Coach Express

“The ENERGY from the conference was so powerful that I was still walking in clouds later that evening.”  That’s just a sample of the positive feedback we received from our first-ever conference exploring New Ways of Working.  Sponsored in part by Adecco HR services, the day-long event drew over 70 people, many of them ICA students and graduates who had travelled great distances to be a part of this event.

KICKING off the day was MC Bill Turpin, followed by CEO, Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland, who inspired us with her keynote on the ME and the WE of coaching and how this powerful process is making a difference in the world.  Then onto 3 workshops facilitated by Kurt Stewart, Sheri Boone and Bill Turpin, with breaks for tea, snacks and a sumptuous luncheon buffet. 

As the DAY progressed, our students and other attendees reminded us over and over again of the impact we all have here at ICA and the special connection and community we all uphold for each other.  Everyone talked about the ICA staff not present and thow they appreciate everyone who reaches out to support them. 

We CONCLUDED the day with a lively panel discussion on the Power Tools of coaching, especially those featured in Bronwyn’s new book, This vs That - Change how you see your world, launched at this event with a book signing that evening.  The panel discussion was hosted by Robyn Logan, panel members Bill, Sheri, Bronwyn, Merci Miglino and alumni Beate Richter shared their favorite power tool and answered questions from participants.

Our special THANKS to the spirit, drive and energy from our COO, Sally Bridger, No#1 all around techno-artist guys, Steve Bowery-Ireland and Mike Hall, Global Manager - Chinese Program, Pin Hsuan Chen and Lillian Zhang, for her amazing organisational skills and the detail divas, Gwen Nolten-Roque and Amanda Christo. And an extra special thanks to those students and graduates who coached people in the break times, providing insight into coaching for some for the first time.

And THANKS go to all the generous staff that pitched in and kept things going for the ICA community throughout the world.  Now we set our sights of the next conference in India, this fall.  So stay tuned!

Our entire team in Shanghai, China.

From Bottom Left to Right: Lillian Zhang, Robyn Logan, Kurt Stewart, Bill Turpin, Merci Miglino, Sheri Boone, Amanda Christo

From Bottom Top Left to Right: Gwen Nolten-Roque, Sally Bridger, Kang Kai, Echo Yu, Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland, Pin Hsuan Chen. 

Photographer: Steve Bowery-Ireland

Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have finally agreed on a 10-year search deal that will help them better compete against the market leader Google Inc. The 10-year deal announced on Wednesday 29th July gives Microsoft access to the Internet’s second largest search engine audience, adding a potentially potent weapon to the software maker’s Internet arsenal as it tries to better confront Google, the leader in online search and advertising. The extended reach will allow Microsoft to introduce its recently upgraded search engine, called Bing, to more people.

Google has a global Internet share of 67 percent compared with a combined figure of just 11 percent for Microsoft and Yahoo.

The partnership deal struck between Yahoo and Microsoft has been in the works for many many years. When we hear about partnership deals we usually hear about the end result – the partnership not the process. The process, as in the case with Microsoft and Yahoo has gone on for years. The process of creating a partnership involves many details and hours and hours of negotiation. So why enter into a partnership?
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by Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland

I recently met a person who was interested in becoming a coach. They asked me if I was a coach. Then they asked me why I was a coach. I thought for a moment to ensure I was going to give a clear articulate answer. In this twenty-second moment of thinking through this question I kept trying to drill down as to the reason for being a coach. I was thinking about the coaching process, coaching skills and techniques, the contexts that I coach in and many other thoughts.

Then I realised that the reason why I coach is because I am passionate about people and their capacity to be amazing beings. I love observing someone who achieves their goals, hearing the excitement in their voice. I love seeing how people interact and live out their lives. I love seeing the greatness in others and watching them exploring their greatness more and more each day.
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Join us for Positivity week!

The ripple effect of the huge economic crisis impacting our globe has presented many with difficult or challenging times. We wanted to do something to acknowledge and support our global community and are excited to pronounce next week as Positivity week.

Our aim is that during the course of the week, with your help, we will bring about as much positive energy as we can. We will be opening our virtual doors so that the world can come in and share their positivity intent during live teleclasses.

Read more - > http://tinyurl.com/daf63b

by Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland

It is time to take back the power. The only way to feel strong and certain is to follow your own sense of security. The greatest and only thing you can totally trust is yourself. Everything else is outside of your control.

Over the last couple of decades we have come to believe that large institutions such as banks and governments are the best organisations to invest in, be employed by and to uphold as pillars of society. But now in 2009 this notion has changed. Banks have crashed, governments have lost money as a result of the crash and now are having to support and fund banking institutions. The very basis or core of our societal underpinning, that we felt we knew, has been removed. The western world has been focused for some time on gaining more and more financially. Some say that as a society we have sacrificed family, friends, independence, and a sense of self all in the attempt to gain personal wealth.

Now after giving up everything the very last pinnacle of our existence has been removed from us as well. This is serious stuff. This feels like the end of the world. This is a world crisis. The media reports on the financial status of the world minute by minute, day by day. We all feel the crisis. It is huge. The crisis scares all of us. We are fearful of what will become of our properties, wealth, employment. How will we manage with less? The greatest fear is of not knowing, not knowing who will be able to provide the stability in our society for us. We thought it was the banks and the government departments. Employment in these types of companies was secure and gave you status. If these companies are no longer secure then what do we have to feel secure about? How will we find employment or investments that are secure and a sure thing?
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As some of you may know, my family and I moved to Shanghai just over a year ago.  We absolutely love living here and being a part of the ICA Shanghai community.  I remember when I first arrived, several of the students emailed and called me with support on how to get around and other great bits of information as well as making me feel so welcome.

