What story is told by your actions?

The plane is full.

We all stand in line and slowly crawl forward to our assigned seats.

There's always someone who takes forever to stow away their bag.  Just when they are all set, they remember that they need to take their book out….and have to start all over.

The flight attendants stand with that very special smile and say good morning a thousand times.

When you finally get to your seat, you glance quickly at the people with whom you will share the next few uncomfortable hours and wonder, which type will they be?

Will they talk your ear off?

Or will they pretend you don't even exist?

And you wonder, which one are you?

Do you give in to the craving for human connection, at the price of being bored to tears for hour after hour?

Or do you just dive in and you navigate the way of friendly banter alongside the distance that will allow you take a nap and not engage in conversation.

Inevitably, what compels us, what calls for our attention, what we crave for, is the story. 

We are always drawn into interaction with others because we long for a great story.

It is a basic human need; to hear stories and to have our stories heard.

As coaches, we have the great honor of being witness to others' stories.  We are blessed by the skills to provide a safe space for the telling of stories. 

It is not only a great ability, it is also a great responsibility.

To provide people the opportunity to tell their stories and be truly heard, is one of the greatest gifts that coaching can give.  When we can do this, we are offering the very best support.

Lisa Bloom, PCC

So next time you are travelling, tune in to the story, it will be worth your while!

Lisa Bloom, PCC is founder of Story Coach Inc. and the Certified Story Coach Program.  Download her ebook ‘Using Stories to Get Great Clients’ at http://www.story-coach.com.

Ongoing ICF Webinar series back this month: Choosing a Mentor Coach

If applying for an ICF Credential is in your future, you will not want to miss this! 

ICF Global started a quarterly webinar series earlier this year targeted toward those individuals who are interested in applying for an ICF Credential. The series focuses on 1) the process of applying for an ICF Credential; and 2) a review of skills expectations.

The series continues this month with the topic “Choosing a Mentor Coach” on Friday, June 15 at 12:00 p.m. (New York). This presentation is the second in the series.

Space is limited—register now to reserve your spot!

More about the June 15 session: Mentoring is broadly recognized as an important part of the development of a professional Coach.  One of the requirements for those that are seeking an ICF Credential is to work with a qualified Mentor Coach.  In this presentation, Tracy Stevens, MCC will provide information about mentoring requirements, what to expect in the mentoring process, and how to select a quality Mentor Coach.

For those unable to attend, the presentation will be recorded and post to Coachfederation.org and ICF social media channels after the live presentation is complete. In addition to the June 15 call, the remaining webinar dates for 2012 are Friday, September 14 and Friday, December 14.

A look at the creation of the ICF Core Competencies

When the ICF was formed, a large part of the desired vision for the organization was to create and solidify coaching as a viable profession. In order to do this, it was determined that there was a need to look ahead and consider what would have to be in place to support this initiative, as well as successfully push back against any form of external regulation around this emerging profession.

To that end, in 1998/1999, related committees were formed to determine:

• A common definition of coaching;
• Competencies that define the expression of coaching;
• A system of assessment and examination of coaching skills;
• Levels of credentials and required training and practice hours; and
• Ethics & Standards.

The committee, that was formed to determine the examination process, was called the Portfolio Exam Committee, and was co-chaired by Pamela Richarde (Coach U) and Laura Whitworth (CTI). At the time, coaching was still very young, with no universally excepted standards,  thus the various coaching education organizations were still not well connected. 

It was the job of this committee not only to do the work that was assigned, but to bring together a disparate group of organizations that were training and educating coaches at the time.

When given the job of heading this committee, Pamela and Laura reached out to all of the 'known' (visible) coaching programs that they had access to at the time, and invited them to be working members of this committee. There were eight organizations that agreed to embark on this ground breaking work: 

• Coaches Training Institute (CTI), Laura Whitworth;
• Coach U, Inc, Pamela Richarde;
• Hudson Institute, Frederic M. Hudson;
• Newfield, Terrie Lupberger;
• Coach for Life, Peter Reding;
• Academy for Coach Training (ACT), Fran Fisher;
• Success Unlimited Network (SUN) Teri-E Belf; and
• New Ventures West, Pam Weiss.

When they gathered as a group, with the above individuals and various volunteers from each organization, they realized that there was a need to first agree upon a common definition of coaching. After completing that initial step (a major one!), they needed then to determine the competencies that were present in the art and science of coaching ("being a coach" and the "process of coaching"). As most all of the programs were from different philosophical approaches and contexts, it took the group some time to filter out the context and come up with the core elements that were present in all of the approaches. They worked diligently via weekly telebridge meetings for over a year. They then, after many delightfully challenging and creative meetings, ultimately achieved consensus on the foundational elements of what are now known as the Eleven ICF Core Coaching Competencies.

Once the competencies were created and agreed upon, they next outlined a virtual examination process to assess these competencies. A solid year after they began this process, the coaching community had final agreement on: The definition of coaching, the core competencies of coaching and the beginnings of a way to assess this competency effectively! This was amazing and a tipping point for coaching as a profession. This work has laid a solid framework for how coaching and the profession of coaching continues to evolve today.

