Global Executive Coaching Community of Practice: Are Coaches ready for new age executives?

ICF has invited me to facilitate this CP, earlier called a Special Interest Group. I have great pleasure in inviting you for the next session of this GEC CP.

This community is about its members, not the facilitator; it’s also about what the members want to talk about and learn in terms of practice. ICF objective for the CP is resource development, based on which attendees gain CCEU.

I have been part of this community when Hannah facilitated the interactions and also made a presentation of cross-cultural influences on executives. The interactivity and contribution from members will continue and as possible, enhance. With an Asian executive coach with a spiritual leaning facilitating the community, its direction may perhaps be more international and more transformational.

I have over 40 years of corporate experience, more than 20 as CEO and at least in one case of building a billion dollar plus group with a dozen multinational joint ventures. I now coach executives, train coaches for ICF credentials, teach at Business Schools, write books and work with start up operations and disadvantaged, when I am not spending time with my wife of nearly 40 years and the stray dogs that have adopted us at Bangalore.

If you want to know a bit more, do look up my profile, blog and tweets at http://in.linkedin.com/in/ramsramanathanceocoach
http://zentocoach.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/#!/zentocoach.

I look forward to hearing from you about what you would like to discuss in this community and also what you can present or talk about. With globalization of economies, executives across the world have similar concerns on work life balance, corporate social values and environment, as much as the traditional concerns of how to advance one’s career and create wealth. Differences in age, gender, ethnicity and locale add elements of diversity and complexity.

As coaches, how can we contribute to an executive’s awareness in his or her journey of self-discovery? At what point does the transaction of outcomes transcend into the transformation of mind-set?

I tend to combine Western Science and Psychology with Eastern Spirituality and Mysticism, in both of which I have a background of intense learning.

I look forward to our first session together on 1 August at 12 PM US Eastern Time, as always Noon on First Wednesdays. Call and recording access details too are the same as before:

Access Number: 1-212-457-9879
Participant PIN: 622186#

Ram Ramanathan

Playback Access Number: 212-457-9846
Playback Reference: 333726#


CCEU for sessions attended will as before be based on submission of passwords to facilitator. My mail id is ramsram@gmail.com.

The subject for the first 1 August CP session can be viewed here, relating to Maslow's Need Hierarchy as related to Coaching.

Use more video in your marketing initiatives

The use of video in marketing and promotional purposes continues to grow at substantial rates. Even the ICF has its own YouTube channel dedicated to promoting the coaching profession and the ICF. Have you come across it?
With 137 videos across 13 playlists, there is an ample selection of video footage to view on the ICF YouTube channel. Not only can you watch them…you can use these videos on your website, link to them in newsletters and email messages, and share them via social media channels. They are an excellent way to stay connected to the ICF and to the coaching profession. Subscribe to the ICF YouTube channel here.

Want to teach potential clients on how they can select a professional coach? There is an entire playlist dedicated to the topic.

Are you or someone you know interested in becoming a professional coach? There is also a playlist dedicated to this topic.

If you are an ICF member and want to stay on top of ICF related news, events, and topics, there are several playlists you can pay attention to. These include: ICF Member Video Messages (videos are filmed monthly by 2012 ICF President Janet Harvey, MCC), Wednesdays with Whittle (every other week, ICF Director of Membership Don Whittle shares a bit of news or highlights an ICF member benefit in these short videos); ICF Credentialing – Distinctions Matter (these videos feature updates pertinent to current and future ICF Credential holders); among others.

One of the most popular playlists on the ICF YouTube channel right now is 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study. This playlist features videos that explain and explore this most current piece of coaching research and offers tips on how you can use it within your personal coaching practice. Take a look.

You can browse these and all ICF playlists and videos here.

Is video a part of your marketing plan? How do you use it? How would you like to use it?

Storytelling is a gift

It was a stiflingly hot day.

The traffic had been terrible.

The air conditioning was a relief….a noisy relief.

The woman gathered.

The elders; they may laugh at the title, but it was clear to me.

They were happy to see each other, in a shy appreciative way - I could see and feel their connection. They were brought together some years ago, so that they could help others by volunteering for Bereavement and Grief counseling. Their own painful stories are often heavy in their hearts. These women have seen life.

We sat in the story circle and began.

They may have been guarded and skeptical but that soon fell away with the charm of the story.

They may have been wary and closed because of the weight of their own experience, but that soon melted.

They may have been apprehensive and a little worried but the safe space of story made it possible.

There was laughter, tears and that knowing glance shared between people who have suffered but feel the presence of truth around them. It was the true magic of story.

Storytelling and story listening is a gift….to the teller and the listener.

I was honored to be in the presence of such pure hearts and minds that allowed space for our stories. And I'm truly thankful for that.

And I walked away reflecting upon how we create powerful connection through story.