Last week, one of our students Katrien, organised an ICA get together.  Below is the photo.  It was a great gathering and we all discussed how we wanted to meet up with one another on a quarterly basis.  Many people in the group have since volunteered to take on the next event and to host it in their homes.

The energy of the group was wonderful and I am always blown about how amazing each person is.  Every person has such an amazing story to tell ahd has achieved huge successes.  The ICA community in Shanghai is growing all the time and it is a wonderful part of the world to be in.  If you happen to be in this part of the world then reach out to someone in the ICA community to support you.

Photo from right to left:
Back row: William, Gus, Beate, Adile
Next row: Koca, Lois, Kang Kai, PoYee, Violet,
Silvia, Cecilia, Bron, Stefanie, Katrien, Lydia
Front row: Steve, Raf, Pin, Carlotta and Susanne.

Please join us for the following FREE teleseminars. These are open to anyone, anywhere in the world. Just register your interest below and we will send you the bridge line information you need to access the calls.

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Coaching as a Career teleseminar (English)
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Timely information about the coaching market, careers for coaches, coaching as a workplace tool and the ICA curriculum.

Cost: Free

Register now - > Thursday 12th February @ 8pm NY EST
Register now - > Thursday, 19th February @ 8pm NY EST
Register now - > Thursday, 26th February @ 8pm NY EST

The following teleclasses are only available to ICA students, graduates, staff and volunteers as they represent inclusions from our fee based programs. To find out more about becomming a member of the ICA community, please contact us.

Student Information calls
Getting Connected with ICA, Monday 1st December @ 7pm NY EST
Getting Connected with ICA, Wednesday, 3rd December @ 1pm NY EST

Meet your Student Community, Monday 1st December @ 8pm NY EST
Meet your Student Community, Monday 5th January @ 8pm NY EST

Coach Training Programs

Read more - > Certified Professional Coach Program (CPCP)
Read more - > Associate Professional Coach Program (ACCP)

Students in the CPCP and ACCP programs have a selection of over 60 teleclasses to select from when scheduling a timetable that best suits their lifestyle. Classes in December are held from the 1st to 21st, and then upon completion of a 2 week break, will resume again on the 4th January 2009
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by Robyn Logan

I see and talk to a lot of coaches who are well into their practice and still no website. They have business cards, they have a couple of clients, but they don’t have a website.

I don’t get this, because to me a simple 3 or 4 page website is the easiest and most portable thing you can do to promote yourself. It makes you look established and professional even if you feel you’re not. And there are so many low cost options available these days that there really is no reason you ever need to say “Oh, the website is coming…” ever again.

Read on to see me explode “The Top 5 Reasons I don’t have a Website” (more…)

by Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland

I have been writing up our new curriculum at ICA and one of the modules is based around confidence. I have been reading and thinking a great deal about what makes us confident. So before I go further, let me ask you the following question:

*How confident do you feel right at this moment?

Now, if you answered ‘very confident’ let me check in with you. Are you feeling really confident because you have done the task you are working on over and over again and so you know you can do it?

I have come to understand that confidence comes from within us. Let me use an example. I am very confident in reading a profit and loss statement. I gained this skill from studying accounting many years ago at senior school. I found I was really good at it and so my confidence grew. My teacher at the time enthused my motivation for this subject and so I practiced it more and over time became an A student. I understood the strategy behind the accounting practices.

Now, many years later, I continue to read profit and loss statements. It is like reading a book, I know the language, the structure, the details. I don’t need to ask someone if they think I am good at this particular skill as I know it intuitively. This is confidence.

Now let’s change this scenario a little. Imagine that I hadn’t learnt this skill at some stage in my life. One day I attend a board meeting or a financial meeting and a profit and loss statement is placed before me. I read it, feel that maybe I get it and then I begin to participate in a conversation around it. My ideas are encouraged and then someone challenges one of my ideas based on my interpretation of the P&L statement. I begin to doubt myself, as this whole P&L stuff is new to me. My doubts grow until I accept the other person’s point, not without a good argument though. I walk away feeling uneasy, even angry, as I was sure I had a good idea. I look to a colleague and ask them their opinion. They don’t support me or give me the answer I was seeking. So I decide to try the direct approach. I ask them whether they think I am great at interpreting P&L statements. They are nonchalant about my question and don’t make me feel great.

Okay so let’s stop and look at this picture of this person. Visualise how they are standing, feeling, looking. Not a great picture. I imagine they are slouched over, they are not looking happy and they also appear a little agitated.

Have you felt like this before? Of course you have! We have all felt like this at some time or another. This is the feeling of a lack of confidence.

But here is the very interesting point I want to highlight about confidence. At the moment when this person began to not feel confident, that is to feel doubt, they stepped outside of themselves to ask for recognition. This is also the time when our ego appears. It really isn’t a nice moment and it certainly doesn’t make us feel confident.

So here is the confidence equation.

Confidence = Self management

Self management = self awareness + self belief

So next time you are not feeling confident, ask yourself the question:

What do I need to do right now to better self manage?