Coach Express

by Sally Bridger

My name is Sally Bridger and, as the Marketing Manager for ICA I often think about how we can improve the quality and relevance of the information we send to you about coach training.

Yesterday it struck me! Instead of - ME - deciding what information you need for your research, it would be more powerful to ask YOU what - you - want to know.

So I have set up a web page for you to do exactly that.

Ask us your question(s) — > http://tinyurl.com/2s5ql5

Our enrollment team will respond to all questions personally, and we will use the information to compile a list of FAQ’s that will be shared with the world. We will make them available via our website and also send them to you for your own personal use.

And to thank you for your time, all those who submit a question, will be eligible for a 10% discount on the Certified Professional Coach Training Program (CPCP) with ICA. This represents a saving of over $480usd and is a fantastic opportunity to join a global, and icf accredited, coach training school.

Register for Discount –> http://tinyurl.com/2s5ql5 (more…)

By Robyn Logan
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to be a guest on Tom Floyd’s “insight on Coaching” Internet radio show. I was joined by Larry Magid, Derrick Sorles and Dave Taylor with Tom Floyd as the impeccable host

We discussed the growth of web 2.0 technologies and the principles and philosophies behind them. Tom sent me the full transcript of the show which I will link to below, and you can also listen to it here:

	Dowwnload Full Transcript
	Listen to Audio Recording

I would also like to share with you the discussion we had at the end about the role of web 2.0 technologies in business and coaching. (more…)

by Robyn Logan

ICA has been in a rapid growth phase for the last few years. (65% average per annum!) And with the company’s growth comes a growing Alumni.

Most educational institutions run an Alumni program of some kind or another. They generally consist of professional development programs, guest speakers and networking events. Sometimes they are free and sometimes you have to pay to belong to the Alumni.

At ICA we like to think we do things differently - and the organization of our Alumni is no exception. (more…)

Can you relate to any of the following statements?

- You have committed yourself to your current profession for many years, but you are starting to think more and more about going out on your own
- You know you’d make a good coach, you’re just not sure about the business side of things
- You are the sort of person that others naturally come to for advice and support, you always have been.

If the answer is ‘Yes’, then we invite you to join a special ‘Become a Coach’ teleconference.

Teleconference: Wednesday, 20th February at 8.30pm NY EST

Register now –> http://tinyurl.com/28auub

Please scroll down the list to find the capital city closest to you.

(more…)

By Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland

On the 29th December 2007 my family and I embarked on a new journey. We packed up all our worldly goods and moved to Shanghai. We spent the first few weeks travelling and staying in serviced apartments. The time came when we all strongly felt the need to find a place of our own to call ‘home’.

So the hunt for an apartment began and eventually we found the ‘perfect’ place for us to live. We have all settled into it remarkably well, enjoying exploring the new space and designing the layout of each room. It was at this point of our journey that I started to notice that being in a new space and a new country gave me some distance to observe myself. This may sound like a rather unusual thing to say. The reason why I say it is because we live so close to our behaviours and patterns of life that we are inseparable from them and therefore cannot always ’see’ what we do.

Moving to a new place is a little like placing your life under the microscope or magnifying it. When you place your patterns of behaviour into a new context they automatically change. The context in and of itself creates the change.

But let me give you an example of what I mean and it is not an example based on a business activity but an everyday domestic activity.

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By Robyn Logan

Yesterday will forever be known as “Apology Day” in Australian history. On this day, Wednesday 15th of February 2008, the newly elected Prime Minister of Australia stood up in parliament and delivered a public apology to the indigenous people of this country. Much of the content of Kevin Rudd’s apology was directed towards acknowledging the wrongs done to the “stolen generation” by previous governments. These are people who were affected by various government policies and laws that saw up to 100,000 Aboriginal children taken forcibly from their families between 1910 and 1975 and placed in Church or state institutions. Most were under 5 years old and many went on to experience terrible abuse in their new homes.

The indigenous people of Australia have requested an apology for a long time. For many Australians it represents the first crucial step to real reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and a fresh opportunity to work together towards finding pragmatic solutions for the material disparities currently experienced by indigenous communities. Yet former Prime Minister John Howard steadfastly refused to issue a formal apology during his more than 11 years at the helm. The closest he ever came was to express “deep and sincere regret that indigenous Australians suffered injustices under the practices of past generations”.

Yesterday’s apology went much much further than that. Kevin Rudd did two key things. First, he acknowledged that atrocious events actually took place and that the physical and emotional damage to those involved was profound and lasting, not just to them but to the wider indigenous community. The second thing he did was to repeatedly and clearly say three simple words “I am sorry”.

Here is an excerpt from his speech:

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With Kurt Stewart and Alexandra Pereira

In this interview, ICA student Alexandra Pereira (based in Lisbon) talks with Kurt Stewart, ICA’s project manager for international development. Alexandra talks about her experience with ICA as a non-native speaker of English and the advantages of training as a coach in a multi-cultural learning environment.

Alexandra has a background in counselling and came to coaching while working on her Master’s thesis which focused on the coaching profession of her country, Portugal. The results of her two years of research formed the basis of her pioneering book, Coaching in Portugal, which as become an important reference for coaches throughout Portugal. (more…)

By Robyn Logan

Have you ever paid for a booth at a conference? If so then what I am about to describe will be very familiar to you. Firstly, you wrangle to get the position you want, at the price you can afford, then you spend the next couple of months brainstorming a way to attract people to your booth. Will you hold a raffle, invest in an iPod or collect a range of bonus products together as one big giveaway? Collect business cards in a fish bowl and then spend hours (or get someone else to spend hours) entering names into a database.

Either way , it’s all a big investment in both time and money - and I haven’t even talked about banners, brochures and display costs. But as I said, if you’ve been there, then you know what I am talking about.

We had an opportunity to secure a booth at the ICF conference in Long Beach, California, last month. After much deliberation we decided against it. We just couldn’t justify the cost. Of course that didn’t mean that we didn’t have the odd moment of self doubt upon arriving and noticing 90% of our competitors were there with fantastic booths and great giveaways.

But then something strange happened. It was utterly unplanned, totally unique - and the response took us completely by surprise.

>>> 2 weeks earlier… (more…)

We hear you!

Over the last few years, many of you living outside English speaking countries have asked us to make the CPCP available in your language, in your country.

Until now, we’ve delivered our training online – in English only.

But we are committed to growing the coaching profession worldwide, and that means making our programs available to students in smaller markets whose first language isn’t English.

To do this, we’d like to start a conversation with all of you – current students, ICA graduates and those thinking about entering the coaching profession - anyone interested in developing coaching in non-English speaking countries.

> > > Please contribute by completing our online survey

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I recently moved my family and myself to Portugal, partly for personal reasons (I want my children to be exposed to other cultures and languages) and partly for professional reasons (ICA is gaining a strong presence in Europe and I wanted to explore that market for myself first hand). We have been here a month now and I still pinch myself daily to make sure I am not living a dream. When I think back now to the trepidation I felt about moving so far away (Melbourne Australia is a good 30 hours by plane) and the feeling of overwhelm as I started on the process of renting our house, finding a place to live in Lisbon, finding a crèche for my children etc. etc., I am amazed that we actually made it. But we did, and it was well worth the effort. So before I get into my observations of the coaching market here - let me just invite all our readers to make your dream a realilty today. (more…)