Tomorrow's Life Coach
Volume 4 Issue 6 - August 2005

In This Issue: Update on Coaching Research

• Upcoming Classes at ILCT
• Pat’s Ponderings ~ Patrick Williams, EdD, MCC
• Editor's Pen ~ Annette Miller, MBA
• Newsletter Survey
• Coaching Research and Evidence-Based Practice: Important Trends in Coaching ~ Dianne Stober, PhD
• UK College of Life Coaching Training Event in New York City
• Opportunities through the ICF for Coaching Research Learning ~ Francine Campone, PCC
• Announcements
• Research Examples by Michael Lillibridge, PhD
• Financial Freedom - Living It, Coaching It ~ Gregory Gent, Coach

Tomorrow's Life Coach is a professional monthly online journal of the Institute for Life Coach Training that nourishes the intellect, intuition and inspiration of the personal/business coaching community. TLC continues to gain in popularity among diverse coaches and is highly recommended by Peer Resources:

"One of the best free newsletters, Tomorrow's Life Coach consists of well-researched, informative articles on a variety of key topics for coaches. While a publication of the Institute for Life Coach Training, many of the articles are written by other well-known coaches."

Upcoming Classes at ILCT

• Foundational Coach Training - starts September 19 and 20
• Foundational Coach Training for Christian Counselors  - in session, next class
  starts October 3

• Advanced Skills Practicum
• Group Coaching
• Ethics, Risk Management and Professional Issues
• The Foundational Competency Practicum & Assessment Process
• Overview: Using Assessments in Coaching
• PDP ProScan Training and Case Study
• Computer Savvy/Cyberskills 

• Practice Made Perfect: All You Need to Make Money as a Coach!
• Creating a Referral Based Business

• The Seasons of Change: Bringing Hope to Clients in Transition
• Certified Career Management Coach
• Body-Mind Life Coaching: Using the Body to Deepen Awareness and Forward the Action
• Relationship Coaching with Couples
• Pocket Your Profits: Introduction to the PeopleMap
• Foundations in Wellness Coaching
• Specialty Training in Wellness Coaching

Additional classes, details and online registration at our course section. Some schedules may change; check listing or contact Edwina Adams, Administration/Registration, at edwina@lifecoachtraining.com.

Pat's Ponderings

Hello Colleagues in this Great Profession of Coaching,

What a busy and opportunity-packed month! I have never had such fun doing what I love and traveling the globe as the ambassador of life coaching.

Here are some of this month's happenings: edited my third book (Law and Ethics in Coaching) which is out in October, wrote another article for Choice Magazine, joined the faculty of Fielding University as Curriculum Consultant for their coaching program, and was asked to be an advisory board member of the Gary S. Stevens Foundation, a non-profit looking for volunteer coaches (www.gssfoundation.org). 

More exciting events: finished a training with the Foundation for Inspired Learning as an invited attendee in July (This is an awesome organization started by my friend Peter Reding of Coach for Life and really resonates with what I am up to...check it out at www.inspiredlearning.org.) Started a new strategic partnership with Elifeplans.com (which is a brilliant site that allows clients and coaches to utilize a life planning web service that can really enhance your service to clients--visit www.elifeplans.com and use this code for a free 30-day trial: PW224.) Had a great radio interview last week on Miboso radio (listen to it at www.miboso.com.)

Now I am headed off to Cape Cod for my fourth summer of teaching coaching at the New England Educational Institute (www.neei.org) and then travel to Australia in September where I am delivering two keynote addresses at the ICF Australasian Conference. 

Keep on living, learning, loving, and laughing!

Pat

Patrick Williams Ed.D., MCC
Chief Energizing Officer, ILCT
Member, ICF Board of Directors
Dean of UKCLC - North America
Department Chair, Professional Coaching 
International University of Professional Studies: "Get a PhD in professional coaching from a reputable university without walls. Go to www.iups.edu...the quickest and least expensive way to achieve a PhD in professional coaching."

