This morning I received an email informing me that I “have submitted and successfully completed all of your graduation submission requirements”.

So I am now officially done with the ICA training, and on December 7 2009 I will attend the graduation ceremony from my study at home using a Skype telephone connection.

Now the fun begins – working on setting up a coaching business, with all of the challenges that will bring.

I am looking forward to it very muhc – in fact, my next step will be taken in an hour from now.

I’d better get on the road……

During the Supervised Coaching sessions at ICA each coach coaches someone else for 15 minutes. That can be another class member, or someone from outside the group. Sometimes the “coach” and “client” already know each other and have a coaching relationship, sometimes they don’t.

I was astonished by how effective a 15 minute coaching session can be (laser coaching, it is called). Of course this form is not for everyone and every situation, but it is amazing what a coach can accomplish in a short encounter.

The secret seems to be that the “challenge” is concisely stated, and that the coach does not provide his or her own thoughts and advice. The coach askes questions, stimulates the client to think and express himself. Within a matter of minutes Significant progress has been made.  One laser coaching session was succesfully concluded within eight minutes!

 

Recently I have been impressed (again) by the impact risky questions can have in a coaching session.  Some people call them ïntuitive” questions.

They are the questions that come up in the mind of the coach, but are enough “out of the box” or “risky” that the coach does not quite dare to ask them as soon as she thinks of them. The coach takes a moment to be sure she wants to ask the question. Really what she is asking is “do I dare ask this question?”.

Sometimes the coach will let the client know a risky question is on the tip of her tongue, and ask “permission” to take the risk.  “I just thought of a wild question I’d like to ask, shall I give it a try?”

We all know that the biggest steps forward often come from taking the biggest risks.

Be a wise coach, but not a safe one.

My reasearch paper for ICA has been turned in and evaluated.

The topic for the paper, Is online coaching real coaching?,  is drawn from my experience of finding it hard to convince people that online coaching can really be effective. When you explain to someone at a party that you do online coaching, the reaction you often get is equivalent to having said you sell snake oil and arsenic.

I was interested in finding out if there is any scientific, empirical evidence that online coaching really is effective. My search lead me to a study of online psychotherapy models, which do have good scientific reasearch related to them.

That has enabled me to rebut the quacksalver accusation with concrete evidence.

If you would like to read the paper, click here.

One of the last parts of the ICA training has begun for me and 5 others in our class: supervised coaching. We get to do 15-minute coaching sessions and receive reedback and encouragement from our peers and the supervisor.

An excellent way to consolidate and practice what we have been learning.

The first session went well for everyone, looking forward to the next one.

I have just finished my research paper for ICA. I will send it to a few people to read, before I turn it in.

I won’t publish it here until I turn it in. When it comes on this site I will let you know.

It has been a long time since I’ve wrote a research paper. It has actually been fun to do some research. And, I have been fortunate to be able to combine my topic with some research being done by the University of Amsterdam.

I am really glad to be able to use Word. It makes things so much easier. I remember when I was in college, doing research in the library, writing notes on 3×5 cards, writing the paper out by hand and then typing it out on a manual (or electric, I don’t remember anymore) typewritier, complete with typex.

Aren’t you glad those days are long behind us?

And I didn’t have a coach then either!

It is amazing what a powerful impact reframing can have on a person.

“Reframing” refers to a change in perspective – call it paradigm shift if you will – by which the circumstances or facts do not change, just the perspective of the person. It can be compared to putting a new pair of glasses on. The world around doesn’t change, but what the person sees changes in a powerful way.

Sometimes the impact is instant – as if the lights suddenly go on. Sometimes it takes time for a new perspective to take hold.

This is one of the most important things a coach can help a client with – identify the perspective that needs to change for the client to reach his goal(s), and help the client dicover the new perspective.

It is not easy to guide this process, but the coach can almost always feel when it happens: a smile creeps over his face, he relaxes, he discovers a new way of looking at the world.

And likes it.

This weekend I went away with my wife and a few friends to a “retreat farm”, a place for rest, quiet reflection and conversation.
The group has an interest in painting as hobby, so we all brought our pencils, charcoal, paper and paints, ready to start the new school season with a bang.
Life contains many moments of crisis, large and small. So it is with painting, or any other art form, for that matter.
Will I find the inspiration? Will this moment move my heart and produce beauty? Will I claim victory over fear?
We walked around the farm, getting aquainted with the landscape, each person open to that moment of inspiration.

And then I saw it: a blue rope, wrapped strangely around the supporting pole of a woodpile shed. Not just blue: a kind of turquoise, beautiful blue green in its contrast with the natural colors around it.
The rope moved me deeply (I will do my best to avoid making sick puns about lasso’s etc.).  Why, I am not exactly sure yet. I love the color, the form, the strange knot, the combination of tension and release in the rope, the mysterious origin and unknown destination.
And that against the background of the woodpile itself, completely natural in its form and color, the logs with their wild knots and subtle wrinkles.
A lost pre-autumn dried leaf had been rescued from its ignominious fall to the ground by the wild splayed ends of the rope, and lies gently as if sleeping in a safe place.

Ernest Hemingway once said in an interview: “A writer produces his best material when he is in love.”
I am not in love with this blue rope, but deeply moved and inspired.
I hope it will help me produce my best work ever, for as long as it want to do that.

I am beginning to work on and complete my written assignments, required  for ICA graduation. At this point I am aiming to graduate in December of 2009.

I have turned in my Coaching Model (see the page it’s about time on this weblog) and my Power Tool. Both have been assessed as competent (pass on a pass/fail system). So that is a good start.

The next step is my research paper. It has been a bit difficult to find a subject for that that I can sink my teeth into. I have finally decided to do some research on scientific research into the effectiveness of internet coaching and therapy. I have discovered that the University of Amsterdam has done some fine work on this subject.

Stay tuned for more!

Power Tools can be very effective instruments for clarification and empowerment when used effectively by a competent coach.

The coaching profession makes use of a variety of Power Tools, designed to help the client move forward in clear ways.

A Power Tool presents the client with an “adversarial” set of concepts or ideas. The Power Tool presents a stark contrast between two concepts and challenges the client to use the sharp edges of this tool to break up ideas and ways of thinking that prevent him or her from moving forward.

Coaches use Power Tools called “Truth vs. Fraud”, “Trust vs. Doubt”, “Responsibility vs. Blame”, just to give you an idea of what kinds of Power Tools are available.

I am working on my own Power Tool, called People vs. Things. I have found it a very effective tool in coaching to help clients think clearly and explicitly about the people and things (material goods) their lives. This “reality check” can be painful, but it is a painful honestly that can lead to new empowerment and productive change..

Power Tools. Use with care.