From Tragedy to Transformation

The date, September 11, 2001, after a successful career on Wall Street spanning over 25 years, I had just arranged the sale of the venture capital firm I was the CEO of, and watched the horror unfolding out my apt window facing the World Trade Center. My office was across the street overlooking the fountains. It was a beautifully sunny day. I had decided to stay home. I was in shock. I lost friends and colleagues and was in a deeply emotional state for several months.

I contemplated my future. What was in store for me I wondered. I looked back at my career/life and realized that what I enjoyed most was helping people to achieve their personally relevant goals. I had been a mentor, advisor, coach and didn’t even realize it at the time.

I decided to try my hand at being an independent business consultant. That lasted two years but wasn’t truly fulfilling for me. I would advise a company as to what to do, get paid and leave. One day I was introduced to a woman who was becoming a coach. I had no clue what she did but when she explained the process I was so intrigued that I asked her to coach me for a few sessions. At first I was skeptical. I am not one to open up easily but the process amazed me. So much so that I researched for an ICF certified coach program in the area, chose IPEC and enrolled.

Upon graduation I wondered how to best move forward in this new career. I had heard about the ICF and found the local chapter in NYC. I got the nerve up to attend a monthly meeting and was happily surprised how welcoming everyone there was. There were new coaches, coach wannabes and seasoned coaches attending. I networked, made friends, partnered with other coaches, and after several months was asked by the outgoing President to run for the Board.

My experiences as an active member of ICF-NYC are unforgettable. Over the next few years we focused on giving value to our members. We brought in informative speakers on topics members told us they were interested in. We offered workshops focused on how to grow your coach practice and improve core competencies. We organized groups of coaches to go out into the community and help those that weren’t able to afford our services. From helping college students, to career fairs, to local community groups we got members involved. I was elected chapter President in 2007. We won three global awards over those years. I hosted several webinars sponsored by ICF Global on our chapter best practices, wrote articles for Coach World, volunteered my time as part of the global chapter leader mentor program, spoke at three ICF annual conferences and now host Coach Chat Radio.

This past year, as Past President of the NYC chapter I have focused on mentoring those on the Board who will continue the legacy of our chapter achievements. This being my last year on the local Board, and with a lot of encouragement, I decided to run for a global board seat, was nominated and won the election.

As a new Board member I plan to offer my years of experience in business as a former CFO, COO and CEO, as well as a former chapter leader of one of the most successful chapters in the ICF to help our global organization advance the profession of coaching throughout the world.

For those who have sitting on the sidelines up until now, what can you do to contribute your passion and skills to expand the profession we care so much for?

Bernie Siegel, PCC, incoming 2011 Board of Directors member

What do YOU care for?

What do you care for? It’s a pretty broad question...one that can generate a wide variety of responses and make people feel a number of emotions.

And it can be answered on many levels—you may care for orphans in another part of the world, for your community or country, for your family, for your health and for your ICF membership but you may not care for them all at the same intensity.

So…what is it that you care for? There is no right or wrong way to respond to this question.

Since the end of October, when the I Care For campaign was officially launched, responses to this question have been pouring in—and they are truly as varied as our 17,000+ members.

We’ve learned that Jaki in Kenya cares for “the academic and personal advancement of children from disadvantaged backgrounds” (learn more about Jaki’s story in the January 2011 Coaching World); José in Portugal cares for “a world where being is the matrix of doing and having;” and Bonnie from Canada cares for “creating a world of authenticity, purpose and belief in possibilities by connecting people to their core values and purpose in life.”

Haven’t shared what you care for yet? Do so by 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2010 and your name will be entered into the I Care For contest. Prizes are awarded in two categories, depending on how you submit your message. (No worries to those who have already shared what they care for—you will be included in these drawings as well!)

Those who share their message through a video will be entered into the drawing for a $250 USD VISA gift card. And those who submit their message via e-mail/Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/other written form will be entered into the drawing for one of two Kodak Play Sport video cameras. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the New Year than with one of these prizes!

And entering is so easy…you simply need to share what you care for! Instructions for submitting your message can be found here.

THE PROBLEM WITH SELLING COACHING

Coaching is a beautiful calling. Everyone who does this work, loves it. New coaches love their training and immediately recognize the power of a coaching relationship in assisting others to make important changes in their lives, careers and businesses.

For clients, once they try coaching, they love it too. Many studies have shown that over 96 percent of the people who try coaching are very happy with it. Most clients will stay with their coach for over six months and some never leave. When you take coaching into organizations it routinely generates returns on investments of 500 to 700 percent.