Editor's Pen

This month's hot topic is coaching research. We are pleased to update you on coaching research, share opportunities to learn how to design coaching research (ILCT is offering a course in January), and to provide examples of research. Such research can benefit your coaching business by providing data for improving your services, for publicizing your work to colleagues and prospects, and to remind us of the importance of providing value to our clients. Thanks to Dianne Stober, Francine Campone and Michael Lillibridge for their valuable contributions to this issue. We would also like to thank Greg Gent for providing an insight into "walking the talk" in his area of expertise - financial freedom.

Please be sure to complete the newsletter survey mentioned below - your responses will be used to benefit you!

Supporting the Continuous Evolution of Coaching,

Annette

Annette A. Miller, MBA
Editor, Tomorrow's Life Coach
Life Coach, ILCT
Member, ICF, IAC, CCN
President & Executive Coach, LifeSync Coaching®
Certified Birkman® Consultant - providing deeper insight into your being
Authorized Affiliate, Extended DISC® - the world's fastest growing assessment system
amiller@lifesync.com
www.lifesync.com

Newsletter Survey

Dear Valued Newsletter Subscriber,

In our efforts to continue to improve our newsletter and communications, we would truly appreciate your opinion. We are therefore asking you to complete a VERY SHORT survey to help us identify your priorities, ensuring that the newsletter meets your needs. To take the survey by September 5th, please click on the following link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=714621267074 

For your valued time and input your name will be entered into a drawing to receive "Falling Awake, Living Your Life on Purpose" on DVD & my new book "Total Life Coaching" (a $70 value). The winner of the drawing will be notified via e-mail on September 19, 2005.

Thank you for your continued support and assistance in helping us to make the newsletter a continued benefit to you.

Warm Regards,

Pat Williams

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.
Newton, Isaac
(1642-1727) b. Woolsthorpe, England

Coaching Research and Evidence-Based Practice: Important Trends in Coaching

Coaching is growing up. There were those first innovative, exciting years as people searching for new, holistic, and positive ways to help others grow found coaching to fit who they were and what they wanted to do. Then coaches began organizing, delineating standards, etc. Fast forward to now, when coaching is a development tool that many embrace. Now stakeholders (e.g., clients, coaches, organizations) want to know if and how coaching actually works. Scientific inquiry has been a traditional method for establishing the effect of any particular procedure, intervention, or event. Research also allows us systematically investigate what mechanisms or characteristics might be involved. So research is one method we can use to answer those questions of if and how it all works.

So if research can help bridge a gap in the development of coaching, I see three pathways to developing our research knowledge base: 1) linking existing knowledge to coaching; 2) drawing in scientist-practitioners who can design and conduct research; and 3) educating coaches about how to conduct and use research. 

The first pathway is applying what is known from related fields to coaching. Theories and research evidence from the social sciences, management and business, and philosophy can all inform what we do in coaching. Academic degree programs and more coach training programs are forging ahead in linking existing coach practice with rich traditions such as psychology. Books that explicitly discuss the application of theory are becoming available (e.g., Bruce Peltier’s The Psychology of Executive Coaching, Catherine Fitzgerald and Jennifer Berger’s Executive Coaching: Practices and Perspectives, and the upcoming book, The Evidence-Based Coaching Handbook edited by myself and Anthony Grant). I believe we will see training programs moving in the direction of expanding their offerings beyond the more practice-oriented skills classes (which are essential, don’t get me wrong!) to also incorporating more theory and evidence. And university-based programs can offer a road map of potential courses and curriculum design along the way.

The second pathway to developing knowledge about coaching through research is bringing in more academics and other research scientists who already have the research design skills to focus on coaching-specific research. As has been shown at the ICF Coaching Research Symposium (now coming up on its 3rd year), the Australian Evidence-Based Coaching Conference (this October at the University of Sydney), the fledgling research track at this year’s ICF European Conference in Norway, and other related associations like the American Psychological Association and the Academy of Management, we have active researchers generating knowledge. A large number of these are dissertations, which often are on the forward edge of new areas for research. In order to bring seasoned researchers also into the mix, funding for coaching research will be key. We have a long way to go in the area of coaching-specific research but we do have the nucleus of a research community to build upon.

