Volume 8 Issue 5 – May, 2009
In This Issue:
Pat's
Ponderings ~ Patrick Williams, Ed.D.,
MCC- Monthly
- Pat's Coaching Forum - Trends in Health and Wellness Coaching - May 21st
- Introduction to Coaching Calls - May 15th, June 5th, June 19th
- Free Coach Referral Service for CLC's
- News & Features
- Upcoming Classes at ILCT
- Where in the World is Pat Williams?
- What Pat Recommends - Waiting for Autumn by Scott Blum, Life's Golden Ticket by Brendon Burchard, and Total Life Coaching by Dr. Patrick Williams MCC, Dr. Lloyd J. Thomas
Tomorrow's Life Coach (TLC) is a monthly online journal from the Institute for Life Coach Training (ILCT) that nourishes the intellect, intuition and inspiration of the personal and business coaching community.
Pat's Ponderings - What Mental Maps Will You Use in Creating Your Future? Part 1
"The empires of the future will be empires of the mind." — Winston Churchill
In a ruthless, globally competitive market, companies cannot afford the luxury of holding onto more employees than they need. With economic constraints and technological advances, some jobs are being eliminated completely — a trend that will surely continue.
A new generation of sophisticated information and communication technologies, together with new forms of business reorganization and management, is wiping out full-time employment for millions of blue- and white-collar workers.
What does this mean? There is work, but it’s not the same as it used to be. There are jobs, but not the same ones offered a few years ago. And unless you want to go after menial work, you’ll need to acquire a disciplined education and variety of experiences, while also developing a highly valued mind.
We’ve all read about accelerating globalization, information overload, the drastic ascent of technology and science, and the threat of growing competition. Each of these challenges will require new ways of thinking and learning for those hoping to create a successful future.
Our Mind(s) Matter
In Five Minds for the Future (Harvard Business School Press, 2007), author and noted psychologist Howard Gardner says our mind — actually, minds — matters. We achieve greater professional success by learning how to think and learn in new ways.
Gardner, well known in psychological circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, believes five different kinds of minds are critical to remaining a highly prized asset in your organization, especially in times of economic cutbacks. Human capability, he asserts, cannot be reduced to a single metric: IQ.
According to Gardner, five cognitive capacities will be in great demand in the years ahead:
- The Disciplined Mind
- The Synthesizing Mind
- The Creating Mind
- The Respectful Mind
- The Ethical Mind
Developing these mental capacities equips us to deal with future expectations, as well as that which cannot be anticipated.
If we fail to develop these minds, we’ll be at the mercy of forces we can’t understand: overwhelmed by information, unable to succeed in the workplace, and incapable of making judicious decisions in personal and professional matters.
The first three kinds of minds deal primarily with cognitive abilities. The last two deal with our relations to other human beings. Unless we increasingly place value on diversity and common good, we risk our survival.
In our interconnected world , it’s not enough to state what each group needs for survival on its own turf. In the long run, it is not possible for parts of the world to thrive while others remain desperately poor and frustrated.
The Disciplined Mind
The disciplined mind has mastered at least one way of thinking — a mode of cognition that belongs to a specific scholarly discipline, craft or profession. Lawyers think like lawyers, engineers like engineers, managers like managers. That said, it’s also important to be broadly familiar with other major academic disciplines’ approaches, including math, science, history and the arts.
To create a disciplined mind, start by figuring out the central concepts of the discipline you wish to master. Be it gravity, supply and demand, or the doctrine of intent in criminal law, the field you choose has key foundational concepts, methods and procedures.
You need to develop many "entry points" into your discipline. Those who have mastered a subject can think about it in many ways: storytelling, debate, graphics, humor, drama or classic exposition. If you communicate your expertise in only one medium, then you don’t really know your subject.
The end goal is to "perform your understanding." This isn’t mere recitation of known case studies or performance of standard experiments. You must use your knowledge to attack problems you’ve never seen. You then need expert feedback to determine how well you fared.
The disciplined mind never stops learning for at least two reasons:
- More information emerges each day. Those with disciplined minds know they must continue to assimilate new knowledge or risk being left behind.