Further, more and more clients are becoming aware that certain types of changes are very difficult to accomplish on their own. These bigger, “adaptive” changes are rarely achieved through books or “one-size-fits-all” or “drive-by” training solutions. Rather these types of changes benefit from individualized attention. The support of a good coach can facilitate crucial shifts in perspectives and an overcoming of limiting beliefs. A coaching relationship can provide the feedback, accountability and support needed, over sufficient time, so that new knowledge and intentions can be translated into new behaviour. This is what coaching excels at.

So if coaching is such a valuable and effective service, why do so many coaches struggle to fill their practices? The simple truth is that coaching is still a relatively new service that most people have never tried, and people are hesitant to purchase things they don’t understand.

This will change in time. It has improved noticeably over the past decade. However, if you are currently trying to build a successful coaching practice, I encourage you to minimize your pain by:

• Not trying to sell generic life coaching, business coaching, career coaching, executive coaching, etc.
• Identifying an existing niche–a specific group of people with an existing set of challenges.
• Finding out what the people in your niche are struggling with–the acid test is to find what percentage of them are actually spending money now to find solutions or achieve specific outcomes.
• Finding out how you can easily create relationship with them. In person? Through writing or talks or workshops? Online, through social media, newsletters or by optimizing a website to the keywords they type into Google? Remember to market in the vocabulary they speak about the challenges they face and the outcomes they seek. (Coaching is just the way your deliver your solution.)
• Making it easy for them to experience coaching, understand its benefits and how it contrasts to the current solutions that are not working well for them.
• Communicating why you are the best solution provider. Ideally you want to highlight three compelling reasons/strengths.

If you follow some of these hard-earned lessons (from the thousands of coaches who have walked this path ahead of you) you will find it much easier to attract clients. Hopefully, you will more quickly arrive at that lovely place where you can enjoy doing what you love, while earning a comfortable living.

Yes, coaching is a beautiful calling, and a great service to the world. Wherever you are on your journey, please take good care of yourselves. Do your homework, get well-trained, pay attention to the marketing, and know that there are many who have faced the same challenges you face.

They did it. You can too. Keep believing, and know you are not alone on this path.

Steve Mitten CPCC, MCC served at the 2005 ICF President and runs ACOACH4U.COM

Playboys to stay-at-home moms: research shows reasons for coaching may overlap

Ever since American television actor Charlie Sheen hired a “sobriety coach” earlier this month (reportedly to assist in steering him away from drug and alcohol use), professional coaching has once again been pulled into the media limelight.

The real story is not about Sheen’s wild lifestyle but that people all over the world, from Hollywood playboys to stay-at-home moms and corporate executives to college students, are working with professional coaches. Circumstances may vary but people of every age and race have utilized coaching over the last decade.

As a coach, you obviously realize that people hire coaches for an array of reasons…thus the wide assortment of coaching niches out there. But according to the new ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study*, the most common reasons people hire coaches are to:

• Improve work performance;
• Expand career opportunities; and
• Increase self-esteem.

Think about your own clients, past and present. Would you agree that these reasons are the most common? What factors persuaded them to engage in a coaching partnership?

Other reasons noted in the study were to improve business management strategies and manage work/life balance. Learn more in this ICF issued press release, Coaching helps organizations achieve business results during economic downtown.

*The awareness study surveyed 15,000 participants (aged 25 and older in 20 countries), was conducted independently by the International Survey Unit of PwC. Findings around the awareness of coaching can be found in this study—use them in your own marketing endeavors. Learn more at Coachfederation.org/works.

Global Conversations Continue Past the ICF Conference

Our "Internationalism Becomes the New Norm" Global Conversation table at the 2010 ICF Annual International Conference exchanged cards and we are continuing to stay in touch through e-mail. With coaches from Italy, Turkey, Mexico, and the US, our table enjoyed our global diversity and look forward to additional opportunities to connect, not only with each other, but also future culturally rich discussions within ICF.

How will you continue your Global Conversation and seek other ways to connect? Are you connecting through social media, a designated blog or website page, a yahoo group, Skype group calls…?

In case you missed this year’s conference, Global Conversations was a new offering, where we had the opportunity to choose a topic we were most interested in and listened as a subject matter expert presented on the topic. We then discussed the topic at our individual tables, and each table “captain” shared a two minute summary with the larger group. To tie it all together, one ICF participant per topic shared a brief summary in our Saturday closing.

Our table wants to know: as cultures become more mixed, how does that effect coaching? How does that effect the perception of coaching? Related to the conference, we want to know: how can the conference become a more international experience? (More intentional, fun opportunities to connect with participants from other cultures.) How can we honor those traveling a long distance (besides our wonderful conference opening)?

I have been a facilitator for citizen forums in Kansas City, USA, where I live. At the end of those discussions, participants have the opportunity to plan and commit to action from possibilities generated during the discussion.

We want to hear your ideas and action plans! Your ideas will be noted.

- Marilyn O’Hearne, MCC, vice president, global ICF Board of Directors