Tomorrow's
Life Coach In This Issue: Grateful
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:
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. I am grateful for the coaching profession! It has changed my life and the lives of so many. For that reason, I would like to see the coaching profession achieve an even greater impact in the world. To that end, I have been working on a concept paper that now has action behind it and I want to share with you what I am calling Coaching the Global Village (see below.) I am in conversation with several non-profits, and coaches for social action groups and welcome your thoughts on this thought paper. I was reminded last week by Paul McCartney's concert in Denver, that "in the end...the love you take is equal to the love you make." Happy Coaching,Pat Patrick Williams Ed.D., MCC Coaching the Global Village © ™ : A THOUGHT paper on powerful possibilities Proposal: To utilize the power of the coach approach as exemplified today with the evolution of the profession of Life Coaching for personal and professional growth, I am proposing that a Coaching the Global Village program/project be developed to create positive social change for the underserved, undervalued, underfed, undereducated, and underappreciated in many of the villages and towns of the world, especially in places like Africa, South America and Mexico amongst others. My big vision is for a coaching initiative I am calling "Coaching the Global Village" in partnership with Rotary International, use the coach approach to combat hunger, poverty, and education in the poorer regions of the world. Rotary of which I was a member for 15 years is already in almost all countries...So I hope to propose a joint effort with them and then get coaches to volunteer their skills in third world countries. Just as the medical profession has DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS, we surely have many highly skilled coaches who would volunteer their skills to provide coaching to village leaders and men and women who want to improve their lives economically, socially, spiritually and live more purposefully and in a way of thriving rather than surviving. Yes, there are many services they need, but coaching as a conversation of empowerment, will evoke their own wisdom, and guidance to make a collaborative and creative effort to change their living situation. If more food is needed, what are the pathways? If better education is needed, what can be done creatively? All of this can be accomplished in conjunction with existing governmental and international programs, and it can be magnified in ways outside of governmental bureaucracy just as Rotary International has done with eradicating polio throughout the world. Or the model of micro banking that has been shown to be effective in small villages in third world countries. And through these efforts, this initiative would win the Nobel peace prize!!!!! Patrick Williams, EdD Back in March I caught a fascinating story on NPR Radio about The Blind Cow Restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland. This establishment offers a unique dining experience – a meal served in complete darkness with staff that is blind. The owner, Rev. Jorge Spielmann, raised money from local businessmen and the city council to open the restaurant in 1999. The restaurant provides jobs for the blind and an unforgettable experience for the sighted. Sighted people may discover that they listen more intently during the meal. Or, they may take the time to cautiously explore with their taste buds and tongues the texture and taste of what they just put in their mouth. Certainly they will remember the experience of being blind for a short time, and perhaps leave with a grateful heart for their sight. Our contributors this month, Susan Whitcomb and Beth Myers, have provided poignant articles that remind us of two essential traits: gratefulness and service. Susan writes about Volunteers for Careers and its effort to provide free career coaching to hurricane evacuees. Beth was an on-site volunteer in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and she shares her personal experience. Thank you to both coaches for sharing. We have two new columns and invite you to send your contributions: "ILCT Alumni News" and "A Lighter Heart." If you have suggestions for our 2006 Editorial Calendar, please send them by December 1.
Annette Annette A. Miller, MBA
Career Coaches Volunteer to Help Hurricane Evacuees Individuals whose jobs were swept away as a result of recent devastating hurricanes can obtain free job search help from professional career consultants across the country. Volunteers For Careers is offering no-charge assistance with resume writing, job search strategy, and career transition advice to evacuees from the Gulf Coast and others who experienced job loss as a direct result of Katrina/Rita/Wilma. "People lost much more than their homes in this tragedy," says Volunteers for Careers director Susan Whitcomb, an ILCT graduate. "They lost their entire means of livelihood. Helping evacuees find new jobs quickly is essential to getting the Gulf Coast region, and the country, back on its feet." Volunteers For Careers was initially formed by Wendy Enelow of the Career Masters Institute and Laurie Roy of the Professional Resume Writing & Research Association in response to the September 11th, 2001 tragedy. Their volunteers helped thousands of job seekers in the regions and industries affected. The initiative has now been re-launched and expanded to help those in need. Hurricane evacuees can register to obtain free services at www.VolunteersForCareers.com or by calling 800-513-7439 toll-free. They will then be matched with a volunteer career practitioner who will contact them directly, working with them via phone, e-mail and/or in person, as each situation requires. It is the objective of all Volunteers For Careers workers to help these displaced individuals return to the workforce as soon as possible. VFC volunteers are a cross-section of some of the nation’s best career counselors and coaches, job search coaches and facilitators, and professional resume writers. Volunteers are dedicated to giving their talent and time to help in a tangible way. ALL volunteers have signed and agreed to abide by a Code of Ethics mandating ethical behavior, services, and practices for VFC. Career services practitioners — counselors, coaches, consultants, resume writers and others — who wish to volunteer their time and expertise, can also register at the organization's web site. The most recent figures show that VFC have 912 volunteers who are available to offer free career services to 4266 people. The goal of VFC is to serve displaced individuals by providing job search strategy, career transition support and/or resume writing assistance. If a volunteer encounters individuals who require counseling and/or mental health services to cope with the disaster and their personal situation, the volunteer will immediately refer them to the appropriate agency where they can get the services they need. It is anticipated that VFC will be operating for a minimum of 6 months and perhaps longer, depending upon the number of job seekers who register for VFC services. Volunteers For Careers is on the web sites for the American Red Cross and Department of Labor, and may soon be on the Society for Human Resource Management’s websites. Any agency working with hurricane victims who have experienced job loss is encouraged to visit the VolunteersForCareers.com web site to learn how to refer eligible individuals or add VFC's information to their web site so that other job seekers can be made aware of these free services. Volunteers For Careers is a collaborative effort of leading career associations nationwide, coordinated by Career Masters Institute (CMI) in collaboration with the Association of Career Professionals International (ACP), Association of Online Resume and Career Professionals (AORCP), Career Professionals of Canada (CPC), National Career Development Association (NCDA), National Resume Writers' Association (NRWA), Parachute Associates, and Professional Resume Writing & Research Association (PRWRA), with the support of technology companies Databasepro.net and AcornCreative.com. What’s needed to make VFC a success?
