by: Natalie Tucker Miller
Just as important as coaching skills: Talking about coaching.
Learning and practicing effective coaching skills is an obvious essential in our paths to becoming better coaches. But have you considered how you talk about coaching? This is as important to coaching as skill mastery. The way we discuss coaching impacts people’s understanding of why it’s important, how it works, and how we can benefit from coaching.
For those of you who have been around awhile, I’m sure you remember the days when using the words “coach” or “coaching” immediately meant sports. Talking about it in the 20th century was more about explaining what coaching wasn’t!
Times have changed, and with all things that grow, coaching has seen its evolutionary progression from “not sports” to “backed by science”.
This can greatly inform the way we talk about coaching. From thinking of it as remnants of personal development that many see as “woo-woo”, to an understanding of how personal transformation affects our brain’s neural pathways, to an understanding of how the brain actually processes information.
For instance, a simple example of this is how a lot of coaching’s success is due to a coach asking questions and encouraging the individual to focus on finding solutions, rather than dwelling on the problem. This helps encourage positive patterns and connections in the brain. Solutions and positive activities interconnect in an increased manner and create new networks. When an individual comes to a solution themselves, the brain releases a stream of neurotransmitters and new connections are formed.
You may or may not choose to explain coaching in this way. More to the point is to learn, understand, and consider why coaching is so important, and use language that aligns with your understanding.
Some further reading on coaching and science:
http://www.thecoaches.com/blog/2013/03/my-best-neuroscience-argument-for-coaching/
http://www.schoolofcoachingmastery.com/coaching-with-neuroscience
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 (http://www.ageless-sages.com/), and creator of the literary genre, Picture Books for Elders™
Hi there, Do you ever have days, weeks, or months, that seem to “test” you? This past month was certainly one of those times for me. I tend to get stressed out when I don’t do things almost-perfectly all the time (what crazy pressure I put on myself!), but a yoga class last week helped me to embrace my human-ness. Had I known going into the class that I would be trying a new and challenging pose called Bird of Paradise, I probably would have walked right out – that’s too advanced for me! But the instructor slowly eased us into the pose. I was shaking, I was sweating, and telling myself I was failing – until, mid-pose, my instructor said “Breathe. You are here. You are doing it, right now.” It didn’t matter how I looked, it didn’t matter how hard it was, I did it! I find this resonating within coaching all the time: sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that we can accomplish more than we think. I hope you are embracing the challenges in your life and using them as platforms for bigger and better things! Our blog posts this past month have certainly been illuminating the potential and possibilities you have as coaches. Enjoy our updates from IAC President Krishna Kumar and various committees, as well as information on resources available to you and suggestions for ways you can become more involved with the IAC. Best, Beth Ann Miller is pursuing an MFA in Writing from the University of New Hampshire and 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. |
by Krishna Kumar The summer of 2013 was a memorable one. Legendary coach and former world motorcar racing champion, Sir John Whitmore, graciously agreed to deliver the keynote address at the IAC sponsored Leadership & Coaching conference in Bangalore, India. On that occasion nearly 50 of our members from Asia, Middle East and Europe watched the IAC Board confer our first Lifetime Achievement Award on John Whitmore. As the conference organizer, I was privileged to host him during his three-day visit and spend many fascinating hours in his company. During our many conversations, John would often cryptically remark, “Coaching is more than coaching,” and the full impact and meaning of these words took me many months to fully comprehend. We live in turbulent times. In the past decades we have gradually watched multi-stored complexes dwarf our church steeples, minarets and temple flagpoles that once lorded over our towns and cities. The God of Mammon now seems to be overpowering and changing the very nature of our being. Does it signify a symbolic move away from spiritual to commercial leadership? If yes, where are we heading? What is our new search for meaning? In varied coaching conversations we seek answers from our clients that touch these topics and often transcend them. Coaching is enlightening, at times magical and almost always healing. It is through coaching that we possess the power to transform people, move them to a better place and work towards a healthier and harmonious society. The IAC is in an excellent place to do just that. The framework of our coaching Masteries allow us the scope and flexibility to move beyond the ‘doing’ of coaching to making coaching our way of ‘being.’ By immersing ourselves in the path to masterful coaching, we go beyond changing self and changing others to creating a better community. It is both a challenging and exciting vision. A vision that we hope will encourage others in the world of coaching to collaborate with us. Coaching will then truly be more than coaching! I would be very encouraged to hear your thoughts at president@certifiedcoach.org . In appreciation, Krishna Kumar Krishna Kumar is the Founder-Director of the Intrad School of Executive Coaching (ISEC) and a pioneer in the sphere of Leadership and Executive Coaching in India. His firm belief that coaching is the best way to learn has carried him through a varied learning journey over three decades that included donning the hats of a corporate executive, an entrepreneur, a tennis coach, a B-school professor, independent Board member and an Executive Coach. The journey continues… |
Institute of Coaching Webinars If you happen to be a member of the Institute of Coaching, we thought reading about this February 17th webinar about developing self as coach in the 21st century might be of interest to you. Be sure to check out their future webinars for upcoming opportunities. What resources do you find useful as a coach? Feel free to share them on our blog, our Facebook page, or email the editor! |
Membership Path to Success A project to develop a coaching practice building service called 'Path to Success' has been initiated under the Member Benefits Committee. Path to Success will help IAC coaches to support each other in building sustainable coaching business and other kinds of coaching practice. If you are interested in participating in a creative process to support our members as they become busy coaches, please email us at path@certifiedcoach.org. Licensing As we reported last month, the Licensing Committee will be focusing our next several meetings on getting clear around several issues:
We discussed two pending applications for licensing, one from Hong Kong, and one from Argentina. Members of the Committee will be contacting the applicants during the coming month to clarify their questions. Our discussions highlighted the need to complete translations of IAC web copy from English into Spanish and Chinese, with additional languages coming as needs are determined. We are pleased to know that a Translation Committee is already at work on getting this enormous task finished. A recent draft of a Member Benefits Booklet from Ed Britton stated that licensed mentor coaches and/or coach training organizations can incorporate the IAC Coaching Masteries into their training programs. However, Ed made a clear distinction between the training process and the certification process, and further clarified that the IAC does not endorse or accredit Licensees. We hope this will continue to provide additional clarity around this important distinction between licensing and certification. What are your thoughts, ideas, suggestions about Licensing and its role in the IAC? Committee members Deb Chisholm, Pepe Del Rio, Eduardo Vier and Charlie Boyer welcome your suggestions and comments. Contact the Licensing Committee at licensing@certifiedcoach.org. |