Dear Co-Active Coaches,

Welcome to the April edition of The Inquiry. One of the best things about creating this newsletter each month is the opportunity to share what’s happening in the world of coaching. Whether it’s looking at CTI’s own business to see what’s new or getting to know the members of our community as we gather articles for the month, it’s always exciting to shine a light on another facet of this gem we call “coaching.”

In CTI News this month, Lori Shook, Director of International Operations, gives us an update on how Co-Activity is spreading around the globe. With CTI courses now being offered in locations from South Korea to Dubai, we are truly international.

We continue our introductions of CTI staff members this month in Community with a look at Angie Rome Gonzalez. In addition to being the woman behind the friendly voice that greets you when you call, Angie performs a million other duties that keep the office organized and running smoothly…and she does them all with a smile and a personal touch. With an 8-month-old daughter at home, we’re glad she has the energy to take care of us, too. Also in Community, we have some exciting calls scheduled on the Co-Active Network in the next few weeks. Check it out!

Our topic for articles this month is Visioning: What impact has visioning had on your clients/yourself? What visioning tools do you use? What structures do you use to keep the vision alive? CPCCs Dorcas Kelley, Susan Carlisle, Wendy Watkins and Sandy Brody share tips on visioning. Whether you’re developing your vision for your life, how to make your business more successful, or looking for visioning tools to use with your clients, there’s something here for you.

As always, we love hearing the voices of our community and invite you to read the topics for upcoming issues of The Inquiry and think about sharing your insights by writing an article. And join us in celebrating our newest CPCCs!

Enjoy!

CTI News

Notes From CTI’s International Frontier

Life on the unfolding edge of international expansion is full and exciting and very much pulled by the mysterious and compelling forces of the future.

We’re fully engaged in dancing with what’s here now and, at the same time, we’re preparing for an exciting future, which we know will come faster than we can imagine. Expansion of Co-Activity is exponential! The desire for this work that we do is huge throughout the world. The requests are plenty and all are compelling! It’s fascinating to see where we’ve been pulled to, and it’s a bit of a mystery where and when the next pulls will take us. But we know more are coming—we can feel it.

In 2005, we brought on 10 Europe-based leaders. They are well trained and doing an excellent job leading courses in front of the room. This year (on Valentine’s Day), we selected four Norwegian leaders and very much look forward to working with them in the near future. CTI courses are now running consistently in Japan, UK, Norway, Sweden, Israel and Dubai. We’re ramping up strongly in Poland and The Netherlands; both locations began around the first of this year. We’re getting started again in Istanbul this month after having run a full series of courses last year. Denmark and Spain are also offering courses on an on-going basis. We have courses planned to start for the first time later this spring in Prague and in Germany. We’re also starting up in Bergen, which is a new location for CTI Norway. Very exciting!

Also, on the other side of the planet, South Korea recently had its first Fundamentals and it was a smashing success! We’re looking forward to cooking something up in Australia, as well.

It’s pretty incredible how far and wide we can go with Co-Activity and how it works in different places and with different cultures. We see that over and over again. There are small adjustments to make with some of our language, but the essence of Co-Active coaching and the design of our courses remains the same wherever we go. It is truly a model for all of humanity, not just a few cultures. We don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like, but we know we’re going, moving confidently and passionately toward that compelling mysterious thing called the future of CTI.

Community

Introducing CTI Staff Member Angie Gonzalez
Angie Rome Gonzalez is the woman with the lovely voice and face that first greets anyone who calls or comes in person to CTI headquarters in San Rafael. She’s been with CTI for going on three years now and has touched many, many lives with her deep caring and concern for student welfare. Angie is a blessing in all of our lives and oversees this office with much love and care. It’s time that we all got to know her a little bit better, so look for the new things that you didn’t already know about Angie, and then call in and say hello! She’s always happy to hear from you. To find out more about Angie, click here.

Co-Active Network
The Co-Active Network has grown by 200 members in the past month, topping off at 6,700 members in the main community! There are more than 40 niche and geographic communities, too. The conversations continue to be vibrant, alive and informative. Come join the fun!

The purpose of the network is to support every member in achieving his/her greatest vision for Co-Active coaching and leadership in the world. Each community has resources, discussions and community events. Check the full calendar on the Co-Active Network.There is an amazing array ofexciting events. This month, the April Main Community event takes place the same day you are receiving this, so we thought we’d let you know about some of the speakers scheduled in May:

Event Speaker: Michael Bungay-Stanier, CPCC
Date: May 9, 2006
Start Time: 8 a.m. Pacific
End Time: 9 a.m. Pacific
www.boxofcrayons.biz

Event Speaker: Phil Sandahl, PCC
Date: May 10, 2006
Start Time: 9 a.m. Pacific
End Time: 10 a.m. Pacific
www.teamdiagnostic.com

Event Speaker: Steve Mitten, MCC
Date: May 16, 2006
Start Time: 9 a.m. Pacific
End Time: 10 a.m. Pacific
www.acoach4u.com

Keep checking the Co-Active Network calendar for event descriptions. They will be posted soon.

