Inspiration

Inspire: To breathe life into.

Pretty daunting, if you think about it.

One of my clients has as a primary goal to become more inspiring. He’s in a leadership development phase of his career. We all know that an essential skill of a successful leader is the ability to inspire others. Thus, it’s truly important in that context. Who would willingly follow a leader who is not inspiring?

The question for coaching is this: Does a coach need to be inspiring in order to coach? Think about it. What would that look or sound like? Is it our role to “breathe life into a client?”

When using the words ‘inspire’ ‘inspiring’ ‘inspiration’ are we coaches just tossing around words to sound knowledgeable? Or are we truly dealing in the business of having people take on becoming more inspiring? Or is it something in between that we have no role in?

Each of us can point to someone who is inspiring. There are the famous, global figures who inspired legions to follow them. There might be someone who individually inspires you. No doubt about it. We do know what this is. I’ve even been inspired by a race horse named Zenyatta (see my blog about her).

Another question might be: “Is working on becoming inspiring a logical goal that can be quantified and measured?” Perhaps it’s some other kind of goal or outcome.  If and when I am inspired, does that give me extra mojo to get things done? Is it even about "doing" something? Where does inspiration come into the picture, anyway?

I’m working on a keynote address. What exactly is my goal with it? Do I inspire the audience for that day only? Do I take the longer view? Can I even do any of that? Here's a question of myself: am I truly confident enough to give up on trying to be inspiring and just be authentic … letting the results fall as they may?

Perhaps inspiration is simply in the heart and soul of each person (just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder). If you and I are ready to have “life breathed into us by another” then perhaps we are open to be inspired. That may be all there is to that!

So where does that leave the coach? My take is “probably right in the role of coach where each of us belongs.”

Lessons from a Cat on How to Behave as a Coach

Getting ready to become an ex-pat by moving from the U.S. to Canada was a challenge for everyone involved: myself and my cat. Well, she didn’t comment too often.

I was thinking about this and how the experience of my cat would benefit me as a coach.

Before you LOL too much …

First of all, my kitty is marvelously adorable, 10-year-old, Lynxpoint Siamese, petite and attached to me. Vets have verified that “Jardine” believes I am her mother. That may explain some of this. Jardine is a foundling, named after the restaurant in San Juan Bautista, California where she was wandering in an alley at the ripe old age of 8 weeks.

Where do I start?
First, it’s nice to take a break from an everyday routine. For me it is.
For a cat, not so great.
No go here.

Next, chaos is exciting and challenging. Gets my blood flowing. Things are happening.
For a cat, not so great.
No go here.

Just as you’re getting bored by all of this, it’s not about what’s happening, not happening, routine or not routine.

It’s about that “being” state … you know …being who we are. She’s a cat and I am not.

Therefore, as an ever-learning, ever-developing, ever-aging coach, I must constantly take life as a lesson … to become a story in a future client conversation, of course!

Lessons learned traveling from Raleigh, North Carolina USA to Kingston, Ontario Canada with Jardine:

1. Cats hate hotel rooms.
2. Cats love to slink around and hide under beds.
3. Cats can sleep (somewhat) in a moving car.
4. Cats don’t automatically fall in love with their carrying cases (even when the case is rather chic and au current). In fact, it becomes an object of hate and fear.
5. A cat who has lived with one person all her life has a bit of a challenge when suddenly living with two persons in a different house.
6. Cats are truly adaptable and have modest needs.
7. Cats take care of their physical needs no matter what and where.
8. Cats purr when staff is acting as massage therapist and chef.
9. Cats truly adapt rapidly to an entirely new environment by marking every piece of furniture, both computers, all appliances, and accepting new kitty litter.

So this coach has learned (or is learning) the her version of these lessons:

1. A coach must always be coach-like even when disliking staying in a hotel room with a cat who clearly hates the hotel room and hides under the bed.
2. A coach must always be coach-like when crawling on the hotel room floor to find and capture the cat.
3. A coach must always be coach-like when driving in a car with a cat who vocalizes her unhappiness.
4. A coach must always be a grateful coach when cat is sleeping.
5. A coach must always admire a chic and au current carrying case even when cat doesn’t care about such things.
6. A coach must adapt readily to living with her significant other in another country so as to not disturb the cat’s psyche.
7. A coach must always be adaptable and have modest needs. (Not really.)
8. A coach must take care of her physical needs no matter what (after cat is fed).
9. A coach must learn to purr … what? Well, I guess that’s going too far but it would be nice to be able to purr sometimes when things go wonderfully well…

as they did and as they are.

Professional Coaching is Evolving

That I know.  That's all that I know about it.

My work as a coach must also evolve and become more future oriented. If I am to work another 10 years or so (that would be amazing at my age), I want to stay on the leading edge of my profession. It is one thing to say 'leading edge' but another to figure out where that edge is, or begins, or ends. I'm not an eagle who can fly off that edge so I must be my human self and remain conscious and vigilant, yet willing to venture forth.

   Where does that venturing want to go?