Over the years, the ground breaking work created by these coaching educators, has been the foundation for the creation of other competencies by emerging coaching associations and organizations. Some have added to these core competencies. Others have developed focus market specific competencies to bring clarity for coaching in the various contexts (i.e. business, management, executive coaching). And yet others are growing educational programs in universities around the world. With the competencies in mind, many of these communities are now gathering a solid body of knowledge to support the competencies and various philosophical approaches to coaching. All of this has emerged from the fertile ground of work that was done by these eight coaching education providers and volunteers that supported the success of these projects.

As a note, parallel to this process there was a committee working on ethics. They too were successful in creating a foundation for determining coaching ethics and standards for professional coaching. Indeed, this has continued to evolve with the creation of an Ethical Conduct Review board and ICF member support with mediation services available.

In what might be characterized as one of the most rapidly growing "professions" on the planet, coaching continues to evolve and make it's way into over 117 countries! With a solid set of ethics, standards, code of conduct and competencies, coaching as a profession is well on it's way.

Tidbits of ICF history, shared by Pamela Richarde, MA, MCC.

Pamela Richarde, MA, MCC

Pamela Richarde is a pioneer in the field of professional coaching, and has assisted in shaping what we know coaching to be today. A Master Certified Coach (MCC), as well as a mentor coach and coaching supervisor, Pamela is also a founding member of the Association of Coach Training Organizations (ACTO) and a past President of the ICF. In addition to her competency as a coach, she is a seasoned facilitator, speaker and trainer, having led hundreds of courses in both virtual and live settings in a variety of cultures, regions and business contexts.

Pamela holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, a Masters Degree in Performance/Directing, with some further doctoral course work hours in human and organizational development. She was born in Berkeley, California and has additionally resided in the UK, the Middle East and the Caribbean, presently making her home in Portland, Oregon. A dedicated explorer, she is also a licensed hypnotist, a union actress, a Tai Chi Chuan practitioner and holds a 2nd degree black belt in Northern Style Shao Lin Kung Fu.

Excellence is Action

Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. John W. Gardner

The speed with which we make a decision in an organization is vital. But, if a manager tries to excel in his business, he won’t forget about the importance of planning, building strategies or the analysis of an idea before it’s applied. However, for a successful person, every minute counts and an additional day of planning mean a delay in the action itself. Therefore, it is essential to decide how much time we spend giving feedback, how much we spend for planning and how much we spend doing something right now. Lately, I had the opportunity of closely observing this fact with the help of Adina.

She works in a company that sells software products and for a while now, the business has been running slow. Adina thought that the reason would be the mistakes she did in the past and so, she decided to hold meetings with her employees and discuss these mistakes. In four weeks, Adina made sure that every key employee is aware of what went wrong, by giving them constructive feedback on their work. For the next month, Adina tried to figure out an action plan that would work. Now that they were aware of the mistakes, they needed a new direction. But nobody could agree upon a certain plan, as everyone had a good idea and it was difficult to decide which was better. It was only after a few weeks that an actual plan was created. But it was too late… Adina noticed that the business situation had gotten worse, which meant that her previous plan could not be applied.

In the end, she realized that the only thing missing wasn’t another plan, but action itself.

One of the main reasons that make excellence hard to achieve is that we tend to focus on the mistakes we made in the past, then concentrate too much on the future, which leaves no time to do anything in the present. This way, we lose valuable time giving feedback on the things that can be changed and planning excessively, and forget that the most important moment is actually the present.

Just like Irving Fischer said in his Fischer effect theory that revolutionized the economy: the present monetary value is higher than the past monetary value, or the future one; the money you have now are more valuable than the money you had yesterday, or the money you can have tomorrow. We can apply this concept to our business excellence: what you can do now is more important than what you did before or what you can do in the future.

Rodica Obancea, ACC

In other words, excellence relies on our ability to weigh how much time we spend on planning so that we can act now, in the present. The challenge is to have equal time for planning, action and evaluation. In fact, all excessive plans and delays are another way of saying that you don’t trust your actions and you are afraid of failure. But excellence does not necessarily rely on outstanding ideas or amazing strategies or plans, it depends on simple things, upon which you know when and how to act.

- How can you act NOW to make a difference in your organization?

Rodica Obancea, ACC, is passionate about change, emergence, living systems. She works within business environment, with managers, teams for achieving ambitious results. For more information, visit www.successcoaching.ro.

International Prism Award: the epitome of coaching excellence

More and more organizations are utilizing coaching as a leadership strategy and experiencing great results. The ICF wants to reward these organizations! Since 2005, 14 organizations have been honored with an ICF International Prism Award. The award has become an epitome of coaching excellence for companies using professional coaching to achieve impressive returns on investment/expectations. 

If you know of an organization successfully and effectively using coaching—nominate them! Nominations will be accepted through July 20 through the online application form. Selection criteria for the award are centered around effectiveness; impact; strategic significance; and ROI/ROE.

Learn more:

ICF International Prism Award nomination eligibility criteria and application questions.
See past ICF International Prism Award winners.
Peruse case studies of past winners.
Access the online application.