article adapted from IAC VOICE Feb 2009 issue

A Thrilling Night Igniting the Fire in our Hearts – The IAC Pan Greater China Chapters Annual Dinner 2009
by Karen Au

It was a night filled with warmth and cheer. It was a night for friends and strangers to share life, love and fun. It was a night when people with different nationalities were connected and united. It was a night when spirits were inspired and enlightened. It was the night that marked the first time in history – and signified the ignition of the sustaining passion - The IAC Pan Greater China Chapters Annual Dinner 2009.

The event was jointly organized by the IAC Hong Kong & Shenzhen Chapters driven by the initiative of Coach Bonnie, who established the 1st IAC chapter in Greater China. I was honored to be one of the members of the organizing committee to create the special time together with other friends whom I did not know before, yet I could feel their generous support and sensed the deep connection right from the beginning. We decided the theme of the dinner to be “Sharing Love, Inspiring Life” – which we believed is one of the wonderful ingredients we experience in coaching.

Held in a local restaurant in Shenzhen, the 1st IAC Pan Greater China Chapters Annual Dinner 2009 attracted over 40 IAC members and friends around the region, including coaches, coaching learners, trainers, executives and university students, who have a keen interest in coaching and sharing from the heart. The event started with an activity of “Sharing of Blessing and Aspirations” which set the scene for the guests to exchange views and get to know each other. What could be more meaningful for us than to count our blessings and affirm our goals at the beginning of the New Year, and share that with old and new friends who have common interests with us?

The President of IAC, Ms. Angela Spaxman had extended her heartfelt support to us by being our honorable guest and the keynote speaker. It was her presence that drew us closer to the big family of IAC, and reinforced to us that the world of coaching is virtually borderless. Coaching is a universal language that transcends our professions, culture and status.

The rest of the night was immersed in the atmosphere of cheering and sharing. We cheered for the opportunity to meet and unite; we shared our inspirations and dreams for coaching. It was particularly enlightening to see that we had made a milestone in the development of coaching in China. As commented by Coach Meiling, “The program was nicely organized with time to connect, share ideas and have fun…Not only was it a valuable opportunity to meet with other coaches and coaches-in-training, it also gave me new insight on the trends of the coaching profession in Greater China. It was positive and encouraging.”

What really motivated us was the fact that the idea of coaching had already been spread in the new generation in China. Jane, a university student, shared, “I think the dinner was fresh, and I met many different kinds of people, who have one thing in common – strong interest in human beings and developing themselves and helping others. They inspired me that coaching can apply to many fields.”

The end of the dinner was highlighted by the activity of appreciation. All the participants exchanged words of gratitude, encouragement and appreciation to each other, affixed each with stickers in a heart shape, symbolizing that our words were expressed from our hearts. It was the moment we experienced once again the power of affirming one’s potential, which was so touching and awakening.

We were not only glad to see that the theme of the dinner “Sharing Love, Inspiring Life” had been actualized by all the guests’ hearty presence, but also delighted to realize that the seeds of coaching had been planted in the field of mainland China with the devoting efforts of coaches and coaching learners in the region. We could foresee that more and more IAC chapters would be established in different cities of China in near future. Although the event was over, fires were ignited in our hearts, and our passions to nurture the growth of coaching in our homeland will be sustained and exalted.

Please click here to share with us the precious time in the IAC Pan Greater China Chapters Annual Dinner 2009. Special thanks to Summer who helped us to take snapshots throughout the night to capture our memorable moments.

Karen Au is a personal coach and also a consultant in corporate training and development. She has passion to support people to thrive and excel in personal and corporate lives through coaching. One of her lifelong missions is to build the culture of collaboration and appreciation in every organization. Karen can be contacted at karen@apexinstitute.com.
 

Why would a person choose group coaching instead of individual attention? .................Bonnie Chan, an executive and business coach at Coach Lite, said group coaching was for someone looking for collective wisdom.

This was especially suitable when the desired improvement was organisational, not personal, and when performance outcome was dependent on more than one person, such as collaborative work in a company, community or charity purpose.

According to Ms Chan, group coaching is a better method for achieving performance and realising an organisation's mission.