CONTACTS
Firstly, of course, I'm grateful for "Tomorrow's
Life Coach." I'm grateful for continued energy, enthusiasm
and the opportunity still, to be "in the flow" as I
approach my 70th Birthday. The privilege, as coach, of being invited
into another woman's life; getting to know her "warts and
all" and hear this, my favorite client quote: "Before
I found you and coaching, my life was like trying to make a dress
without a pattern—now I've got the pattern". ILCT
Alumni News Last year, Susan became the president of Career Masters Institute. After hurricane Katrina, she spearheaded a volunteer organization to provide free career coaching to displaced victims, www.volunteersforcareers.com (see separate article.) Susan's business acumen, entrepreneurial spirit and level head in concert with her faith have been instrumental in her success. Despite her sphere of influence, she remains gracious, never drawing attention to herself but truly focused on bringing out the best in others. Susan lives in Fresno, California with her husband and nine-year-old daughter. We celebrate you and we celebrate with you, on this significant accomplishment. Editor’s Note: We invite our ILCT alumni to share their significant events, or for their colleagues to let us know for them. Please email amiller@lifesync.com with "ILCT Alum" in the subject line.
Gratefulness from a Volunteer-Hurricane Katrina Very quickly it became apparent that my skills as a 'quick thinking, hard working and compassionate person' were needed much more then any of my other skills. (Don’t these sound like familiar coaching tools?) I was moved into a position whereby I was helping other volunteers determine and assess the needs (mostly financial) of the evacuees. In essence, we were playing God. We determined if a person’s needs were those catered to by the ARC. This was at times heartbreaking work as there were so many affected people who truly needed help and yet did not meet the ARC’s criteria. On the flip side of that, there were many people who knew how to work the system by receiving help without the need. Perhaps the biggest gift for which I am most
grateful came wrapped in a rather odd package. I was asked to look
at where my prejudices and stereotypes lie. (For information on how to volunteer as a coach through the American Red Cross log onto www.RedCross.org.) Beth Myers (seguelife@aol.com) is a certified life coach through the ILCT. Her previous training as a psychotherapist was done through the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust (University of E. London) in London, England. Beth’s areas of specialization lie in blended family coaching and coaching the artist to excellence. Having lived abroad for most of her life and traveling extensively around the world she firmly believes in the notion that diversity can create cohesiveness rather then division. We have not succeeded in answering all of your questions. Indeed, we sometimes feel we have not completely answered any of them. The answers we have given only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel that you are as confused as ever, but we believe you are confused on a much higher level and about more important things. (Source unknown.) Editor’s Note: Please send your “lighter thoughts” for this new column to the editor at amiller@lifesync.com, with “light heart” in the subject line.
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What
are you most grateful for? One of my colleagues, Jim Sharp, has
this question on his pre-coaching form. What a great question to
gain insight about your new client! 
When
the call came from the American Counseling Association concerning
volunteers for the American Red Cross (ARC) for Katrina I was immediately
called to action. I have felt so grateful for the many blessings
in my life that this seemed the best way for me to give back to
those in need. Little did I know that I would return forever changed
and having received much more then I gave. I was initially deployed
to Montgomery, Alabama for a two-week stint acting as a counselor
to the evacuees (I was taught that the word victim is too disempowering
and that refugee is too displacing). Upon my arrival in Montgomery
I was immediately sent to Centreville, which is on the border of
Louisiana and Mississippi. We were the closest relief center for
the evacuees of New Orleans. 
My
coaching skills (especially the integrity training) were used in
this area on a moment-by-moment basis. Just what is it that I do
or do not do when no one is looking? I cannot tell you how grateful
I was to have developed these skills over the last two years with
the ILCT. I sat and listened to the many affected volunteers, who
worked tirelessly throughout our 15+ hour days, some of who took
their vacation time in order to help all the people in need. I sat
with volunteers from all walks of life (from the waiter to the high
power executive), all ages (18 through 75), all races, all denominations.
Seeing my skills and knowledge put to use in this way allowed me
to feel more gratitude then I had anticipated. 
Our
prejudices and stereotypes can lay deeply embedded within us and
unless we have the insight to bring them forth, in order to be observed
and understood, they can leak out into our coaching in ways we are
not even aware. Perhaps we feel that the old are always wise, that
Republicans are always biased, or that the handicapped are
usually limited. A verse from the Koran says “We…made
you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other.” Volunteering
in this way has increased my awareness as both a coach and a human
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