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The Coaching News
ISSN 1708-9026

(September 2, 2004)

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TOPICS

TOPICS:

  1. Making Sense of Credentials in Coaching
  2. New Issue of Compass Available
  3. Attend Any of Six Top Level Coaching Conferences
  4. Four Studies to Guide Professional Practice
  5. Coaching and Psychology Form a Partnership
  6. Subscribing and Unsubscribing to Coaching News

MAKING SENSE OF CREDENTIALS IN COACHING

In 1996 Peer Resources created the Internet's only list of the few coach training organizations that provided formal training for coaches. Eight years later there are now over 150 such organizations listed. With no regulations or common standards, each training school was free to initiate its own credentialing system. And initiate they did: ACC, CCG, CDC, CPC, MCC, MRC, PCC, and on and on.

There are now more than 65 distinct credentials in North America and the United Kingdom as well as other countries, and the systems used to grant these credentials vary. Some are competency-based, some require attaining hours of course work, others require supervision by someone who has already attained the credential, some rely on self-assessment, some can be obtained without ever coaching a client, and some are just based on self-proclamation.

Peer Resources has prepared a new article that aims to reduce the confusion about coach credentialing and provide guidance to prospective coaches, current coaches, and the general public about the nature of, sources for, and issues associated with credentials.

This state-of-the-art paper reports on the most recent authoritative poll regarding opinions about certification, summarizes the issues associated with certification, identifies the variety of credentialing systems available in coaching, provides a way to distinguish the various credentials from each other, and offers suggestions regarding credentialing that will contribute to a healthy future for coaching.

The paper is currently available in the public access area of the Peer Resources website at www.peer.ca/coaching.html.

"If you find a path with no obstacles, check and see if it leads anywhere."

~ Alan Joseph ~

NEW ISSUE OF COMPASS AVAILABLE

The most recent issue of Compass: A Magazine for Peer Assistance, Mentorship and Coaching is now available. This is the only peer-reviewed, non-commercial, advertising-free print publication that that regularly includes a focus on coaching.

This latest issue includes articles on: (1) the results of a study on the impact of executive coaching with a Fortune 500 company; (2) the physiology of coaching and what happens in the body that makes coaching so successful; (3) how coaches help with difficult conversations; and (4) the anatomy of peer coaching and how it is used in the workplace.

To become a member of the Peer Resources Network and receive a free subscription to Compass as well as other benefits, go to www.peer.ca/PRN.html. The fee for a print copy for non-members is $15.00 (tax and postage not included). The print version can be ordered by contacting compass@peer.ca.

"Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from."

Al Franken

ATTEND ANY OF SIX TOP LEVEL COACHING CONFERENCES

Several coaching conferences are scheduled over the next few months. A selection of those conferences from the Peer Resources website include:

Association for Coaching Annual Conference
October 22, 2004
SAS Radisson Hotel, London, England
Request for Workshop Presenters Issued
seminar@associationforcoaching.com

International Coach Federation Annual Conference
November 4-7, 2004
Hilton Quebec (Conference Centre) Quebec City (Canada)
Request for Proposals Issued
Tel: (888) 423-3131 or (202) 712-9039; Fax: (888) 329-2423 or (202) 216-9646
www.coachfederation.org

11th European Mentoring and Coaching Conference
November 17-19, 2004
Hotel Bedford, Brussels, Belgium
Call for Papers:
David Megginson, Professor of HRD
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield S1 1WB, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 114 225 5210
d.f.megginson@shu.ac.uk

Coaching: A Strategic Tool for Effective Leadership
December 6-8, 2004
Toronto, Ontario
Canadian Management Centre
www.cmctraining.com
Tel: 1.877.262.2500

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches Conference
February 1-4, 2005
Paradise Point Resort & Spa, San Diego, California
www.wabccoaches.com

Fourth Annual Coachville Conference
May 4-6, 2005 (Preconference Event, May 3)
New Orleans, Louisiana
www.cvcommunity.com

"The greatest tragedy in life is people who have sight but no vision."

