forgiveness, self-love, gratitude, appreciation and self-acknowledgement. This
list can go on for miles.

Yet our clients need our support to develop the skills to use these tools.
For example, a journal doesn’t help awaken insight very much unless our
clients understand how to utilize journal writing skillfully. As they practice
the skill of journaling they get better and better. As confidence builds by
actively practicing journaling effectively, it will become integrated into each
unique life experience. This facilitates the intention of IAC Mastery #2.

An array of different tools enables these skills to soon become second nature,
not dissimilar to a flock of geese learning how to form the “V.”
It is a skill the geese develop by using their tools and practicing.

So how can we support our clients to learn how to use personal growth tools
to develop skills mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually for their
unique unfolding?

Homework, spirit work, fieldwork or whatever else you prefer to call it. When
we send our clients off into what I call the laboratory of their life, each
person learns firsthand what they need to experience.

Homework like:

Going to the old fashioned bookstore to see where they naturally end up
discovering their passion.
Taking 3 entire minutes (aka eternity) to massage the hand lotion they put
on everyday to practice patience in the present moment.
Beginning a new exercise routine slowly and incrementally, to practice listening
to their body.
Meditating on specific questions to practice focus.
Starting a compliment journal to practice deep listening.
Taking a purposeful adventure into the grocery store to practice discernment.
Un-cluttering a space in their office (I call this making space) to practice
business organization.
Choosing a simple art or craft project to practice creativity.

This list can go on forever, especially if you are willing to share your favorite
“homework” ideas with us.

IAC Mastery #2 invites us to perceive, affirm and expand our client’s
potential. We can offer the tools needed, yet we cannot do it for them. With
our support and their willingness to venture out and practice, like the young
geese ready to migrate, our clients will develop the skills they find useful
at the perfect time and in the perfect way.

Martha Pasternack
Martha Pasternack, MMC www.CircleofLifeCoach.com

My passion for witnessing the beauty and mystery of life, healthy
healing and the promotion of Peace on Earth are integral to my daily
life. I have been life coaching since 2004 as a Fearless Living Coach
after working 30 years as a health care professional.

 



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The Coach’s Own Self Awareness
by
Venkatesh Seshadri

The IAC Masteries weave a beautiful tapestry of mind-based and heart-based
skills. A common thread in each Mastery is the coach’s own self awareness.
While this is a pressing need in most masteries, Mastery #4, Processing in the
present (PIP), seems to require this in great depth.

In her recorded excerpts, Barbara Sundquist refers to the coach being in an
alert and relaxed state, simultaneously and holistically. A ‘relaxed’
state is not merely a state of rest for the body, senses and the mind; it is
indeed a most mindful, coherent state allowing for minimal activity and reserving
vital energy for being present in the moment. The normal ‘drivers’
of sensory activity, including the whole host of conscious desires or sub-conscious
impulses, recede, creating space for pure ‘choiceless awareness.’
In this state, the absorption of communication from the coachee is at the highest
and deepest levels.

‘Choiceless awareness’ is best described as an equanimous state:
sensitive, caring but without self-centered passion, with free range for the
mind and the senses. In this state there is no evaluation as to whether a signal
from the coachee is positive or negative to the coach’s personal agenda.
The outer ego of the coach would appear to have been sent on a temporary vacation
to allow reality to present itself in the purest possible manner. No color is
added to perception. In applying the PIP Mastery, the coach is a witness; sensitive
to happening and allowing pure perception to arise.

Useful references are The Bhagavad Gita and the Sattipattana Sutra; masterpieces
of ancient wisdom and ‘Choiceless Awareness’ published by the J
Krishnamurthi Foundation.

There are two components to alertness: stepping back on one side and a measure
of action on the other. A coach often needs to ‘step back’ to see
what drives them, and then link back to the need for alertness. This helps to
attune to the current reality, unencumbered by past or future issues, and be
alive to subtle communication, thus enabling the coach to facilitate significant
shifts.

A key component to applying this mastery is positively enjoying the quietness
and the silence that exists in the coaching session. ‘Productive silence’
as it is known, allows for discovery and creates the environment in which the
coach can check-in with the client. The practice of stillness and silence helps
in taking conscious ‘charge’ of one’s faculties. In the book
‘Stillness Speaks,’ Eckhart Toelle highlights that silence itself
teaches a lot, and allows the ‘nowness’ of the situation to present
itself instead of being created or driven.

Conscious relaxation is recommended for coaches. This is done by slowly relaxing
each part of the body, closing one’s eyes and feeling the relaxation,
until there is a wonderful sense of ease. A further practice is to gently observe
one’s breathing and the characteristics of incoming and outgoing breath,
until there is a harmonious breathing pattern, effortless, deep and relaxing.
This helps the coach to remain equanimous in observing signals and provides
for greater natural control. An even deeper practice is the observation of positive
equanimity of whatever arises in the mind, by observation of the arising and
passing away of thought.