The third pathway is one of the most exciting: bringing research skills and sophistication to coaches. While not all coaches will necessarily want to undertake doing formal research themselves, having a certain level of understanding of sound research design enables coaches to critically evaluate research as it becomes available. In fact, this is essential for an “evidence-based practice.” Broadly defined, evidence-based practice (EBP) means integrating the best available knowledge with the coach’s expertise to best serve the client within their unique context. The “best available knowledge” at this time primarily comes from theories and evidence from related disciplines and the small body of coaching-specific research. 

Coaches need to have a rudimentary understanding of research in order to evaluate that knowledge for its validity in their practice. At present, there are a few avenues for coaches to get a basic education in research skills. These are mainly in academic degree programs and a few certificate programs that incorporate research skills in their offerings. A small, and probably incomplete, list might include the University of Sydney’s coaching psychology program, Fielding Graduate University’s doctoral and master’s programs, along with its 12-month certificate program, the Institute of Life Coach Training, Oxford-Brookes in the UK, Pepperdine University, Antioch University, and the new University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) certificate program.

Most of these opportunities require enrollment in the full program, while ILCT and the UTD program offer individual classes in coaching research. These individual classes offer a great way for established and credentialed coaches to further their development too. A good basic research skills class will provide education on scientific inquiry, the pros and cons of different research methods (like qualitative vs. quantitative research), and how to read and evaluate research articles. There are also a myriad of textbooks on social science research that coaches can access through university libraries as community borrowers, so check out the borrowing policies at a local university!

It is truly an exciting time in coaching as we move forward in developing a body of research and theory to ground our practice. Coaches who want to stay at the forefront have more opportunities than ever before to learn about the best available knowledge out there and how to use it effectively in their practice. I can’t wait to see where it takes us!

Dianne Stober, PhD is a faculty member in the Organizational Management and Organizational Development master’s program at Fielding Graduate University and also teaches in the new Evidence-Based Coaching Certificate Program. She will be offering a research skills class this January through ILCT. Dianne is currently co-editing The Evidence-Based Coaching Handbook (Wiley, due out early 2006). An academic and a practitioner, she has presented and published her work in a wide variety of scholarly and professional venues. Dianne received coach training through Coach U and the Institute for Life Coach Training. She can be reached at dstober@fielding.edu.

UK College of Life Coaching Training Event in New York City

The Institute for Life Coach Training is proud to announce a strategic partnership with the UK College of Life Coaching in North America. Dr. Patrick Williams, MCC, CEO of ILCT is to become the Dean of The College for UKCLC - North America. Global opportunities for coaching careers, training and membership are available.

Are you:

- looking to become a qualified Coach?
- wanting to add Coaching to your current professional skills?
- wanting to be part of an externally accredited Coach, affiliated with the British education system?
- or do you know anyone looking to train or qualify as a Coach? 

Opportunities exist for:

1) Training 
2) Program Licensing 
3) Mentoring 
4) Coaching contracts 
5) Referral fee’s for College members 

The UK College of Life Coaching in association with Institute for Life Coach Training USA, are presenting two training opportunities in Manhattan, New York City on October 21 through 23. For details about this exciting training event, visit http://www.lifecoachtraining.com/whats_new/UKCLC.shtml. 

The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.
John Maynard Keynes
Quoted in: K. Eric Drexler Engines of Creation: the Coming Era of Nanotechnology, Bantam, New York, 1987, p 231

Opportunities through the ICF for Coaching Research Learning

Summary of Second ICF Research Symposium, 2004

How do we document what we do as coaches? Why is research important in coaching anyway? What kind of information is available to prove that coaching is effective? These and other questions were explored in the Second International Coach Federation (ICF) Coaching Research Symposium in November of 2004.

Dr. Diane Stober’s keynote address on “Coaching eye for the research guy and research eye for the coaching guy” kicked off a full day of workshops, presentations and conversations taking up the day’s theme of the interdependence of coaching and coaching research. Speakers’ papers examined clients’ perceptions of coaching effectiveness as well as coaching outcomes in corporate settings. Papers and presentations on other tracks examined grounded theories of coaching, compared coaching methodologies and explored concepts of evidence-based coaching. 

