What does it mean to be a professional?

As professional coaches it means we hold ourselves to a standard of excellence, pursue continuous learning, and consider ourselves to be part of a community engaged in applying a body of knowledge. This year's ICF Global Initiatives: ICF's strategic initiatives support coaching as a professional endeavor. These initiatives include:

• Building High-Performing Organization
• Creating World Standards (to include sub-team on Ethics and Regulation)
• Becoming a Preferred Resource for Business

In Philadelphia, we have put a stake in the ground and aligned with the ICF brand. We support ICF's core strategic initiatives, including minimum membership standards of coach training (60 hours of ICF-approved coach training.) As we work as a community towards meeting the minimum education requirements, we are "voting with our feet" in support of high standards for our profession.

While this will be controversial for some of our members, because of the time, effort and financial resources this will require; these standards are critical. Research shows the need for a recognized body of knowledge and training guidelines to ensure that coaching clients receive quality and results. A 2009 Harvard Business Review study revealed that coaches are often "fuzzy around defining the scope of engagements, measuring and reporting on progress, and the credentials a company should use to hire a coach." The article went on to say that even though coaching is gaining legitimacy as a business tool, fundamentals of the coaching industry are in flux and buyers should beware.

At ICF Philadelphia (ICFP) we intend to support our members to meet the Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MER). Clare Sautter, ICFP President-Elect, and I traveled to NYC on March 15 to meet with chapter and global leaders to learn more about MER, and Clare is holding conference calls with members to support them through the process. Please help us to help you! I invite you, as a member of the ICFP community, to ask questions about coach training and share with your fellow members whatever information you already have. The yahoo group is a convenient member resource to foster this communication. And, I am always only a phone call or e-mail away.

April Dinner Meeting: 

Date & Time: Thursday, April 19, 2012 - 6:00 to 9:00 PM 

Topic: The Human Side of Money with Stephanie W. McCullough 

Location: Double Tree Guest Suites, 640 W. Germantown Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA (610) 834-8300

Directions:Click here 

6:00-6:30 pm New Member Pre-Meeting

6:00-6:30 pm Registration

6:45-7:00 pm President's Remarks

7:15-8:15 pm Dinner Presentation

8:15-9:15 pm Informal Networking

Money issues are so intertwined with career paths and with life happiness. They affect every part of life - self-perception and self-worth, relationships, day-to-day and long-term decisions. It is hard to disconnect it. What stands in our way? What are the common obstacles? And, what are the thoughts, beliefs and perceptions we hold about money? 

No matter our niche and no matter the age or career of our clients, as we work with them, issues of money inevitably come up. Stephanie W. McCullough has spent her whole life focused on finances, first on her father's lap and for the past 14 years as a fully licensed financial advisor specializing in advising women on financial wellness. Her interactive presentation will provide three things, (1) some knowledge about the biggest money challenges people face, (2) some awareness of the "technology" and research that exists on the topic, and (3) access to some tools to facilitate bringing clients to a comfort level with their finances. This evening will be thought-provoking and illuminating on a topic that affects all of us.

Ms. McCullough founded Sofia Financial (www.sofiafinancial.com) to empower women to make wise financial decisions. A financial advisor since 1997, she believes everyone, regardless of income level, deserves quality, objective advice. Before moving into financial services, Stephanie had a wide variety of jobs, including teaching people more than twice her age how to confidently handle a sailboat. A member of the Financial Planning Association and Society of Financial Services Professionals, she holds securities and insurance licenses. She earned an M.A. in International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. from Duke University.

Keep a look out in your mailbox for the Bi-Annual All Member Survey. This is your chance to tell us how ICF Philadelphia can better serve you:  What's working? What do you want more of? Less of? What do you want to be different?