Companies or organisations are the biggest client base for group coaching. Sometimes, they can comprise colleagues from one office or from different branches across regions, participating in one or two 90-minute sessions a month for up to three months.

Ms Chan said, in many cases, group coaching was employed to address interdepartmental conflicts in organisations and remedy the problem. "This gets department managers to co-operate and understand what the other is doing," she said. "Also, throughout group coaching, we can point out blind spots, look at communication skills, attitudes and examine documents from their own perspective and that of each other."

Mentor coaching is another form of group coaching, whereby experienced coaches teach trainee coaches working towards certification. Ms Chan said it was a chance to share their experiences in a relaxed and supportive setting.

While she said group coaching was a relatively new concept in Hong Kong, people interested could opt for this form of self-help instead of more costly individual coaching, which usually costs from HK$2,500 to HK$3,500 per hour. Rates for group coaching tend to be 20 per cent higher, but the cost is typically divided between the participants, or paid by the company.

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source: SCMP Classified Post

Donna Steinhorn, a Life, Executive and Mentor Coach, has written an article well summarizing what you need to become a successful coach.  She mentioned:

read more

When I joined Coachville for learning coaching in 2001 when Thomas was still alive, I was surprised on the concept of building my own R & D Team.  In the business world, R & D usually means something with heavy investment and key for a company's future development.  I buy the idea of the latter one but could not afford for the former requirement. 

I got the answer after investing time to digest WHY, WHAT and HOW on Thomas' idea and really put it in to my practice.

WHY it works?

• The Rule of Attraction -
• The Rule of Creativity -
• The Rule of Humility -
• The Rule of Collaboration -
• The Rule of Sharing -

WHAT is it all about?

• A Matter of New and Unique Ideas
• A Matter of Collaborative Wisdom
• A Matter of Simple Structure
• A Matter of Supportive System
• A Matter of Continuous Development

HOW to do it?

• Step 1 - Why do you want to have your R & D Team?
• Step 2 - What is your Theme to Focus?
• Step 3 - Check your existing Network Resources.
• Step 4 - Set up a simple Framework to help your team members to help you.
• Step 5 - Be Flexible to accept whichever the outcome and examine their value and impact.
• Step 6 - Be Persistance in the project time and sub-goals.
• Step 7 - Celebrate and share the outcome of the R & D with your team members.

(to be con't)

by Lorraine Lee  (Article from IAC VOICE april 2008 issue)

The highly anticipated time had come. Nine coaches from the Hong Kong IAC Chapter spent a weekend on an intensive practicum retreat to pursue the certification challenge. We hired Coach Bonnie Chan (IAC-CC and IAC Hong Kong chapter leader) as our mentor coach to support us on this journey. She picked the venue: the Agile Changjiang Hotel Resort & Golf Course in Zhong Shan, located on the southern part of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province, China, about a 90-minute ferry ride from Hong Kong. The facility was lovely. We felt like were on a holiday getaway. I think this helped set the scene and mood for our group to experience relaxation, fun and loads of learning ahead!

We met once before the retreat so we could get an idea of what would happen. And as the discussions evolved over the weekend, I sensed the positive energy of the group filled with openness for sharing, interactions and feedback.

Through this intensive mentor and group coaching practicum we enjoyed the beauty of the Masteries and the art of masterful coaching. We were also learning more about the IAC and the road to certification. We practiced—and practiced more—with each other as we took turns being coach, coachee and observer. For many of us, it was the first time making session recordings—quite mind-boggling for the technically-challenged. It took courage to listen to those recordings and to be critiqued openly in a group. But the debriefings as well as the individual consultation with Coach Bonnie made it all worth while.  (Read more about planning your own coaching retreat here.)

This group process helped each of us to explore our coaching uniqueness. We shared our favourite coaching questions. We identified our intended target markets and specialized areas of coaching like women executives, leadership coaching, transitional coaching and spiritual coaching. On a deeper level, we shared learning experiences such as greater self discovery, the powers of appreciation and expansion of client’s potential—which are all keys to empowerment.

We all had a glimpse of what masterful coaching is about. It seems light yet deep, and shifts are achievable within a short time. The most effective coaching at this higher level seems effortless and powerful.