- You must be passionate about knowing more and intrinsically enjoy the process of learning new things.
The Synthesizing Mind
The synthesizing mind is adept at selecting crucial information from the copious amounts available, across disciplines. This requires the skill of pattern recognition. You must recognize important new information and skills and then incorporate them into your knowledge base and professional repertoire. You must discern what merits your attention and what to ignore, organizing this information in ways that make sense to yourself and others.
Great synthesizers are nothing new. Plato and Aristotle sought to organize all human knowledge, as did Augustine, Aquinas and others philosophical giants. Today, scholars like E.O. Wilson continue the tradition, which is more difficult and critical than ever before. (Human knowledge apparently doubles every few years.) Without synthesis, much of this knowledge is unusable.
The good news? You can learn to be a better synthetic thinker. Start by understanding the different types of syntheses, such as narratives (perhaps the oldest form). Think of stories from the Bible, myths and legends, or finely crafted historical works.
The Creating Mind
The creating mind goes beyond existing knowledge and syntheses to pose new questions, offer new solutions and configure new genres. Creation builds on one or more established disciplines. It requires an informed "field" to make quality, acceptable judgments.
Human creativity is at a premium. Businesses want employees who can develop a "new vision" and "extend existing product categories," on top of completing their daily work.
It wasn’t always this way. In times past, society often feared or misunderstood creativity, dismissing it as a product of divine intervention or pure luck. Galileo was imprisoned during the Renaissance. Neither Johann Sebastian Bach nor Vincent Van Gogh were appreciated in their lifetimes. Freud, Darwin and Keynes received more than their share of ridicule.
"In the past," Gardner writes, "creative individuals in a society were at best a mixed blessing ... possibly to be honored by posterity at some later point." By contrast, in the present and future, creative thinking is a routinized norm that will continue to grow.
Creative thinkers are no longer deemed exceptional; they’re the expected new hire. Psychologists have gained a better feel for what creativity entails and how people can develop it. Work by psychologists like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi show that creativity is not a lone endeavor, but three elements that interact to foster lasting breakthroughs:
- An individual must master a discipline or area and constantly work at it.
- Creativity requires a "cultural domain" that provides models, rules and norms to work with or against.
- The creative individual needs opportunities to perform.
The key ingredient is a creative temperament (which need not be innate). Creative people are dissatisfied with their own work and that of others. They go against the grain; it may be painful, but the alternative is even more excruciating. They notice anomalies and try to explain them, rather than explain them away.
Generally, creative people are tough, tenacious and undeterred by hard work or failures. Even when they do succeed, they look over the horizon to find the next mountain to climb. . . (Read the conclusion in our June issue!)
Pat
Patrick Williams Ed.D., MCC
Chief Energizing Officer, ILCT
Department Chair, Professional Coaching, International University
of Professional Studies
Author: Becoming
a Professional Life Coach. Therapist
as Life Coach, Total
Life Coaching,
Law and Ethics in Coaching
Recipient of Global Visionary Fellowship for Non Profit www.CoachingTheGlobalVillage.org
Biography
Monthly
Pat's Coaching Forum - Trends in Health and Wellness Coaching
Join Dr. Patrick Williams and Jim Strohecker, CEO and Co-founder of HealthWorld Online (www.healthy.net) to learn more about Trends in Health and Wellness Coaching.
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2009
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Eastern/New York/Toronto time
Fee: No charge (long distance charges may apply)
Introduction to Coaching Calls:
Join us for a one-hour class that will introduce you to the wonderful career of Life Coaching. We want to share our excitement with you and give you information to help you decide if life coaching is for you!
Fee: No charge. (Long distance charges may apply).
- What is Coaching?
- Origins of Coaching
- What Research Says Good Coaches Do
- Current Status of Coaching
- Why is Coaching Becoming So Popular and Needed Now?
- Benefits of Adding Coaching to Your Business
- Helping Professional to Coach: 7 Success Factors
- Some Similarities and Differences Between Coaching and Therapy
- Questions and Answers
May 15th: Register Now
Times: 2:00 p.m. Eastern/New York/Toronto time
Free Coach Referral Service
for CLCs
ILCT provides a listing of Certified Life
Coaches and graduates of our Accredited Coach
Training Program. These are coaches who have completed
at least 60 to 130 hours of coach training. This
is a value-added service for those ILCT students
who have reached this high level of excellence!