Lisa Bloom, PCC

Creating the space for exploring story is what coaching is all about too. That magic story space is the magic coaching space. It is a gift, for your client…and for you!

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.

Use coaching research in your coaching business

Earlier this week, the Final Report of the 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study was released.  An astounding 12,000+ coaches from 117 nations participated in the 2012 study. The findings shed new light on the current state of the coaching profession—highlighting global growth of coaching and uncovering the trends that have since emerged since the benchmark study was released in 2007. Get a taste of this study by watching this video.

The Final Report represents the single most comprehensive study that has ever been released on the global coaching profession! Within the 140+ page report, readers will find detailed analysis and statistics on the following topics:

• Coaching Profession: Size and Key Trends;
• Profile of Coaches;
• Training and Accreditation;
• Profile of Clients;
• Interaction between Coach and Client;
• Key Issues and Future Trends; and
• Technical Appendix.

Purchase your electronic copy of the Final Report here.

This research is an excellent tool to have at your fingertips—weave the findings throughout your business and marketing plans, marketing collateral, website, among other places. You will have such findings as:

• Active coaches make an average of $47,900 USD per year.
• 94 percent of coaches offer at least one or more service in addition to coaching in their professional practices. On average the coaches offer almost 3 additional services.
• More than half (51 percent) hold at least one credential from a professional coaching association. More than 3 in 4 (76 percent) of all coaches agree that "The people and organizations who receive coaching expect their coaches to be certified/credentialed."
• The majority of clients are female (54 percent) and approximately 1 in 3 clients are aged 46 and over. 
• Globally, 66 percent of coaches interact with their clients on a face-to-face basis. However in North America, 50 percent of coaches prefer working with clients over the phone.
• 76 percent of coaches expect to see increase in clients and revenue in the coming year.

How do you plan to use these findings in your business? Tell us about it. 

Working my way down to clues

This post originally appeared at www.coachchristinetalks.blogspot.com.

My relationship to the world around me is primarily visual. Some of you will happily join me and note that you are inclined to see things rather than hear or touch them. We even use language like “I see.” as a response to a request or comment or explanation. That’s a clue or cue to how to best work with me.

We are all born with some sort of way to process the world around us. Small children touch, taste, test everything and watch big people … all of the time. When my grandchildren were very small they crawled and I crawled with them … a revelation regarding the world around me. I saw newly what I didn’t know I was seeing when a tiny little girl.

We all process information in all the usual basic ways: visual, kinesthetic, verbal, and auditory. I’m going to add: linear and non-linear, interpretation, meaning, recognition, empathy. It’s all fascinating and doesn’t begin to include personality, morality (ethics) and character. I learned by watching those I admired …visual learning once again.

What does this have to do with coaching? From my perspective, in coaching we don’t need to be complicated or complex … it’s suffices to know that individuals process information in the basic ways. A question can be asked in different ways if we know just this much about our client: “How might (do) you (see, feel, hear, verbalize) the situation?” “What does that mean to you?”

It’s truly important how we speak to our clients and connect to what works for them … the ICF the competency that recognizes this is called Direct Communication. Think about it. If I don’t pick up the clues as to how my client processes information and just push on with a story or recommend a book or expect a particular response … not much is going to happen except nice agreements and a friendly conversation … which is fine but it’s not powerful coaching.

We are now down to clues (the kinds discussed above, for starters). Clues (or cues) are the keys to exploration, discovery, forward progress, the euphemistic “going deeper,” awareness and creativity. Ignore the clues and stay painfully on the surface seeking information, agreement, and a nice experience, maybe even fun. Mostly, the focus of a coaching conversation where clues are missed will generally result in a client not being challenged or engaged in exploration and discovery. From whence might come an important action to take when nothing has been discovered?

The purpose of coaching is to partner with a client in exploring the heart of his/her agenda, to allow that client to discover something new and important, and then to work with that client in designing steps forward in order to act on that discovery and new learning. The client then does the “heavy lifting” while coach is there for support and appreciation.

Christine Martin

A high performance business and executive coach since 1992, Christine Martin, MA, MBA, BCC, MCC, is the Founder of Innovation Coaching, LLC and Innovation Coaching Canada, Inc. With over 8,000 hours of professional coaching as her background, she coaches high performance executives, outcome driven project managers, and professional coaches. From 2003-2010 she coached 300+ NASA leaders. Christine's contributions to the coaching profession include chairing the ICF global credentialing initiative and serving as an ICF Vice President. She has been an active ICF credentialing assessor since 2003. A graduate of the University of Southern California and Pepperdine University. Christine was a grad school professor from 1994 to 2005 when she moved from California to North Carolina and subsequently to Canada.

Learn more:
www.innovationcoaching.com
Christine@innovationcoaching.com