As the retreat drew to an end, we as a group were more inspired, more confident of our knowledge and what we are able to achieve. The goal of IAC certification seems closer and more reachable now. With support from each other and our mentor coach, we know that our coaching journey will continue with greater enthusiasm, passion and success!

Lorraine Lee is passionate about coaching and supporting people to be the best they can be in all areas of their life. She is a personal and professional development coach who works with a diverse range of managers and professionals. Lorraine is also a voluntary coach to undergraduate students transitioning into the workplace. Lorraine can be reached at coachingmatters@hotmail.com.  

Source: www.certifiedcoach.org

Tips from Coach Bonnie Chan, IAC-CC
Mentor Coach for the Hong Kong coaches’ gathering

(article from IAC VOICE April issue)

Group coaching in few days' intensive retreat workshop—out of town and away from normal business—creates powerful energy and interactions that can naturally enhance learning ability. It seems to be a particularly accessible way for groups of non-English speaking coaches.

• Use the online data base of IAC coaches to find members in your area who might get together for this kind of extensive program.
   
• Find a mentor coach to guide the process or use the Masteries themselves to plan the activities for self-development and to grow in the coaching profession.
   
• Treat the certification as an advanced learning process; the IAC-CC will come as the side effect for your focus and effort.
   
• Plan for weekly follow-up meetings to get ready for Part 2.

You can reach Coach Bonnie Chan on line at bonnie@coachlite.com.

Source: www.certifiedcoach.org

1. Andrea, why are you bothering with certification?

Well, lately I've been coming into contact with a lot of people with M.A.'s and Ph.D's and I guess I'm a little jealous of all those great letters they have after their names.  :-)

It's true that on the face of it, it might seem like I don't need certification.  I'm delighted at the change and growth I'm able to support in my clients, without the piece of paper.  But there are actually two main reasons and a few little reasons I've decided to go for it now:

My sense is that one day soon, we're going to look back at this moment as a really significant tipping point for coaching.  The upswell of awareness of coaching is quite extraordinary.  The word coaching is being used to represent increasing numbers of things in the mainstream culture, and becoming embedded in the greater consciousness. 

At the same time, I think of it as a tipping point because I foresee there will be a moment when, after all this 'coaching, coaching, coaching' hubbub reaches a saturation point, a pointed question is going to emerge from that same mainstream -- just what IS this coaching thing we've been spouting on about, anyway!? 

I may end up being wrong, but my feeling is when that question bubbles up, those of us who coach for a living need to take a stand for what it actually is, in a back to basics sense.  (By back to basics, I mean things like the IAC's Coaching Masteries? or the ICF's Core Competencies.)

So that's the one of the big reasons I'm pursuing certification; I want to be unequivocally ready to answer that question 'what is coaching, really?' when the mainstream is ready to ask, and whatever credibility, strengthening of my foundation, etc. I can bring to bear in that conversation, I absolutely want.  I want to be equipped to take a stand when it's needed, does that make sense?

2. Do you think everyone should pursue certification?

No, I don't.  But I do think it's important for each coach to consider the question more than once in their career.  As the seasons of your life change, you may discover you value the idea of certification as a way of giving back to your profession, whereas a few years before, you couldn't give a hoot.

However. I think people in leadership positions within the coaching arena should seriously consider certification.  They might not ultimate receive certification - heck I may not be successful - but I feel it's important for them to have pursued it or at least to have studied coaching skills.

3. For people considering certification or trying for certification, what suggestions do you have?

I'll be the first person to admit: the idea of the certification process used to give me a headache.  Well, maybe it still does in certain ways.  It took a bit of a personal breakthrough for me to be able to reframe it.  So although I recommend you take advice about getting certification from qualified Mentor Coaches, my suggestion is this:  try to make it a game.

You know, like the game of 'how many baskets can you score' or 'can you keep up this pace on the treadmill for another 32 seconds.'  It's helped me a LOT to view the certification itself as a byproduct.  For that to happen I had to discover the intrinsic value of the process of certification, as opposed to those letters.

And that's the second major reason I'll be submitting my tapes in the next couple months.  I enjoy a challenge. 