I will never forget when Indiana Jones stepped off that cliff and found a bridge magically under his feet. An action like that takes a high degree of faith ... the faith of the future. It's always important to bear in mind that when we talk about the future we talk about what has not yet happened. It takes an "every moment" kind of faith and trust to live into it.

When making one's living doing this or that, the times we live in dictate we pay attention to what we do, want to do, wish we could do in order to pay our way on this earth.

       To what shall I pay attention, given the magnitude of the possibilities?

The other day I was acknowledged as being rather pragmatic. I normally don't think of myself that way but it's a good approach and helpful at the least. I've always known myself as an idea machine fully occupied by the future. Yet if one thinks about that for a moment, what I do for a living requires that I stay "in the moment" with each client. I must imagine that I learned to do that, because that’s what I do.

I am going to venture forth and start with this question:

       Am I just making a living or am I making a difference?

As I inquire into this question I’m struck immediately by “maybe I make a difference” but really, is there any evidence that I do?

The word ‘pragmatic’ comes forward when I ask about “just making a living” as if it were a bad thing. It’s not!! I must make a living; it’s my responsibility to do so.

How I language myself is rather important, don’t you think? The word ‘just’ is pejorative and not helpful. What do I mean “just make a living?” Hey, I’m proud that I do. And if I preen and strut as if I know I make a difference, I’m not making a difference with anyone. All I could say to you or myself if I did that would be: “I am full of myself.” Yikes!

Here’s how I intend to investigate ideas and questions about the future of coaching. I will first address how I speak of my profession, the people who practice it and its potential for the future. I will hold myself as a learner on the road to mastery.

I’ll let George Leonard (Mastery) set my path all the while reminding me that the “plateau” is where we spend just about all of our lives.

“Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present. You can see it, hear it, smell it, feel it. To love the plateau is to love the eternal now, to enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment, then serenely to accept the new plateau that waits just beyond them. To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life.”

Noticing My Assumptions About Exams

Usually, I write in Word, edit and think about my blog posts.  I'll try something different today.  I'll compose straight on my blog post.  Sometimes that results in stream-of-consciousness thinking,  Well, okay.

Thank you to those of you who follow my blog.  I pretty much write what I think and experience in the world of professional coaching.  I've always been sort of an iconoclast (breaking down traditions) ...not so much that I get in big trouble, but often enough to limit my "fan club membership."  LOL

I've been an assessor on a whole lot of exams over the past few months.  After eight years of exams I'm noticing something that I assumed over the years:  the number of client coaching hours is important to the quality of coaching. 

Here's the deal.  Recently I assessed some ACC exams (you know, 100+ client coaching hours, 60+ hours of training).  Okay.  Well, one scored well into the MCC range (you  know, 2,500 client coaching hours, 200+ hours of training). Over the years at least 3 coaches earned the highest scores from me.  Okay.  Maybe that does't prove anything ... it's certainly anecdotal.  There are some "naturals" in this profession.

Here's another observation.  I also recently assessed some candidates for either the PCC or MCC credential (you know, PCC=750+ client coaching hours, 125+ hours of training with MCC=2,500 client coaching hours, 200+ hours of training).  The details are for anyone not familiar with all of this.  At least 6 coaches tested out at the highest level (MCC) but were going for the PCC credential.  Most test out at the PCC level (overwhelmingly) and a few (I'm sad to say) barely make the ACC level.

Anecdotally speaking (don't forget that), I notice that the most achieved score is in the PCC range ... frankly where it ought to be. 

Don't be misled.  I am not advocating for just one credential but simply making an observation that PCC is where we're going to find ICF coaches.  Makes sense, actually, since the training programs train to that level.

Recently I've spoken to groups here and there via conference calls.  I've been reporting another, possibly related, observation.  I can honestly say that, with rare exception, the only interest the public has in the ICF credential is the "CC" part.  No one asks about the "M" in front of mine.  I treat it as a post-grad designation, quite frankly and work hard to earn my spot in that world.

As an executive coach who is actively putting together a power team of top executive coaches, I'm interested in pure coaching skill coupled with organization experience and a willingness to learn a new 360. 

Now it's time to open up the credentialing  process ... at least, have open minds.  Surprise I would say that?  Hmmm. I tried hard to speak to this several years ago but ... well, who needs to relive the past?  There such a thing as global collaboration. 

I'll let that percolate.                                                                                     (Saturn with 4 moons.)

Resolving an Overwhelming Challenge Just Leads to the Next

If a challenge is big enough it’s likely to fall in the category of overwhelming, even impossible, and ultimately hopeless.

Have you ever had the overwhelm experience yourself?

Have you coached a person who is in some or all of those states?  Surely, you must have.

Well, I’m up against having been in all three for several months (after years of getting there) … having nothing to do with work or something fixable like that. The battle of my physical state had finally crossed the bridge to OMG.

This blog is about appreciating to potential of resolving a problem that has OMG (now what do I do?) status. It’s this way for clients; it’s this way for me, and this way for you and those for whom you care.

