IAC Learning Agreements: Look to What You're Already Doing
by Natalie Tucker Miller, MCC (IAC)
Q: Someone told me that I can create my Learning Agreement with things I’m already doing. I’m not planning any coach-specific work this year, for personal reasons, and wonder how I am going to fulfill my requirement for my current certified coach status?
A: I’m pleased someone suggested you look to what you’re already doing. This is one of the guiding principles of the Learning Agreements: Enhance what you’re already doing by bringing in the awareness of the Masteries®.
Here’s an example of what that could mean:
This month’s President's Message included the slides from the World Business and Executive Coaching Summit in which the IAC is taking part.
One slide of particular interest is based on Mastery #3, Engaged Listening. It included a quote from Enzo, the main character in The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Enzo just happens to be a dog. From his point of view, humans are not very good at listening.
Enzo explains that his inability to speak has created a heightened ability to truly listen:
"I never interrupt, I never deflect the course of the conversation with a comment of my own. People, if you pay attention, change the direction of one another's conversations constantly. It's like having a passenger in your car who suddenly grabs the steering wheel and turns you down a side street."
The IAC, as well, places a high importance on the skill of listening. So crucial is the ability to listen at a high level, it is the main point in one out of only nine masteries!
The Masteries are present in much of what we see, hear, read and experience every day. There are several more examples of the Masteries that Enzo embodies, as he shares his life with the reader. IAC members, click here to read more.
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, MCC (IAC), 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.
