This year I had the pleasure of attending the ICF Conference was well worth attending. I got so many ‘take a ways’ and insights that I thought I’d share a few with you. I know some of you are already students at ICA, some may be thinking of being a coach and some already coaching – but whoever you are and whatever stage of the coaching journey you are on, I can highly recommend attending an ICF Conference. The sharing and networking and the validation and support I felt as a coach was amazing.
Conference Speakers
Richard Boyatzis
Richard E. Boyatzis is a Professor in the Departments of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University. Using his Intentional Change Theory (ICT) and complexity theory, he continues to research sustained, desired change at all levels of human endeavor from individuals, teams, organizations, communities, countries and global change.
He is the author of more than 150 articles on leadership, competencies, emotional intelligence, competency development, coaching, and management education. Most recently, his MOOC, Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence on Course had over 180,000 students enrolled from 188 countries.
Conference Take Away
According to Richard,
People are not burnt out they are burnt up.
Richard’s presentation was insightful and motivating, he looked at how coaching can help people manage all the various things they juggle everyday. He said it is important for the coach to focus in and listen with their heart. The presentation kicked off a mental mindset to be open to a certain style of learning; similar to that at International Coach Academy
Marcia Reynolds
Marcia Reynolds helps global organizations grow their leaders using coaching as a base for accelerated results. She is considered an expert on emotional intelligence and “neuro-coaching”. Her clients include executives and emerging leaders in multinational corporations and she is the Training Director for the Healthcare Coaching Institute.
Marcia is a past president of the ICF and was one of the first 25 people to be certified as Master Certified Coach. www.OutsmartYourBrain.com
Conference Take Away
Marcia is a well known coach in the industry and an amazing speaker. She talked about our role as a coach and taught us to listen to 3 things:
- the brain (logic, use reasoning)
- the heart (show compassion and empathy)
- the gut (your intuition)
Sam McGill
Sam McGill has been an executive and leadership coach for 25 years and is at the forefront of Coach Supervision. He is a pioneer in coaching supervision.
Discovering the benefit of supervision while visiting Europe, Sam obtained the required training to take this important work to North America. His supervision practice now reaches countries around the world.
Conference Take Away
He took us through a very interesting exercise with a mirror. We first held the mirror to our own faces, then we partnered up and held teh mirror to our partner’s face. What we learned is that the partner did a lot of directing to help us get the mirror in the right place, a little to the left, a little to the right. What we learnt from this is that when we hold teh mirror to ourselves, we can control it but when we hold it to your clients – THEY must direct it.The client must lead.
Peter Metzer
Peter Metzner incorporates guided visualization and dream work in his acclaimed life and leadership coaching and training programs. Peter also facilitates seminars on Leadership and High Performing Teams at Elon University and UNC Chapel Hill.
He has researched and worked with mindfulness, meditation, visualization and dreams and has written articles on Leadership and Dream work, given several keynote presentations and workshops on dreams.
Conference Take Away
Peter’s presentation on dreams was very interesting. He quoted Carl Jung as saying: “In sleep we awaken to who we really are. Dreams are objective facts” and he encouraged us as coaches to look at the connection between dreams, our unconscious and our conscious life. He used the example of a recurring dream, and listening to what that is trying to tell you or your client.
Kelly Eckert
Kelly Eckert is the author of Make Someone’s Moment and Getting What You Want: How to Go from Stuck to Success, and the co-author of Empower: Women’s Stories of Breakthrough, Discovery and Triumph. She is the creator of the Fear Releasing Method™ and Branding with Spirit Animals™.
An intuitive business and life coach, Kelly guides spiritually ambitious clients to get what they really want in life by championing their unique gifts and arming them with the courage and tools to blaze their own trail.
Conference Take Away
Kelly ‘s book sold 3 million copies., can you imagine that? According to her: “Coaches have stories to tell” Ain’t that the truth? Often coaches get stuck, they want to write a book and tell the world who we are and how coaching works, but we get stuck. Her tip is to write a letter to your best friend or someone very dear to you.
Alan Seale
Alan Seale is the director of the Center for Transformational Presence and the author of 5 books, including Create A World That Works and The Manifestation Wheel. He is the creator of the Transformational Presence Leadership and Coaching training program, which now has graduates from 23 countries.
For many years he was on Faculty here at International Coach Academy and led the Transformational Coaching Group.
Conference Take Away
The energy in the room for this speaker was FANTASTIC. Alan talked about how important it is to really pay attention to things. To be a ‘seer’. We have the ability to develop an intuitive eye. We are living in amazing, but also chaotic times, he believes something is calling on us to be better and live better, and that is why we are coaches. There is a sense of potential to love beyond our contrived box, beyond the parameters we set for ourselves. He encouraged coaches to let that thing, that potential speak to you – and listen to it.
I hope you enjoyed this reflection of the ICF Midwest Conference. If there is one thing I can leave you with it is to understand that you have a ton of potential, probably untapped – and the stage that you are in right now is critical for you, to be who you are supposed to be. You might be a student at ICA, thinking about being a coach, already a coach – whatever it is it is perfect for you right now.