The program also offered participants many opportunities to exchange ideas, to interact with each other and researchers on research concepts and principles, and to brainstorm future directions for coaching research. A few of the papers and presentations in the 2005 program are direct outcomes of these conversations. Copies of the Proceedings of the First and the Second ICF Coaching Research Symposium may be purchased directly from https://www196.ssldomain.com/coach-federation/ssl/shopicf/products.asp. 

Coming up: Third ICF Research Symposium, November 9, 2005

Building on the success of the 2004 Symposium, members of the ICF Research and Development community, in collaboration with the Association of Coach Training Organizations (ACTO), have planned this year’s Symposium to continue and grow the conversations under the theme of Coaching Research: Building Dialogue. The Symposium offers a unique forum for researchers, theorists and practitioners to showcase their work in presentations and posters; share ideas in thoughtful dialogue and panel sessions; build community among coaching researchers and theorists; and, build stronger bridges between coaching researchers, coach educators, and coaching practitioners.

This year’s program includes the support and involvement of ACTO working in conjunction with the ICF Research and Development Committee. The keynote speaker, Dr. Barnett Pearce, is widely known in coaching circles and his opening on Dialogue and Research in the Development of Coaching as a Profession issues an invitation for on-going exploration throughout the day. Presented papers explore aspects of the coaching field as wide-ranging as coaching for diversity, coaching competencies, coaching and meditation practice, coaching as relational flow and ethics in coaching research. The contexts of coaching and coaching research also cover the spectrum from corporate to personal. 

Please join us in San Jose, California for this one-day pre-conference event. You can register on-line at www.coachfederation.com. Go to the Pre-Conference session information tab.

ICF SIG Dedicated to Coaching Research

The ICF Research and Development Committee hosts a monthly Coaching Research Special Interest Group (SIG) teleconference. This forum is open to all ICF members--no special credentials are required, just a willingness to engage with colleagues and discuss coaching research questions, share information and resources and mentor each other. Calls take place the third Tuesday of each month from 3-4 pm ET. To join, send an e-mail to Francine Campone, Facilitator/Host, at fcampone@rushmore.com with a request to be added to the list. A monthly reminder with the bridge line number is sent to everyone on the list and notes are usually sent following a call.

Submitted by Francine Campone, PCC, ICF Research & Development SIG Facilitator/Host

When you come to the edge of all the light you have, and must take a step into the darkness of the unknown, believe that one of two things will happen. Either there will be something solid for you to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.
Patrick Overton

Announcements

ILCT's New Web Log (blog) is designed as a space for you to build community, share ideas, ask questions, learn new things and get new inspiration. Selected faculty from the Institute for Life Coach Training, including Pat, CEO, are writing articles, posting insightful content, answering questions and creating community.  You can think of this blog like your favorite coffee shop, or French Cafe, or library.  Come hang out...share, learn, connect at www.lifecoachingblog.com!

ILCT Offers Coaching Research Course: Dianne Stober, PhD will be offering a research skills class this January through ILCT. This class will cover basic research designs and how different research questions are answered by different designs. Students will critically examine existing research and use their own real world examples to learn about research design. She is a faculty member in the Organizational Management and Organizational Development master’s program at Fielding Graduate University and also teaches in the new Evidence-Based Coaching Certificate Program. Dianne is currently co-editing The Evidence-Based Coaching Handbook (Wiley, due out early 2006). An academic and a practitioner, she has presented and published her work in a wide variety of scholarly and professional venues. Dianne received coach training through Coach U and the Institute for Life Coach Training. She can be reached at dstober@fielding.edu. 

Total Life Coaching: 50+ Life Lessons, Skills, &Techniques to Enhance Your Practice . . . and Your Life! by Patrick Williams and Lloyd J. Thomas is more than just a book. It is an interactive experience in which you will find recipes for living your life more authentically, as well as master time-honored lessons that you can bring to your coaching clients (or can incorporate in your own life). For more information, visit http://www.lifecoachtraining.com/resources/books/books.shtml.