This list is being offered as a free service to assist individuals in identifying and selecting coaches best suited for their particular need.
If you have your Certified Life Coach credential, and have not registered — Sign up now
Special Note: Martha Crampton, Ph.D.
Martha Crampton, Ph.D. psychologist, coach, transpersonal pioneer, and major contributor to Psychosynthesis in North America died peacefully on Tuesday April 7th.
Martha was one of ILCT's early students and a great supporter of mine and the program's. We at ILCT honor her passing, and will miss her. —Pat Williams
Four Uncommon Leadership Qualities
by Patrick Williams, Ed.D. MCC
Everyone agrees great leaders have vision, energy, authority and good strategic direction. They must also have enthusiastic followers; leadership requires skills in persuading others to commit to company goals and embrace initiatives determined by others.
In today’s environment of Gen-Xers and Millennial workers, it isn’t that easy to engage “empowered” people.
For all the leadership training workshops—and despite the thousands of business books published every year—very few people can confidently explain how they take charge, engage others and develop their leadership skills.
“Why should anyone be led by you?” It’s a great question, as well as the title of an excellent September–October 2000 Harvard Business Review article coauthored by Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones. It’s worth summarizing here.
Four Qualities
To be inspirational, leaders need four essential qualities besides vision and energy. These traits are probably not what you’d expect, but they can be honed by those willing to dig deeply to find their inner values.
Few executives embark on the necessary personal-development journey because it requires painful soul-searching and challenging one’s assumptions and beliefs. Not everyone wants to undertake such intense personal work with an executive coach or consultant. Those who do, however, significantly expand their repertoire of leadership skills.
Inspirational leaders share four unexpected qualities:
- They selectively show their weaknesses. By exposing some vulnerability, exceptional leaders reveal their approachability and humanity. The key is to be discerning and maintain a level of comfort, while acknowledging any inherent risks.
- They rely heavily on intuition to gauge the appropriate timing and course of their actions. Their ability to collect and interpret soft data helps them determine when and how to act.
- They manage employees with “tough empathy.” Inspirational leaders empathize passionately—yet realistically—with people, and they care intensely about the work employees do.
- They reveal their differences. Effective leaders capitalize on what’s unique about themselves. Some in top positions may not have the right kind of unique qualities, or they fail to share them. As a consequence, they never elicit the necessary energetic followership. Few people want to be led by them.
The focus here is not on financial results per se, but on how leaders capture the hearts, minds and energy of those who report to them. In truth, great results are hard to obtain without these qualities.
Reveal Your Weaknesses
Admitting a flaw or weakness shows people you’re human. This is essential for building trust and rapport. When you share that you’re not a morning person, can be somewhat disorganized or are nervous when speaking in front of large audiences, you’re being transparent and authentic.
This authenticity displays your willingness to trust people enough to be vulnerable and real—and they generally want to return that trust. Exposing a weakness helps get people on board. If you solely communicate your strengths, others will have no desire to help you out. Revealing weaknesses creates a collaborative environment, building solidarity between followers and leaders.
That said, you should select which flaw to reveal wisely. Never expose a weakness that can be seen as a fatal flaw critical to a central aspect of your professional role. Confessing to a lack of attention to details is inappropriate in a financial leadership role. It would be better to admit to tangential flaws that don’t affect your performance.
Another well-known strategy is to pick a weakness that can be considered a strength, such as being a workaholic. Again, the most important quality here is authenticity. If you expose a vulnerability that isn’t real, people will be quick to spot the incongruence. You won’t gain anybody’s support. You shouldn’t feign absentmindedness to cover up inconsistency or dishonesty.
Refine Your Sensors
Inspirational leaders have finely tuned situation sensors. They can sniff out and interpret “soft data”—environmental signals that aren’t spelled out or overtly expressed. Leaders with great sensors can easily gauge unexpressed feelings and accurately judge when relationships aren’t working. They can read silences and pick up on nonverbal cues.
