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The Coaching News
ISSN 1708-9026

(October 18, 2004)

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TOPICS:

  1. Coaching Transcends Therapy/Coaching Distinctions
  2. Coach Referral Systems Differ in their Ability to Deliver Results
  3. Attend Any of Six Top Level Coaching Conferences
  4. Four Studies to Guide Professional Practice
  5. Improve the Quality of Your Ezine
  6. What's New in Coaching Schools
  7. Subscribing and Unsubscribing to Coaching News

COACHING TRANSCENDS THERAPY/COACHING DISTINCTIONS

Discussions about coaching often lead to questions regarding the difference between coaching and therapy or counselling. Several coaching experts have tackled this issue by creating charts illustrating distinctions based on specific criteria. The best of these charts are produced by practitioners who have extensive experience in both areas. But in some cases the charts use stereotypes or outdated information about therapy and typically lump the multitude of therapy and counselling practices into one category.

As reported in the June, 2002 Peer Bulletin ("Coaching and Psychology: Partners or Rivals?"), at least one psychologist is firing back by writing an article (in a widely-circulated professional magazine) that stereotypes what coaches do and who they are. Many coaches have responded to the misinformation in the article and have written letters to the magazine editor and to the author. Even the International Coach Federation formulated a critique of the article.

But while these salvos from what appear to be distinct professions have subsided, the reality is that coaching in practice typically transcends the theoretical or academic distinctions between therapy and coaching. Here's an example from our peer coaching work. Steve Connors (not his real name), the CIO of a major airline is a member of one of our peer coaching groups. He, like other members of the group, typically initîates discussion by talking about problems or dilemmas. "I've got a list of things I want to fix," Steve said during his group intake interview. Does a good coach tell Steve, "I'm sorry, but this group is not for problem-solving, it's a coaching group. We only work on results, not problems."

In reality a peer coaching group starts with whatever the member brings to the group. If the meeting begins with an explanation of a problem (and it often does when either a therapist or coach might ask, "what would you like to work on today?"), then the primary activity of the practitioner is listening for understanding. Typically the next step in peer coaching is to ask about goals or desired results ("Steve, given the dilemma you have just described, how would you like things to turn out?")

Depending on the depth within which the group member is mired in the dilemma, sometimes it is difficult for him or her to articulate goals. Steve, for example, was so focused on his problem area, that he couldn't free himself to think about his desired reality. The peer coach may have to ask additional questions, reflect the difficulty Steve may be having, comment on what the peer coach is observing, or provide specific feedback ("Steve, for some reason, each time we ask about goals, you return to describing your situation. What are we missing here?")

While there are additional steps in the peer coaching model, a trained observer attending to the start of this peer coaching session would have difficulty telling whether the skilled practitioner was a therapist or a coach. And the remaining steps, which rely on powerful questions, deep listening and summarizing skills, might also blur the alleged differences between what some therapists might do and what some coaches might do.

Rather than focusing on the differences between various ways of helping others, it is probably more productive to ask how helping professionals can work together to aid their clients. This doesn't mean we gloss over differences, but it does mean that we re-direct our energy towards mutuality rather than separation.

Several coach training organizations, among them Patrick Williams' Institute for Life Coach Training, and Ben Dean's MentorCoach as well as a few psychology training organizations such as John F. Kennedy University and the Professional School of Psychology are independently working to establish this form of professional cooperation and mutual respect. In Great Britain this form of cooperation has been well established by the Coaching Psychology Forum.

(The next Peer Coaching in the Workplace Seminar led by Rey Carr at Peer Resources will be held December 1, 2004 in Victoria, British Columbia. See "Conferences and Events" below.)



"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."

~ Carl Jung (1875 - 1961) ~


COACH REFERRAL SYSTEMS DIFFER IN THEIR ABILITY TO DELIVER RESULTS

Probably no other profession has burst into the public domain with as much enthusiasm as coaching. Yet how much of coaching is actually founded on research findings? Too little. However, the dearth of scientific research has not stopped coaches from coming to conclusions about the key elements of successful coaching. And one such element generates considerable agreement among coaches: the success of coaching is highly dependent on matching the right coach with the best client.

The conventional wisdom regarding the importance of matching has propelled many new services to emerge via the Internet that claim to help coaches and clients find each other. But even if we accept the principle that an appropriate match is essential for successful coaching, the services that perform this task vary widely in their screening, requirements, methods, fees and philosophy. Coaches and potential clients can be easily misled as to results and some services charge fees even though the outcomes are dubious at best and exploitive at worst.

