Coach Express

“The Internet is the most important single development in the history of human communication since the invention of call waiting.”

Nicky McClusky ” Find Your Voice”Date: 16th May
Time: 5pm NY EST

With great delight, we invite you to experience and explore Find Your Voice on Tuesday, May 16th with host, Tessa Stowe and guest Voice Coach, Nicki McClusky. 

Coaches and business entrepreneurs know the importance of being authentic, genuine and making excellent connections with those they serve. However, some folks may not be aware of how their voice supports or impairs this vital “linkage”. Speaking from a deeper layer of your true self is enormously compelling to others. Coaches also know that their primary contact with their clients is through their voice. However, some may not realize how they impact the listener and what they convey about what they may (or may not) wish to reveal. Your voice can “sink” or “sell” you, and it does!

In this teleclass you will listen to Nicki work with a selected individual, giving a brief demonstration of what can happen in 15 minutes of voice coaching, followed by Nicki working with the entire group (or those who wish to join in). Then we will have open discussion with Tessa and Nicki. Please come prepared to begin learning about the process of speaking authentically from your true self through your best speaking voice.

Nicki’s Bio

Nicki has been a Voice Coach and Voice Consultant for over 30 years in St. Louis, MO, coaching TV anchors, politicians, Life Coaches, Executive Coaches, Business Coaches, musicians and actors, corporate and non-profit executives, and voice professionals of many kinds. She is a seasoned Voice Coach, Psychotherapist, Life Coach, Small Business Consultant, and writer.

Nicki is passionate about assisting professionals to find all levels of their voice(s), equipping them to become magnetic and authentically powerful speakers.

By Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland
CEO, ICA

Learning + Action

Conducting a performance appraisal is one task managers would often prefer not to do. For some managers, performance appraisals are times when you need to highlight all the errors of the employee and have that ‘heart to heart’ conversation about how they need to ‘lift their game’.  It is rarely seen as a time for the manager to learn more about the employee and their role in the company.

A few years ago I decided to change the performance management system at ICA. We moved to a system of learning management. When the time came to perform the usual appraisal we created a learning appraisal. We spent time with each employee, found out what they had learnt and praised them for everything they had learnt. We then took the learning process a step further and asked each employee to identify what they would need to learn to be able to support ICA in achieving their goals.

What we learnt as managers was that our employees had some extraordinary ways in which they could grow themselves and ICA. For them it was all about leveraging. They wanted to know as much about ICA’s goals and direction as possible so they could see how they could best leverage growth. They knew their skills and capabilities much better than we did and could see areas that they were passionate about and wanted to take leadership in.

We are about to complete another learning appraisal period and it is a time I look forward to all year. It is a time of excitement, acknowledgement and learning. For me it compares so nicely with coaching. I see coaching as learning plus action. A learning appraisal at ICA is just that: learning + action- and it leaves employees feeling empowered, energetic and passionate about themselves and their jobs.

What more could you ask for?

By Robyn Logan,
Director of Strategy, ICA

“Email is for old people, the only time I use email is when I talk to my Mum ”

“You have to slow down when you talk to teachers”

These quotes are from a 14 year old schoolgirl in Scotland. Her chosen forms of communication are SMS and Instant Messenger. She thinks of asynchronous communication as outdated.

I came across these quotes in a great podcast the other day by an Australian man, Michael Coghlan. It is an analysis of a recent conference presentation by Marc Prensky who wrote an article called Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants [Download Article] There was something Michael said when he was talking about Marc Prensky and his ideas on technological change and education that made me think of myself and my colleagues.

I invite you to listen to the podcast:

http://michaelc.podomatic.com/enclosure/2006-03-05T06_14_42-08_00.mp3

(more…)

If you insist on measuring yourself, place the tape around your heart rather than your head.

- Carol Trabelle

Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland, CEO of International Coach Academy has received Master Certified Coach (MCC) designation from the International Coach Federation.

We are extremely proud to announce that Bronwyn is now an MCC coach. This is the highest designation awarded by the ICF, and Bronwyn is the 5th person in Australia to achieve this professional status. We feel honored as a company to have such a powerful coach driving our company forward.

Well done Bron, you are a gift to all of us here at ICA!

Robyn Logan, Strategy Director at International Coach Academy, participated in a panel of industry speakers representing businesses exporting into China. The panel was hosted by BSI in cooperation with Austrade and explored the various issues around doing business in China. (more…)

By Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland
CEO, ICA

Last year Robyn Logan and I headed to Greater China to explore the coach training market. We had received many stories prior to going to China about what it would be like, what to expect etc. As it transpired, many of these anecdotes were based on stereotypes and unsuccessful business outcomes. (more…)

John McKee’s “21 Ways Women in Management Shoot Themselves in the Foot” offers professional women advice.

John McKee, among the world’s foremost certified business coaches and president and founder of BusinessSuccessCoach.net, has launched his ground-breaking business book 21 Ways Women In Management Shoot Themselves in the Foot, which he considers to be a “must read” for junior to senior level professional women that seek to excel in business. (more…)

What makes a good business presentation? Is it the content, the ways its delivered? We all certainly know how to pick a bad business presentation. Hands up everyone who has sat bored listless while some poor misguided soul flipped through a never ending power point show. I certainly have. My favourite is when the aforementioned misguided soul then actually reads every single word on the screen verbatim. But enough torture - lets move onto how to pull together a great presentation. (more…)