Indeed one may go so far as to say the Masteries not only enable someone to
become a great coach, but helps the coach live a more meaningful and fulfilling
life by being mindful and self aware in their transactions –a great way
of being!

Venkatesh
Seshadri (Venky)
, Former Director Deutsche Bank Group, has
about 24 years of experience in Banking Operations- FX, Money markets,
Securities Services, Risk Management, Service Excellence, Six Sigma
related Business engineering disciplines and Training. He is a Self
Awareness Facilitator and an Executive Coach helping people and institutions
discover and transform.

 


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Like Attracts Like: Finding Your Passion in Marketing
by
Martha Coons

Green Mountain Knitting Bags is my business and I love it. Each bag is made
of tapestry and upholstery fabrics and crafted by me personally in my Vermont
studio. New bags are uploaded to my website every Thursday evening: they sell
quickly and are sent all over the world. I often get asked who my “target
market” is, and the answer is: women who value their own handwork and
want to carry it in something they find beautiful. They're knitters and I know
them because I'm a knitter, too. I spend time with them because we're drawn
to the same thing. We value what knitting brings to our lives. My work is an
extension of that love: it's who I am. What resonates with me resonates with
my customers.

To work doing what we love is so fulfilling, yet generating income is often
a question. This is where marketing comes in. Marketing is fascinating to me.
What makes us buy what we buy? Other than life's necessitates, why do we choose
the clothes we do, the shoes, the style? I believe it’s because it says
something about us, it's an expression of who we are, our identity. Or maybe
it just moves us and we have to have it. Whatever it is, like attracts like.

Because my bags are made in Vermont, I often show glimpses of the beautiful
scenery, and my life in it. The bags naturally speak of a slower way of life.
A calm, more peaceful lifestyle where quality in a handcrafted item is valued.
People who want this in their lives are drawn to it. It's a knitting bag, but
it's more.

Many knitters like myself shop online, but find it important to also support
our local yarn shops. These shops give us something tangible an online shop
can't. The tactile feel of fiber, the face-to-face connection with people who
share the same passion, a blending of ideas and an appreciation of the artistry
in others. This local Mecca helps to feed my fire and fuel what I do. Fiber
events, classes, even just getting together to knit keeps me in tune to the
knitting world. This community feeling now has a large presence in our cyber
world, so when wanting to promote the business, that's where I go: where my
knitters are. Again, like attracts like.

By remaining involved in both local and online knitting communities, I see
what's new in the knitting world and I am able to get a strong sense of what
people want. This can be challenging sometimes, as I've found myself focusing
more on what they want as opposed to what I do and what my aesthetic is. Unless
I stay true to that, I know can't effectively market it. Knowing what is important
in my work keeps it honest for me. That integrity is valued by my knitting customers.
There's a great saying in the business world: "People don't buy what you
make, they buy why you make it." So as new ideas and products emerge, my
customers know that what's important to me can be found in every piece I make,
and they value that.

Who are your knitters? As coaches, how can you reach them and what can you
offer?

Martha Coons

 

Martha
Coons is a 55-year-old woman who lives in Burlington, Vermont. Green
Mountain Knitting Bags
is her eight-year-old online business.
She loves to knit, sew, spend time with her family and is working
to be a certified yoga instructor.
 


 


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Mastery #8 Infographic
by
Natalie Tucker Miller, MMC

To
join the IAC, click
here
.



Do you have a question that you’d like to ask the certifiers?
Submit your questions here: http://certifiedcoachblog.typepad.com/blog/ask-the-certifiers.html.



 
Natalie Tucker Miller, MMC, is the Lead Certifier and a certifying
examiner at the IAC, as well as Past-President. Natalie is founder
of Ageless-Sages.com Publishing (www.ageless-sages.com),
and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™.

 


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


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Member Benefit: Practice Building E-Book

http://www.certifiedcoach.org/index.php/my_iac_community/overview_of_benefits/practice_building_ebook/

This compilation of articles on building your coaching practice from the IAC
VOICE newsletter assembles the thoughts and advice of some of the leading members
of the coaching community. These articles provide a guide to developing and
implementing a systematic and comprehensive approach to building a coaching
practice. Emerging from the trenches of coaching experience, the advice is both
practical and realistic.

Part 1 provides a basis for business building and, at the same time, is full
of practical advice. Parts 2 and 3 divide the marketing and sales of coaching
services into offline and online techniques. Part 4 guides you in what to do
once you have clients.

Practice building often emerges as the principle need after a coach completes
his or her initial coaching qualification. Practice Building: Marketing, Selling
and Business Management for Coaches, distills the best advice that the IAC VOICE
has gathered to support that need.


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New
Masteries Practitioner

Congratulations
to David Papini from Milano, Italy who recently
earned the Masteries Practitioner Designation!

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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 voice@certifiedcoach.org.
Please help us improve.


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