~ Helen Keller ~

FOUR STUDIES TO GUIDE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Peer Resources continually scans the professional and popular literature for articles, books, videos and other useful reference materials. They provide a brief synopsis of the work as well as citation details and summaries in a searchable format on their site at www.peer.ca/SearchB.html. Here are some recent additions:

Jarvis, J. (2004). Coaching and buying coaching services - a CIPD guide. London, England: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
This 82-page document is a must for coaches interested in marketing their services. The author has summarized a number of studies and provides a thorough perspective on the state of the art of the coaching industry. The guide outlines the different professional bodies and the current training and qualification options, explains the different types of coaching, discusses the business case for coaching, considers when coaching is an appropriate intervention, discusses the different interest groups, explains the difference between them and makes recommendations about internal versus external coaches, provides a list of criteria about what to look for in a coach during selection, and provides guidance and advice for human resources on recruiting and matching coaches to any organization. (Available as a free download at www.cipd.co.uk.)

Joyce, A. (August 8, 2004). Reflecting on office behavior; Career coaches help people see themselves from co-workers' perspectives. Washington Post, F.04. (Retrieved August 9, 2004 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45725-2004Aug6.html.)
A leading consulting company hires coaches to help managers improve their communication with their direct reports. While they may at first not appreciate the feedback from a coach, the managers realize that their is a conflict between how they perceive their communication style and how their employees perceive their style. The company conducted hired a consulting company to determine the return on investment of its coaching program. "The study found that all the leaders applied what they learned to improve their own development, while 53 percent went beyond that to significantly improve their relationships with teams and peers." The study concluded that the company gained $3.3 million in 2003 by providing $414,310 to coach 45 managers. This resulted in a 689 percent return on investment.

Laske, O. (2004). CDREM case study in the domain of coaching. West Medford, MA: Laske and Associates.
This case study shows the impact of coaching on an executive in a major corporation. The report uses a holistic system to describe present performance, barriers to success, potential conflicts and other characteristics both before and after coaching. The report also shows how a coaching plan can be based on the evidence from developmental and behavioral assessments. Attention to ROI is included in the results. (This paper is available at www.peer.ca/Projects/ottoroi.doc.)

Sanghera, S. (July 5, 2004). Features: I went in for coaching, but couldn't stay the course. FT.com - Financial Times, Online. (Retrieved July 6, 2004 from http://search.ft.com/s03/search/article.html?id=040705001024.)
A well-known UK coaching school holds an introductory workshop for people interested in becoming coaches. A journalist shows up to sample the event and in a some what humorous (sarcastic) way, points out the weaknesses: coaching is touted as being able to deal with anything; coaching is cliche-ridden; coaching is full of simplistic advice, "requires little training, little intelligence, and no experience;" coaches themselves are often in need of serious coaching; and "a great deal of coaching could be replaced with a bottle of wine, a curry and the company of a semi-sympathetic friend."

"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: The music is nothing if the audience is deaf."

~ Walter Lippman ~

COACHING AND PSYCHOLOGY FORM A PARTNERSHIP

Attending coaching conferences or reading coaching literature in North America is unlikely to yield many references to psychology. The closest these two disciplines come to each other in the US, for example, is through the efforts of some well-known coach training schools to provide opportunities for psychologists to learn how to make the transition to coaching.

In the United Kingdom, however, coaching and psychology have been merged for some time in the Coaching Psychology Forum (CPF). According to Stephen Palmer, the past chair of the CPF, "The development of coaching psychology in the United Kingdom is bringing together psychologists from across psychology's different disciplines. This will encourage integrative coaching practice and provide benefits both for psychologists seeking professional development as coaches and clients seeking highly-qualified coaches that are able to apply psychological tools and methods in their practice."

To ensure that this relationship develops fully, Dr. Palmer and his colleagues have successfully lobbied the British Psychological Society (BPS) to form a "Special Group in Coaching Psychology." The goal of this alliance is to raise ethical standards by promoting the appropriate application of psychological theory and methods of coaching practice. Dr. Palmer believes that this move has "far reaching implications for purchasers of coaching services and consumers of coach training programmes, many of which now contain psychological elements."

The CPF also publishes a new, free online journal called The Coaching Psychologist. The first issue was published this year and its publication schedule is based on when articles are received. The journal accepts unsolicited manuscripts and a style guide is available. Peer Resources has placed a sample Table of Contents from The Coaching Psychologist in the Coaching Literature section of its website. (All other journals in coaching are profiled in this section as well.)

The Coaching News is a free copyrighted publication of Peer Resources, 1052 Davie Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8S 4E3 Canada. All articles are written by Rey Carr unless otherwise indicated. Back issues are available online at http://www.mentors.ca/thecoachingnews.html. To subscribe or unsubscribe send an email to info@peer.ca.