President's Letter-June 2013

Time to Check-in!

These last few months at ICF Chicago have been full of activity and I have consistently needed to pause and check-in with self. One of my favorite check-in tools is the “Clarity Check-in” by Cathy & Gary Hawk (speakers for our VIRTUAL chapter meeting webinar on June 10!!). Let’s do it together (5 minutes):

Step 1: What’s different—State one thing that you have noticed that is now different for you in the last 24 hours.

Step 2: What Worked & What Didn’t Work—State one thing that worked in your performance in the last 24 hours. Then state one thing that didn’t. Remove all judgment. Clap to acknowledge what worked and what didn’t.

Step 3: Check your Personal Energy—What is your State of Mind? State of Body? State of Spirit?

Step 4: What are you grateful for?—State one thing you are grateful for.

Step 5: What is your intention for the day?—State your intention.

Throughout the Day:

You can use this quick check-in before any relational interaction. Pause, breathe, and take a moment to set an intention for your time with the other person. What are you grateful for? How do you want to show up in this meeting? Use this as your “anchor” for the meeting. What’s the “vibe” you want to bring? What’s the “vibe” you want to create?

Personally, I am setting the intention to make more time to renew my creative energy on a daily/weekly basis. 

Now that we’ve checked-in with self, I want to shift the focus and check-in with coaching. As you’ve read in our most recent email blast on May 26, we are launching our new member benefits programs the week of June 9 and part of that launch includes the invitation to be intentional with the 7 Milestones of the Credential Journey. Where are you on the credential pathway? Stay tuned for our launch to find out more and take our Credential Check-in!

By the way, will you be going to the Midwest Regional Conference on June 20-22? I will! Hope to see you there!!!

Enjoy your June!

Wendy Balman, MA, CPCC, ACC

ICF Chicago President 2013-2014

May 2013 President's Letter

Making it real!

What do you do when you have too much information? I know what happens to me…I shuuuuutt dddoooowwwnnnnn.

Speaking of too much information, ICF Chicago gathered a plethora of ideas, requests and input from the two World Cafés we held over the last five months from coaches eager to be more effective, productive and lucrative (See our Coaching Resources webpage for more on our World Café gatherings). As a Board Team and your strategic partner, we did not shut down but utilized multiple creative sessions to interpret and apply the input as effectively as possible. 

What we discovered is that if we were to create a clear pathway for coaches to get ICF credentialed and stay ICF credentialed, we would be providing opportunities for them to advance their credibility, impact, community engagement, business development and earning power.

In light of this, we will be celebrating International Coaching Week  held on May 20-25, 2013 this year, as our launch for the following initiatives:

·         New membership alliance opportunity to support coaches in getting all the CCEUs (Continuing Coach Education Units) necessary to achieve and maintain an ICF credential more affordably.

·         A HelpDesk to answer questions on the ICF membership, ICF Chicago membership and ICF credentialing process.

·         Engage with coaches as a strategic partner to leverage the programming and resources in Chicagoland and abroad for our coaches starting with Radical Conversations! A 1-week virtual summit of coach leaders in the coaching industry provided for FREE!!! Check out www.radicalconversations.com to sign up!

·         A free Speakers Bureau tool for coaches to use for speaking opportunities including rich content and a clear introduction to the benefits of coaching. This will also be launched in-person during our May Community Coach Café meetings.  

Stay tuned for our official launch email blast during International Coaching Week so you can take advantage of our introductory membership alliance opportunities and to download the free Speakers Bureau tool.

With Anticipation,

Wendy Balman, MA, CPCC, ACC

ICF Chicago President 2013-2014

Web Watch 10

One of things most people do not know about me is that I love goats! I always have. They are not only darling, they are daring. I used to adore watching them at one of my favorite apple orchards in Indiana scaling these 2X4 runways into the air and around trees and back down to the ground again, amazing! My girlfriend has goats and I love going to the barn with her to feed them carrots [we NEVER have enough because apparently when it comes to eating they don’t have an OFF switch!] 

 

So imagine my delight when Coach Seth Santoro blogs on the ICF site today about goats and coaching [one of my other favorite topics!] Seth is exactly the kind of coach I emulate because he has a passion for life and coaching that is infectious. I had never thought to think about goats in relation to coaching. But after reading Seth’s article, Seven Things We Coaches Can Learn From Goats International Coach Federation I will never look at another goat without smiling and thinking that they are the perfect embodiment of what coaching my clients should entail; Fearlessness, Motivation [what motivates my clients], Curiosity, Playfulness, Transformation and Flexibility. Taking inspiration from what exists in our daily lives and using that to help our clients soar is a gift that we can all bring to our clients.

Respectfully,

Marggie Paris LSW, BCC

Life and Recovery Coach

Web Watch 9

Guilty as charged! I am one of those coaches the author, Donna Schilder, alludes to in her blog posting, Get Linked In! Leverage LinkedIn to Build Your Coaching Practice posted on ICF Blog Friday, March 15, 2013. http://icfheadquarters.blogspot.com/ I take business cards, leave them in a drawer and when I do get them out, I have lost all recollection of who, what and where.  I am also a member of LinkedIn, but do I really use it like the superior contact database it is? Answer is no.