Prompted by the emergence of this trend in the coaching profession, Rey Carr conducted a thorough examination of all coach referral and matching services. The results of his study are now available on the Peer Resources website and the study includes a chart comparing the services on a number of essential criteria. "One of the most surprising findings," according to Rey Carr, is that "a well-known and respected coaching association provides very little for the extra fee they charge members. They do not screen coaches or require any minimal qualifications other than membership in the association." And Carr adds, "anyone who is willing to pay dues can be a member." This could be very confusing for potential clients as coaches with exceptional experience, training and accomplishment are listed right along side coaches with minimal qualifications.

The complete report, "Find the Ideal Coach for Any Purpose through a Coach Referral Service: Is this Possible?," is available at the Peer Resources' Coaching Directory.



"Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds."

~ Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924) ~

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
seminar@associationforcoaching.com
www.associationforcoaching.com/

International Coach Federation Annual Conference
November 4-7, 2004
Hilton Quebec (Conference Centre) Quebec City, Province of Quebec (Canada)
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
Tel: +44 114 225 5210
d.f.megginson@shu.ac.uk

Peer Coaching in the Workplace
December 1, 2004
Peer Resources Conference Centre
Victoria, British Columbia V8S 4E3 (Canada)
Tel: (800) 567-3700 or (250) 595-3503
www.peer.ca/trng.html
rcarr@peer.ca 

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

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

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

~ Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) ~

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:

Carr, R. (2004). A guide to credentials and credentialing in coaching. Victoria, British Columbia: Peer Systems Consulting Group.

With over 155 coach training organizations now in operation, 65 different types of certification available to coaches, and several associations providing a variety of credentialing services, confusion, cynicism, conflict of interest, and exploitation are all interfering with the coaching industry's setting standards, ensuring credibility, and protecting the public. This article provides an in-depth examination of the issues and details about certification, accreditation, and other forms of credentialing around the world. A chart is included that provides a list of all known forms of credentialing. (Available as a free download at www.peer.ca/coaching.html).

Fitzwilliams, M. and Goodchild, S. (October 11, 2004). Britain on the couch: How we are flocking to therapists to improve our lives. Independent.co.uk. (Retrieved online from http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=570534, October 12, 2004.)

Citing a report to be released by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), this article claims that 83 percent of the British population is prepared to seek professional help. Membership in the BACP has tripled (to 20,000) and other help-providing services have noticed similar increases. "Life coaching is the most popular of Britain's new therapies," claim the authors and its popularity has clearly surpassed the most trusted forms of talk therapy such as counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, and psychoanalysis. Such growth has prompted the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Accrediting Bodies to establish a national register of approved practitioners of the coaching approach. One critic claims that such coaches are in the business of creating clients by promoting a sense of insecurity in people. While some professionals see this new willingness to seek help as a way of getting past previous stigma, others believe it is a way to avoid taking responsibility. The authors provide examples of how help is being provided for stress, exam worries, and bereavement.

Goldsmith, M. and Morgan, H. (Fall, 2004). Leadership is a contact sport: The "Follow-up Factor" in management development. strategy+business. (Retrieved from http://www.strategy-business.com/press/article/04307?pg=all on October 14, 2004 - requires registration.)

The authors identify five types of leadership coaching: strategic, organizational change/execution, leadership development, personal/life planning, and behavioral. Their article reports how they went beyond descriptions and definitions and instead set out to determine whether such approaches work, and more specifically what approaches have the greatest impact on assisting leaders to "achieve positive long-term changes." To do so they examined leadership development programs in eight major corporations (approximately 10,000 participants). While all eight organizations shared the same umbrella goal (aligning practices with desired leadership goals), they all used different methods to reach their goals, including off-site training, on-site coaching, external coaches, traditional classroom methods, and on-the-job interactions. Effectiveness was measured by going beyond just participant perceptions of impact to also measuring the impact on co-workers and stakeholders. One key finding was that "Leaders who discussed their own improvement priorities with their co-workers, and then regularly followed up with these co-workers, showed striking improvement. Leaders who did not have ongoing dialogue with colleagues showed improvement that barely exceeded random chance. This was true whether the leader had an external coach, an internal coach, or no coach. It was also true whether the participants went to a training program for five days, went for one day, or did not attend a training program at all." The authors concluded that leadership relies extensively on relationship. Other findings included (1) the follow-up contact factor (thus the title, "leadership is a contact sport") held true for executives in both US and international corporations; (2) both internal and external coaches can make a positive difference; (3) coaches who followed-up with their clients led to clients following-up with their co-workers and employees; (4) feedback or coaching by telephone worked as well as feedback or coaching in person; and (5) continual contact with colleagues regarding development issues is so effective it can succeed even without a large, formal program.