Sensing can create great problems, however. It’s very easy to misinterpret or misjudge based on personal assumptions and biases. In making fine judgments about how far they can go, leaders risk losing their followers.
For this reason, sensing capability must always be framed by reality testing. The most gifted leaders always validate their perceptions with a trusted adviser or member of the inner team.
Practice Tough Empathy
Real leaders don’t need an interpersonal-skills training program to convince people they care. They already do. Successful leaders empathize fiercely with the people they lead and care intensely about the work.
Tough empathy means giving people what they need, which isn’t always what they want. It balances respect for the individual and the task at hand. Attending to both isn’t easy, particularly when times are challenging.
Caring leaders must give selflessly to the people around them and learn when to pull back. When this is necessary, it’s tough to be tough.
Dare to Be Different
Inspirational leaders capitalize on their unique qualities, using their differences to great advantage. This is probably the most important trait of the four we’ve been discussing.
The most effective leaders deliberately use their differences to maintain a social distance. Even when drawing their followers close to them, they also signal a separateness.
This may be a distinctly different dress style, physical appearance or manner of speaking—or it may be a larger-than-life personality. Typically, such leaders will show imagination, loyalty, expertise or even a unique handshake. Anything can be a difference, it’s important to communicate it.
Many people are hesitant to communicate their uniqueness. It may take years for them to become fully aware of what sets them apart. This is a serious disadvantage in a world where networking is so critical and teams need to be formed overnight.
Inspirational leaders use separateness to motivate others to perform better. They recognize instinctively that followers will push themselves if their leader is just a little aloof. After all, leadership is not a popularity contest.
The danger is that leaders can overdifferentiate themselves in their determination to express their separateness. Losing contact with followers is fatal. Once they create too much distance, leaders lose their ability to sense out situations, identify with people and care about them.
Leadership in Action
There are no universal formulas for becoming an inspirational leader. That’s why so many of the recipe-style business books fail—the ones that prescribe leadership according to Moses, Shakespeare, Lee Iacocca or Jack Welch.
No one can ape another leader. The four qualities discussed here are essential for inspirational leadership, but they cannot be used mechanically. Indeed, there is a lot left unspecified in each.
It’s up to you to develop your own leadership style. The challenge is for you to be yourself but with more skill. Accomplish this by making yourself increasingly aware of the four leadership qualities and manipulating them to come up with a personal style that works for you.
What’s needed will vary from context to context. It’s up to you to develop and refine your intuition and sensors, find ways to be different, selectively reveal your flaws and empathize while remaining steadfast.
There are no cookie-cutter leadership development programs that will turn out inspirational leaders with these four qualities. But it’s possible for most leaders to become aware of these qualities and use them advantageously.
Consider doing the exploratory work with a trusted executive coach or consultant. Leaders who are confident enough to risk being vulnerable and do the work will grow in ways that ultimately benefit their organizations and the people they lead.
Five Popular Myths About Leadership
Executives often profoundly misunderstand what makes an inspirational leader. Here are five common myths:
- Everyone can be a leader. Not true. Self-knowledge and authenticity are necessary for leadership, and not everyone has them (or strives to develop them). Individuals must also want to be leaders, and many talented employees have no desire to shoulder the responsibility. Some may profess interest, but they’re primarily focused on the benefits versus costs to them. Others prefer to devote more time to their families and private lives.
- Leaders deliver business results. Not always. If results were always a matter of good leadership, picking leaders would be easy. In every case, the best strategy would be to go after people in companies with the best results. Things are not that simple.
Businesses in quasi-monopolistic industries can often do very well with competent management rather than great leadership. Equally, some well-led businesses do not necessarily produce results, particularly in the short term. - People who get to the top are leaders. Not necessarily. One of the most persistent misperceptions is that people in executive positions are leaders. But people who make it to the top may have done so because of political acumen, not necessarily because of true leadership quality. What’s more, real leaders are found all over the organization, from the executive suite to the shop floor.
By definition, leaders are simply people who have followers, and rank doesn’t have much to do with this. Effective military organizations like the U.S. Navy have long realized the importance of developing leaders throughout the organization. - Leaders are great coaches. Rarely. A whole cottage industry has blossomed around the belief that good leaders ought to be good coaches. But this thinking assumes a single person can both inspire the troops and impart technical skills.