The Brande Foundation is offering free life coaching for leaders of non-profit organizations. The life coaching includes four to six hours per month of telephone coaching, one to two visioning retreats per year, and one to two workshops per year. This is a year-long coaching service. Please invite leaders of non-profits to visit http://www.BrandeFoundation.org or contact Bill Rentz at 605-394-0072 or BillRentz@FallingAwake.com for more information. 

UT Dallas Offers Course on Research for Coaches: The School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas is offering Research Practices for Coaches (EC 306) as part of a degree program or continuing education. This course provides coaches with an introduction to the basic elements and methods of reflective and scientific coaching practitioner models. The course designer and instructor, Dr. Francine Campone, PCC, takes a “real world research” approach to helping learners evaluate and apply current coaching research and to assess the effectiveness of their own coaching practices. The course will introduce learners to current coaching research literature and an application of coaching as action learning. To enroll or to find further information, visit the School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas website: http://som.utdallas.edu/executive/coaching/. 

Accelerate your coaching skills and business growth
through ILCT's courses for professional coaches

Research Examples by Michael Lillibridge, PhD

Michael Lillibridge, PhD, president of The PeopleMap System, has recently completed two research reports on his corporate/executive coaching programs. The first report is on executive coaching and leadership development delivered to PBS&J, an international engineering firm. Data from four years was collected and reported, involving over 120 executives in executive coaching. The coaches predominantly were mental health professions who had received a minimum of one year of training in coaching and executive coaching through the Institute for Life Coach Training. Four different methods of evaluation were employed: people skills development, executive follow-up evaluations, coach follow-up evaluations and follow-up calls. Evaluation of the results identified outliers--respondents that chose to participate in four or less coaching sessions--and these were eliminated from the final follow-up evaluation. Ninety percent of the respondents had 12 or more coaching sessions. Coaches and the coaching experience were rated as "good" or "excellent" by 92% of the executives. Conclusions from this report highlight three variables that showed up over the years as consistent for success of executive coaching:

• Ideal number of coaching sessions would be 12-20.
• A high level of commitment by the executives to the coaching process as rated by both the executives and their coach.
• A positive impact on job performance: better life balance, improved people skills, and more focused at work as a result of coaching as rated by the executive and the coach.

The second research paper related to Dr. Lillibridge's corporate coaching program at another organization. The participants were in a leadership development program at their company and received coaching through Dr. Lillibridge's company. The evaluation items included open-ended questions and also questions with scales. The survey gathered data from the number of coaching sessions, percentage of coaching topics that were work-related or personal, satisfaction rating of their coach and the executive coaching program, and the degree of positive impact from the coaching on the participant's work. Two questions and responses from the survey are below:

• How would you rate your coach overall?

Excellent - 10 people
Good - 4 people
Fair - 1 person
Poor - 0 people

• To what degree has your coaching experience had a positive impact on your work? Rate on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 having no impact and 10 having significant impact.

1 - 0 people
2 - 1 person
3 - 1 person
4 - 0 people
5 - 0 people
6 - 0 people
7 - 2 people
8 - 6 people
9 - 4 people
10 - 1 person

Explain: [Only a few responses are given below.]

• It made a positive impact on relationships, especially with my wife by working out communication breakdowns.
• My coach helped me understand how others see me as a "Task/People" supervisor and co-worker. I'm working a little more "People" and a little less "Task."
• My sessions empowered me to have some very difficult conversations that have resulted in better work relationships, and a personal feeling of success.

If you would like more information about Dr. Lillibridge's research, please contact him at 813-949-1125. You may also register for his Executive Coaching Practicum, scheduled to begin in January 2006 at ILCT, to receive valuable knowledge, skills and mentoring support in coaching PBS&J executives. He has another course offered through ILCT this October, Pocket Your Profits: Introduction to the PeopleMap. This is a live weekend training event in Florida that will use the PeopleMap assessment to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and to strategically achieve success--to market yourself effectively, close sales successfully, and become debt-free through a successful coaching business.