You will have two weeks from when you first receive the survey to complete it. Once we close the survey period, all responses will be collected and summarized. You will be given a summary of the feedback and your feedback will then be used to provide input into next year's strategic planning.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Jeff Kaplan, Past President at pastpresident@philadelphiacoaches.org

Welcome New and Renewing Members:

WE'RE GEARING UP FOR A 2013 COACHING CONFERENCE

The board wants to build on the incredible success of our 2011 conference by holding a regional coaching conference again in 2013. The following ICF members have volunteered to soon begin working on this conference: Chris Coward, Suzanne Perry, Dean Becker, Delores Davis, Nancy West, Gayle Carter, Corinne Valentine and Diane Seader.

If you haven't signed up yet, please consider joining this dynamic team!

The volunteers who worked on the 2011 conference created a big win for ICF Philly, and in addition, they forged new relationships, had fun, and strengthened ICFP for the future. The time is NOW to start to plan our 2013 conference.

This is your opportunity to step up and take a leadership role, get to know new ICFP members and build your visibility in the coaching world!

We recognize this is a big undertaking and that volunteering is about your goals too. Whether you worked in the 2011 conference or would be getting involved for the first time, I would be happy to speak to you personally about the committees and roles that would help you get what you want out of volunteering on this event.

Get involved in this exciting opportunity to plan another hugely successful event that will contribute to the growth of our profession in this region.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Marjorie Johnson, LCSW, ACC

President, ICF Philadelphia

President@philadelphiacoaches.org

610-696-4443

By Bob Dunham, Founder, Institute of Generative Leadership

Is your world full of possibilities? Or do you mostly see limits to your possibilities? For example, what do you think of the word "organizations" or the word "corporate"? The common sense of our culture is that words have meanings, and, in fact, definitions. But when we listen to what people mean with their words, we do not find definitions; we find worlds. Dictionaries have definitions, but words bring worlds.

For example, the word "love" does not show up for us as a definition but as a world of what is meaningful in a whole domain of experience and action. It brings a sense of what possibilities are open and closed to us; our whole history with love shows up; the practices and actions of love are illuminated. The same is true of words like "organizations," "leadership," or "teams"-the language of how we take action together, as well as the language of other domains of our lives.

The language we live in shapes our world, what we see, and what we do. In the ontological and generative traditions, people are observers and actors-they see what their history has taught them to see from their growing up, their language, culture, education, family, training, and experiences-and they take the actions that their historical practices and habits have enabled them to take.

Not only do we live our stories, but our stories live us-our stories of life, of who we are, and of what is possible and not possible. When we are aware that we live in stories, we can become the author of our stories, rather than their victim. As observers of words and worlds, we can change our listening and what we generate with our conversations. With practice, we can strengthen our ability to author and live new stories and enable ourselves with others to create new worlds.

Bob Dunham's Coaching Excellence in Organizations Program (CEO) begins with the Foundations of Generative Leadership (FGL) workshop.  The next FGL workshops will be in Philadelphia (April 19-21).  Learn more in a free telecall with CEO Program senior coach Marty Raphael, "Leading, Power, and Politics," at noon ET, April 6.

Quarterly Webinars on Earning an ICF Credential

 Corporate Coaching Corner

By Yoon Cannon

Finding the Money - Creative Strategies for Helping Corporations Find the Money to Fund the Coaching They Want

As corporate coaches we all know it can be a lot of work to secure a new corporate client. Landing the deal for getting hired as a corporate coach involves having to carefully jump through a series of hoops and hurdles for us to pass their tests, get approvals, diffuse ongoing fears, and win engagement; while continually stirring excitement and continued awareness of their need for our coaching. And yet, how many times have we succeeded through all this only to discover in the eleventh hour that the very company who truly wants and needs our coaching can't seem to "find the money" to fund the coaching program they want to receive?

In our April 20th SIG call we will be talking about money:

• How do you talk about money with your prospective corporate clients?
• How do you educate that your program is worth the money?
• How do you determine whether they really do have the money?
• How do you then help them find the money?

SIG Call Date:          Friday, April 20^th- 9:00-10:00 am

Bridgeline:               (209) 647-1000

Access Code:          531842#

Please reserve your spot by emailing me at YoonCannon@ParamountBusinessCoach.com

Or Call (215) 292-4947

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