Lewis, A. (October 1, 2004). Business coaches call the shots. DenverPost.com. (Retrieved from http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~130~2438013,00.html, October 3, 2004).

A journalist attends the Denver Coaching Federation's September 30, 2004 conference and makes the following points: (1) coaches specialize in many areas, including coaching other coaches, but the approach lacks clear definition; (2) coaching can resemble therapy; (3) some coaches do not have credentials, some have very impressive credentials, and some coaches speak in platitudes about trite ideas; (4) some people are not coachable and are likely to think that what coaches do is tell people what to do; (5) coaching can improve profits; and (6) some people who seek coaching are just too lazy or lack confidence to make a decision without someone holding their hand.

"In everyone's life, at some time, their inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

~ Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965) ~

IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR COACHING EZINE

Writing and publishing a successful and effective coach ezine is about to made easier through the efforts of Patsi Krakoff of Customized Newsletter Services. For several years Patsi has been providing ezine content and format for coaches who want a professional look and quality for their communication with their clients and website visitors.

Now Patsi is compiling the best ideas and proven practices for an e-book on writing and publishing an e-zine. She's interviewed many successful coaches and she would like to extend an invitation to any coach who believes they have a quality ezine to respond to eight short interview questions by email.

The responses that are most useful for new coaches and for those wanting to improve their ezines will be used; and full credit, including name and contact information, will be provided for all responding coaches. She hopes to compile the information for release just after the ICF conference in Quebec City. Each respondent will get a free copy of the e-book.

Patsi will be interviewing coach ezine publishers during the ICF Conference in Quebec City, November 1-6, and people can come by her vendor's table at Customized Newsletter Services and respond in person. However, she prefers email answers as they are quicker and easier to track.

Here is the list of interview questions:

1. How long have you been publishing?
2. How many types of formatting have you used (text, pdf, html?)
3. What has been your greatest mistake with your ezine?
4. What has been your greatest success with your ezine?
5. How many subscribers did you start out with, and (optional) by how many has it grown each year?
6. What was the best way you found to grow your subscribership?
7. What about distribution systems, problems, favorites?
8. What kinds of results have you achieved with your ezine? (Anecdotes, etc.)

This is a great opportunity for experienced coaches to publish information that will inspire and help coaches to improve the quality of their ezines. To respond to the questions above, just cut and paste and add your answers into an email to Patsi Krakoff at patsi@customizednewsletters.com or call Patsi at (956) 242-4254.

"In a democracy power is held not by the people who vote, but by the people who count the votes."

~ Tom Stoppard ~

WHAT'S NEW IN COACHING SCHOOLS

Coaching and Leadership International, Inc. (CLI), one of the top in-person coach training organizations in Canada, is offering a $1000.00 reduction off their normal tuition of $6995CDN. They specialize in executive and whole-life coach training culminating in a Certified Power Coach Designation. This one-time offer includes two-levels of training, 24 mentoring sessions plus a practicum. The next program entry date is November 15-18 (3.5 days) and will take place in Victoria, British Columbia. The price reduction offer is partly based on a requirement to videotape their instructional activities as one of the stages in seeking accreditation from the International Coach Federation. For more information visit their site (http://www.coachingandleadership.com) or call 1.250.595.5609 or 1.866.254.4357.

Franklin University, located in Columbus, Ohio, has just been added to the list of coaching schools in the Peer Resources Coaching School Directory. Franklin offers an MBA with a focus area in executive coaching, delivered as four, three-week seminars. Seminars also may be completed to earn a post-MBA Certificate of Completion in Executive Coaching. Seminars are offered on site on the main campus in Columbus Ohio, and online through web-based educational technology. Faculty responsible for the curriculum design and administrative oversight of the executive coaching program have Ph.D. degrees with graduate studies in business, psychology and counseling and hold external professional coaching certification. Supervising faculty members have experience developing, providing and administering coach-training programs. The teaching faculty also hold graduate degrees, have professional coaching certification, and are active in the practice of executive coaching and in related professional organizations. Most are members of the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC). Contact: Dr. John S. Brent, Ph.D., CPC, RCC, Franklin University, 201 South Grant Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43215; Tel: (614) 341-6343; email: brentj@franklin.edu.

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.