Every honest researcher I know admits he's just a professional amateur. He's doing whatever he's doing for the first time. That makes him an amateur. He has sense enough to know that he's going to have a lot of trouble, so that makes him a professional. 
Charles Franklin Kettering (1876-1958) U. S. Engineer and Inventor.

Financial Freedom - Living It, Coaching It

Early on, I realized lack of money would block some important dreams if I didn’t learn new skills, so I learned. As a result, in 1999 I was able to quit paid employment for two years and live out my six-page dream list. My personal path toward financial freedom was so life-transforming that I now use these principles in coaching others to reach their dreams.

Substantial investigation and experimentation taught me that a great financial mindset without a robust system is rather inadequate. Money challenges start here: we have multiple needs for money, and haven’t learned a sustainable way to pay for them all.

With a skilled money approach, it’s solvable. For others, it’s a permanent struggle because of:
1) an inadequate mindset
2) a personal financial system not designed to support multiple needs.

When coaching around money, it’s crucial we are equipped to help clients change both. Otherwise, their current inadequate system will erode any new beliefs.

Most people have no idea what an adequate system is. Most people default to a basic checkbook register. Its goals are keeping the balance above zero, and having you agree with the bank on the balance. It gives enough structure to not be a bad customer, but not enough to fund dreams. A robust system, however, makes sure there’s always money for everything that needs money, at the time it’s needed. And, it’s tailored to support your values, needs and personality. Does your checkbook do that?

There are two main approaches to personal financial management. One accounts for where your money went (“cash-flow accounting”). The other allocates money before you spend it (“cash-flow allocation”). I generally recommend the second.

Accounting summarizes the past. You add up you expenses at the end of the month, by category. It’s a great basis for identifying trends, but rarely helps every decision stay on track. Plus, fewer seem to stick with the record keeping involved.

Allocation is better suited to allocating income to everything that needs funding, and to limiting spending to the money allocated. This method seems to appeal to more personalities. The basic steps: identify 6 to 8 main life areas that need funding, identify how much money should go to each, track balances for each area as your earn and spend.

Don’t use areas like groceries or utilities – that’s “budgeting”. It’s too granular, and misses critical categories. Ask questions such as:
· On your deathbed, what dreams would you regret not having had the money to experience?
· Which of your values need funding?
· What skills do your dreams require, and is money needed to acquire them?
· Which of your current expenses don’t support your core values?

Mine are: Regular Necessities, Irregular Necessities, Values, Play, Financial Freedom, Growth, Service, and Long-Term Savings.

Before banks, people used the ‘envelope system’ to allocate cash. Income was divided into envelopes, one for each category. Money was only spent if the envelope contained money.

That worked in a cash-based world. For a banking-based world, convert the idea to bank accounts. You have three choices to divide your income into categories:
1. Separate bank accounts for each category
2. Registers that record money allocation within one account (www.budgetmap.com),
3. Customize a multi-column business check register available at office supply stores. Ignore the instructions that come with it – they explain an accounting method. Instead, use two lines for each transaction. Total and allocated income/expenses go on even lines, running balances on odd lines.

If your system doesn’t make it easy to allocate money to dreams, I encourage you to do something about it today.

Greg Gent, Freedom Coach, helps overwhelmed professionals reclaim their time, so they can pursue their non-negotiable dreams - not just a career. In 1999, Greg quit paid employment for two years to live out a six-page dream list. He often encountered shock as people learned he was living life on his own terms. After returning to work, Greg began coaching others to develop specialized skills and behaviors to find time and money to pursue their own heart-felt dreams. He is currently in coach training, a member of IAC and the president of CoachVille-Dallas/Ft. Worth Chapter. To sign up for his newsletter or receive more information, visit www.GregoryGent.com or email him at greg@gregorygent.com. 

Live out of your imagination not your history.
Stephen R. Covey

Tomorrow's Life Coach™

Patrick Williams, Ed.D., Publisher
Annette Miller, Editor, amiller@lifesync.com
© 2004 Institute for Life Coach Training
www.lifecoachtraining.com
Phone: 888-267-1206
info@lifecoachtraining.com