Of course, it’s possible for great leaders to also be great coaches, but we see this only occasionally. More typical are leaders like Steve Jobs, whose distinctive strengths lie in the ability to excite others through vision, rather than coaching talents. - Women make better leaders than men. It depends. One popular myth asserts women are relationship-oriented and nurturing, so they make more natural leaders. But are the women competitive enough to make it to the top typical of this stereotype, or are they exceptional people regardless of gender? Are we capable of sorting out our own stereotypical biases?
Can we judge leaders on their actual qualities, abilities and results? Are our perceptions colored by our preconceived biases about appearance, education and class? If we acknowledge these assumptions and beliefs, we may be better equipped to choose those who will lead us.
Clearly, becoming aware of our own participation in these four uncommon leadership qualities will help each of us become more inspirational.
Finally! Social Media In Plain English.
Do you feel lost in a world gone mad with digital?
Are you simply perplexed about WHAT all the hype is about Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and other Social Media wondering how can these tools REALLY be useful and not just further drains on your time?
We’re excited to be offering you a new and innovative program.
We believe in providing leading edge education to help our coaching community thrive in this current challenging business climate.
We have teamed up with the Co-Founders of NewPrimeTIme.com, Elizabeth Harrington and Barb Reindl, new media marketing experts and strategists. Elizabeth and Barb specialize in making new concepts EASY for anyone.
If you are a coach, consultant, author, speaker, solo-professional, entrepreneur or small business owner, who wants to do things faster, easier, and more profitably, then you can’t afford to miss out on attending this upcoming introductory teleseminar on Social Media in Plain English!
WHEN: Wednesday May 13 th at Noon CDT with Dr. Patrick Williams or Thursday on May 14 th at 7:00pm CDT.
FEE: $20 (ILCT proceeds will go to the Coaching the Global Village Non-Profit Initiative)
Not able to make the call live? No Problem. Both calls will be recorded and the recording information will be forwarded to you once the call is over.
In just 90 minutes, Barb and Elizabeth promise to teach you:
- What exactly is social media?
- Why and how are business people using these tools?
- How to get started in social media?
- How to create your social media strategy?
- 5 New Rules for New MEDIA-what are they?
- 8 Best Reasons to Twitter
- How to use Facebook for both BUSINESS and personal use?
- How to protect YOUR privacy.
- Blunders you can avoid
- How to participate on and use FACEBOOK and Twitter in 5 minutes a day!
- How to launch your book and/or sell more of your own products
- And more………much more…
This session is an introductory content-rich teleseminar. For those who want more after this session, Elizabeth and Barb will be offering a 4 week, 10 hour webinar series including additional office hours.
Click here to find out more / register.
Get choice Magazine for only $1 and help Coaching the Global Village!
They’ve never had a better offer! After over five successful years of publishing, choice Magazine continues to provide top-notch and engaging content for today’s coaching community. Get the magazine about professional coaching.
This limited time offer is for a one-year Digital Edition subscription for only $1. An exact replica of the print version, it is delivered instantly and directly to your in-box!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY! This offer expires May 11, 2009.
(10% of your subscription fee will go directly to Dr. Pat Williams’ charity: Coaching The Global Village.)
Christian Coaches Network eSummit 2009: Thriving in an Economic Recession
You are invited to attend eleven virtual sessions (telebridge and webinar) from seasoned coaches and marketing specialists on topics that will help you grow your business and maximize your marketing efforts.
Dates: May 6, 7 & 8
Time: 10am to 2pm Eastern (four consecutive 45-minute sessions a day)
Click to learn more / register.
In case you missed it:
How to Become Certified with Edwina Adams, ILCT's Director of Operations.
Topics included:
- The necessity of a credential.
- CLC, ACC, PCC, and MCC – and what they all mean.
- The requirements to become a Certified Life Coach [CLC].
- The requirements to become a Associate Certified Coach [ACC].
- The requirements to become a Professional Certified Coach [PCC].
- The requirements to become a Master Certified Coach [MCC].