That is all about to change; this posting has convinced me that I need to create the time to use this gem of the social media offerings to build a foundation of business relationships and then communicate with them. Schilder is quick to point out however, that in-person contact is still a critical component in building our potential client base, which I respect because I also believe that to be true.

 

The posting lists some very interesting stats for LinkedIn:

187 million members and growing

Average member income $109K

40% have management position or higher

Members visit the site 2.8 times per month

There is even a useful “How To” section that I will personally follow to not only build my base but enroll coaching clients.

This one is definitely worth checking out.

Respectfully,

Marggie Paris, LSW, BCC

Recovery and Life Coach

If you build it they will come!

 The last few months have been quite a ride for ICF Chicago. We held our first World Café in December 2012 with 50+ people in attendance and then again in March 2013 in a virtual teleconference format. The rich content and ideas that were harvested by our coaching community have been gathered and can now be accessed on our website from the Coaching Resources page: http://icf-chicago.org/coaching-resources.cfm. 

You’ve heard the phrase “If you build it they will come”? Well we are seeing this happen for ICF Chicago regarding the ideas and hopes for this community…they have been voiced and shared and the opportunities are now opening up to make some of these ideas a reality.

Stay tuned for the upcoming events (only a glimpse of what is coming down the pike):

·        Tonight! ICF MRAC presents FREE Midwest regional event for coaches w/ CCEUs – March 26:

o       Click here for details, to register and get call-in info: http://icfmidwestmarch2013.eventbrite.com

·        ICF Midwest Coach Recognition Awards – nominations due by April 1!

o       Know an exceptional coach? Nominate them! http://icf-midwest.com/nominate

·        Our April 8 Chapter Meeting is on business development with Michael Charest!

o       Register here: http://www.icf-chicago.org/meetings-events.cfm?id=114 

·        International Coaching Week - May 20-26:

o       ICFC will be celebrating this week with some creative opportunities for Chicagoland coaches…details coming soon!

o       In the mean time here is some info from ICF on how you might utilize this week to promote coaching, your coaching practice, and getting the word out about coaching to your community: http://www.coachfederation.org/coachingweek/

·        SHRM Conference and Exposition - June 16-19:

o       Just days after our March World Café 2.0, we were notified that ICF Global will have a booth at this conference at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, and that we were invited to participate…details coming soon!

·        Midwest Regional Conference – June 20-22:

o       Registration opens on April 1! http://icf-midwest.com

Keep checking out our website for more great events and opportunities being added!

Have a wonderful April and hope to see you on the 8^th for our monthly chapter meeting!

With Anticipation,

Wendy Balman, MA, CPCC, ACC

ICF Chicago President

I recently had a big AHA moment as I read ILCT’s March 1^st blog, Opportunity or Distraction, written by Sabrina Schleicher, PhD, PCC, BCC. http://lifecoachtraining.com/index.php/blog/

Working with manufacturing operations consultants over the years, I am very familiar with the using the Ideal Factory strategy, why had I not translated that to my coaching business strategy? In hindsight, it makes perfect sense for me to create my Ideal Client and then build my practice around that, and yet that is not what I have done. “Narrowing my focus and conserving my energy” is a brilliant tactic and one I can actually accomplish if I make my next business decision based on my Ideal Client. Working smarter is what Sabrina is proposing and I am all for that!

Next, I googled ideal client and found a great worksheet to use. http://www.themicronichemethod.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Ideal-Client-Worksheet-4.pdf  [It even includes a bad client checklist.]

If you have an experience with creating the Ideal Client for your coaching practice, please let us know how that is working for or against your own personal opportunities or distractions.

Respectfully,
Marggie Paris, LSW, BCC

Web Watch 7

Navigating Our Social Media World   (March 1, 2013 blog written by Kristen Kelly who handles social media for ICF.)    http://icfheadquarters.blogspot.com/

The more serious I become about my coaching career, the more I realize that I need to completely embrace the new business model that incorporates social media as an important marketing tool. This article is a quick read, covers all the “tools” out there and helped me see where I still have work to do in order to really “nurture” my clients. “Providing quality content on a consistent basis” sounds simple enough, but really requires some “big picture” thinking and planning, planning and executing on a schedule. This really got me thinking about the value of a social media coach and what that investment could add, long-term, to my business.  Kelly also emphasizes the importance of connecting with responders to your sites and tweets. She also provides good, solid statistics that are hard to ignore…social media is a critical business tool that is here to stay.

I am going to spend some time this weekend enhancing my LinkedIn site, doing what Kelly suggests. What struck me was the commitment required to use these tools effectively and that requires a strategy for managing them.  I definitely see how hiring a social media coach would be an excellent next step! 

Respectfully,
Marggie Paris, LSW, BCC