Here is an example of what I’m talking about:

A former client found himself suffering from stress and overwhelm doing work he loved to do. He was even masterful at doing that work. Realizing something was not working for him, he gradually embraced and then fully engaged in some truly “tough love” coaching that allowed him to begin changing how he works with people. Sure, he exclaimed OMG!  The change is continuing, the insights coming faster, the commitment still strong. It was my pleasure to be a catalyst for a whole lot of “heavy lifting” by this client who has begun to enjoy new and positive feedback from his peers.

Now it’s my time to sample the challenge and make my way forward with some tough love for myself.  Prior to surgery, I was privileged to be beautifully coached in an exam. My breakthrough (and it isn't often I have one in an exam, especially an ACC exam) was to "ask for what I want and need." What a revelation and how important it has been for me to learn how to ask.


Since I write this blog I can be personal ... the OMG is finding a resolution. It’s a moving and powerful experience to have a replacement of a part of me … to learn to walk again, to go through rehabilitation every day, to be housebound. All this is my new way to a simple though arduous future that is changing how I walk, how I sit, how I stand and, ultimately, how I feel ... oh, and how I think about things.

I'm ready to be more bold, more audacious, more controversial, more creative,and more unwilling to settle for the status quo in coaching.  Turns out my OMG was all along not about me.

Becoming Relevant: Lessons from a Mosquito

A woman named Betty Reese said this: “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” Okay, okay.

Onward!

My first blog of 2011 is a mandate to myself to expand my horizons to the world in which I am strangely rather comfortable … the future. First requirement is to fall away from ordinary thinking that has plagued us (me included) for the past decade.

Lest I forget, professional coaching developed during this time … yet in some ways it struggles to remain the same. None of that is a terribly bad thing. It’s just not the only thing to think about.

I’m going to Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw and renewing my close relationship with connecting things, people, ideas and those ostensible “whatevers” that don’t yet exist. His other excellent books (Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers have the same thinking, BTW).

For two years I wrote about professional coaching, mainly the competencies and how to take exams with a few other observations thrown in from time to time. It was fun and rewarding to look at what I do with an eye to what works. But I haven’t been truly fearless; I’ve been somewhat safe (not entirely) but then I’ve never known myself to take on things that are (were) purely safe …as if I knew what I was doing all the time. LOL

Then there are times when I need to educate myself in matters other than people.

I read Michio Kaku’s Hyperspace and will follow that with his Physics of the Impossible. The universe exists (no matter what anyone else thinks). It’s huge, beyond immense, unimaginably vast … no more words to use. Well, it makes me aware of how small and insignificant I actually am to the greater scheme. Yet I am aware enough to know that I am on a very small planet with rather frightening problems that may or may not have solutions. I’ll be reading this book for quite a while bearing in mind the mosquito.

I was musing on some cursory ideas from Alvin Toffler (of Third Wave fame) and his Fourth Wave predictions. The scary part is that they’re all the same problems only magnified. I’m of the opinion that the future must include some radical changes that I certainly cannot define or describe … at least it seems that way to me. I count on better minds than my own to keep me honest.

My wish now is to be able to relate to the future and bring what I do for a living (professional coaching) into a relevance that extends much further into the future than I will ever know.

So how’s that going to happen? First, I’ll check in with the mosquito for strategy. Then I will begin.

Evaluating Professional Performance

My current foray into the world of evaluating the professional performance of others is as a member of the ICF Credential Assessor Team. I’ve been involved heavily for the past 8 years. And, I hope I have not only learned a lot but have become a better assessor and better coach.

I’ll speak to 4 observations … commitment, skill, imperfection, and value.

(1) Commitment. There’s a lot involved with evaluating a person’s professional future. For one thing, it’s taking what this is all about with a deep serious commitment to doing the best possible job for all concerned. One does not take that lightly for a moment. And, I would say it’s the first and most important place to stand when taking on this commitment.

(2) Skill. For many years I was involved in training, developing and evaluating people who chose to become officials for a sport (competitive swimming in this case). This long time experience probably helped me move into the professional coaching arena more than I realized at the time. It remains a grateful background to my assessor work.

Another helpful origin is that I did not train with any of the founding group of coach training programs … I had no bias on how coaching should sound or be. Really, that’s true and remains to this day. The only backside of that is I do not want to hear a training program showing through above and beyond the coach … i.e. method coaching (sort of like method acting gone astray). To become an assessor is to shed one’s “learned” way of how coaching should be.

(3) Imperfection. There are some aspects that don’t work optimally about the ICF credentialing program but it’s rather remarkable how much does work well. In a new profession, grabbing the reins as the ICF did in 1998 and creating a credentialing program complete with core competencies that seemed to emerge from inspiration must be acknowledged as amazing.

But then again, to anyone who has not succeeded in obtaining their desired credential, there may be a heavy dose of criticism … well, except for the few who pursue with passion, learn, and ultimately do succeed. I know a few and admire the heck out of these exceptional coaches.

(4) Value. For anyone wanting to learn more about coaching than one could ever learn in any other way, becoming an ICF assessor is marvelous. I can say honestly, that my coaching could never have moved forward as it has without this part of my everyday training and development. The hours I spend as an assessor continue to be eminently worthwhile.