- The differences between ACTP and Portfolio approaches.
Listen to a recording of this call.
Insurance Claim Trends with Dr. Patrick Williams, President and CEO of the Institute for Life Coach Training, author of Law and Ethics in Coaching, and Sara Duiven, Marketing Manager of CPH & Associates.
The discussion centered on:
- The areas of mental health practice that may increase exposure to a claim or suit.
- How these trends relate to the growing coaching field.
Listen to a recording of this call.
New Opportunities for Health and Wellness Coaching with Dr. Patrick Williams and Jim Strohecker, CEO and Co-founder of HealthWorld Online (www.healthy.net) based on the U.S. Administration's new directions in health care.
The topics were:
- What you need to be ready.
- How to position yourself.
- What the difference is between health coaching and wellness coaching.
- What credentials are needed.
Listen to a recording of this call.
Also of interest may be the video of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Hearing on Integrative Care: A Pathway to a Healthier Nation. It was recorded on Thursday, February 26, 2009.
Expand Your Business!
Deepen Your Coaching Skills!
Register For Upcoming Classes at ILCT
Where In The World Is Pat Williams?
July 7th & 8th
Orlando, FL
13th
Annual Smart Marriages Pre Conference Institutes
Life Coaching With Couples: The NEW Profession
Pat Williams, Ed.D. & Mike Lillibridge, Ph.D.
Learn the basics of Life Coaching, the PEOPLEMAP personalities assessment, and the skills to coach couples to create a more fulfilling relationship. Coach couples to overcome the gap between where they are and where they want to be. Includes the Peoplemap Personality Assessment, demonstration, skills practice, and practice-building tips.
What Pat Recommends
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Waiting for Autumn by Scott Blum In the tradition of the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love and spiritual classics such as The Alchemist, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, and The Celestine Prophecy, Waiting for Autumn is an enchanting semiautobiographical parable that reveals a deep and powerful message. This book follows Scott, an inquisitive seeker who meets a mysterious cardboard-sign-toting homeless man named Robert who has a sleepy black Lab puppy at his side and a penchant for changing lives. Sparked by Robert’s unconventional wisdom, Scott is thrust into a spiritual adventure where he attempts to heal his past while confronting the spirit of his dead fiancée. He ultimately faces an extraordinary dilemma between his spiritual calling and earthly responsibilities. Join Scott as he visits unseen worlds on his unique journey of self-discovery, where various spiritual modalities are revealed, including shamanic soul retrieval, energy healing, conscious eating, nature-spirit communication, kirtan, ancestral healing, and more. This metaphysical page-turner is a fascinating exploration of one humble soul’s profound awakening—with a surprise ending that will warm your heart. |
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Life's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel by Brendon Burchard What If . . . You Were Handed a Ticket That Could Magically Start Your Life Anew? In what is sure to become a classic, Brendon Burchard has crafted a triumphant tale of personal growth and change that will inspire any reader who has ever wished for a second chance |
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Total Life Coaching: 50+ Life Lessons, Skills, and Techniques to Enhance Your Practice...and Your Life by Dr. Patrick Williams MCC, Dr. Lloyd J. Thomas Life coaching is more than a collection of techniques and skills. It is more than something you do. Life coaching reflects who you are-it is your authentic being in action. Readers of Pat Williams's and Deborah Davis's book, Therapist as Life Coach, know Pat to be a gifted life coach and passionate teacher. Here Pat and psychologist/colleague and writer of more than 1600 newspaper columns, Lloyd J. Thomas, build on this earlier book and share a unique insight into the coaching process, which shows you precisely how to enhance your professional practices through practical and effective life coaching. It also empowers you to change your own lives through use of the practical information and philosophy presented here. Total Life Coaching is organized into a series of 52 life lessons, and is designed to be either read cover-to-cover or dipped into, as needed, for assistance when conducting a coaching session. Keeping life's processes on the "message and lesson" level makes living and life coaching much easier and more enjoyable. Total Life Coaching guides you step-by-step through the complex process of learning and coaching these important lessons. Review: |
Tomorrow's Life Coach™
Patrick Williams, Ed.D., Publisher
© 2009 Institute for Life Coach Training
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