Like most coaches, I thrive on stretching myself and this is a great little game to set for myself.  And, I certainly tend to be a divergent thinker, so the perversity of not being sure if I'll qualify for certification is a good exercise in letting go of control.  I'm enjoying that, and if you can find a way to enjoy it too, I think you'll find you can add 'Get Certified' to your list of projects for the year with equanimity.

4. How are you preparing for the exam and the tape submission? Do you have a process you're following?

Initially, I had a few missteps.  I have a few very long-standing clients who are straight talkers.  In one coaching session, I actually had the client interrupt me to say 'Is everything alright Andrea, you seem like you're -- you sound odd today.'

I realized I was committing one of the *top* mistakes Mentor Coaches talk about - trying way too hard.  Sounding like I knew my coaching was being measured. In a word: YUCK. Right?

So I'd describe my process as an immersion process.  I try to soak in as much coaching as possible.  Listen in on other people's coaching.  Relisten to fabulous coaching occurring on old TeleClasses.  In fact, I've spent quite a bit of time listening back to my own coaching sessions.  (The side benefit is how deep I'm able to get with the client's energy patterns, etc.)  This immersing works best for me because it's in the background and doesn't interfere with my live coaching time.  Believe me, once is enough for me to have been caught out like that with a client!

When as person practices scales and arpeggios time and again on the piano, it has a very beneficial effect on the way they're able to play Beethoven's Ninth, right?  That seems logical. 

And when a person observes great ballroom dancing, that too has an intangible but definite positive impact on their own ballroom dancing.  Are you with me? It's just true, isn't it?

I guess the bottom line here is I figure some things can be taught, other things are best 'caught.'  Setting up a system where I listen to CDs and MP3s several times a week helps me be my most natural self when in coaching sessions. 

Yep. This is what works for me, more so than buddy groups or triads, or working 1-on-1 with a mentor coach for certification.  Up the ante on daily exposure to great coaching and practice with intention.

5. Why are you pursuing IAC certification not ICF certification?

I'm getting asked this a lot. My intention is to pursue certification from both of these Coaching Associations.  However, to answer the question that's usually between the lines here, I'm pursuing the IAC-CC designation first because it fits more closely with my belief system.  For the same reason, my guess is that it's more likely I'll be successful in achieving IAC certification versus ICF certification.

Just what do I mean by 'it fits with my belief system?' The IAC process that's based solely on merit.  You're skill and talent at coaching, measured against their criteria.  There isn't a requirement for a number of hours coached or training hours undertaken.

Put it to you this way - I skipped kindergarten and as a result, graduated from college at the tender age of 20, going on 21.  Based on aptitude and a whole lot of other blessings, I was able to take leap forward.  Or maybe I should say a baby step forward. ;-)

I like the idea of a civilization that's build on merit and that rewards for talent.  I'm happy at the thought of people surpassing milestones and going for more.  And I'm the kind of coach that really encourages flexible thinking and quantum (sometimes illogical-seeming) breakthroughs.  Breakthroughs, in my experience, don't have anything to do with the number of hours involved. 

6. Is there a financial benefit to getting a coaching certification?

Absolutely yes.  I couldn't say the same thing 5 years ago with confidence, but now, definitely yes.  There is a lot of money being spent by organizations who want to hire coaches with ICF certification.

Non-ICF certified coaches cannot even apply.

My hope is IAC certification will come to represent tremendous value to the marketplace as well, and gradually IAC-CC becomes a hiring criteria.  That's in fact another reason I'm pursuing it.  I'd like to lend it credibility as much as I can. If I have it, I earn the right to be a good proponent of it.

7. You are doing this in such a public manner. Are you worried about failing?

Actually no.   I remember when my mother told me "It's good you failed your first driver's exam Andrea; now you'll be a safer driver."

One of the biggest gifts of getting in the game of getting a certification is asking myself to step up to the plate.  Having a reason to be an even more objective witness of how well I'm serving my clients. 

The only downside of not achieving the certification is probably the fact that there may be one or more future nuggets in Creating What Matters about the whole experience. We'll keep the unsubscribe links handy though, so it should be alright. ;-)

source: www.multiplestreamsteam.com by Lynne Klippel, Editor, 'Creating What Matters'