Many of the events held on the main community have been recorded on audio podium. The list of recorded sessions is available under the “Resources” section of the main community. Look for the topic “Audio Podiums from Network Main Event Sessions” for a full list.

Would you like to share your insight with fellow coaches?
We love to learn from our community, and sharing your thoughts with your fellow coaches is a great way to let us know what’s happening in your world. The Inquiry focuses on a specific topic each month. Topics for the next few months are:

May—Somatic Coaching: How do you define Somatic Coaching? What are the characteristics that differentiate it from other types of coaching? How do you combine somatic practices with coaching?

June—Giving and Creating Workshops: How do you design and structure your workshops? How do you market your workshop to a specific audience? How does your Co-Active experience influence your workshop design?

July—Challenges and Triumphs in Credentialing: Why did you decide to become a CPCC, MCC, PCC or ACC? What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started this process? What part of the process felt like a rite of passage, what does the other side of that passage look like, and what motivates you now?

We invite you to submit articles and share your insight in The Inquiry. It is a fantastic way to increase your visibility in the coaching profession. Please send articles to newsletter@thecoaches.com. Read the detailed submission guidelines.

Articles

Blast Off With Your Business Vision!
“As coaches we work with clients to help them develop a fulfilling vision for their life and take action to make their vision a reality. It’s ironic that often we neglect to create a vision for our own lives—especially the life of our business. Do you have a vision for your business a year from now? Two years? Just as you benefit from having a personal vision, so, too, will you benefit from having a business vision,” says Dorcas Kelley, author of The Business of Coaching and co-founder of The Business Catalyst Institute.™  
To find out how to create your business vision, click here.

New Foundation Visioning: Living Your Heart’s Desire
Susan Carlisle, MA, CPCC, PCC, is a faculty member at The Coaches Training Institute, where she has trained more than a thousand people to be life coaches. In this article, she introduces us to the New Foundation Visioning Process. By using it, she has observed that, “True expectation is the energy of aligning with the future and grounding in the present to receive the future. To align with the future is to connect emotionally with that desire and what it will truly give you. To ground in the present is to look at what you are substituting in place of true expectation, be it beliefs, thoughts, feelings, control, doubt, wishing or fears that would get in your way of honestly expecting it to happen. These substitutes must be released in order to receive what you believe is truly possible.”  Read more.

Tools for Visioning
Wendy Watkins is the Chief Grower of the small business Passionfruit Creative Business Growers, an organization that supports “People and Business in Full Bloom.”  In this article, she wants to share a few of the tools that she’s used to make her business successful. Before she shares her tools, she emphasizes the importance of a vision. “I do want to mention how important it is for us as coaches to have a clear vision of what we want to create and hold for ourselves. It is a process to really gain clarity on this question. The process for me began with getting crystal clear with my values. After that, I created a visual representation of what it looked like. Yes, my friend, a beautiful collage is what started the process of knowing what I wanted to create in my life.” 

Visioning in the Imagination with Guided Imagery
“Before becoming a coach, I received training and certification in the technique called Interactive Guided Imagerysm  (IGIsm). Taught by the Academy of Guided Imagery, it brings the client into a state of highly focused concentration using sensory information. It engages the imagination by bypassing the conscious mind in order to access the unconscious. This becomes possible through relaxation. While it is possible to access the imagination without deep relaxation, relaxation makes it more vivid and less prone to gremlin hijacks. Breath work combined with envisioning a safe, special place in visual, auditory, taste, olfactory and kinesthetic channels (see, hear, feel, taste, smell) brings clients to their very rich, wise world.” So writes Sandy Brody, CPCC, who received her certification in Interactive Guided Imagery in 2001 and serves on the Board of Directors for Imagery International (www.imageryinternational.org), whose members include professionals in medical and therapeutic fields. Read more.

Celebration

Please join the CTI team in congratulating all of the Certified Professional Co-Active Coaches who have finished the rigorous certification program and passed their exams!

Melinda Abrams, Lakhwir Boparan, Martha Carlson, Pavitra Ciavardone, Maureen Clarke, Duke Ehemann, Victoria Curling Eriksson, Mark D’Ambrosio, Jill Donaldson, Petra den Dulk, Jane Faulkner, Ralf Friedrich, Niko Grunfeld, Libby Hartz, Johs Haukvik, Elizabeth Hechtman, Pete Kirchmer, Becky Matchullis, Susanne McQuade, Sarah Mitchell, Thomas Moore, Linda Nissenbaum, Courtney Parks, Rachel Peart, Saul Richman, Cynthia Ridley, Alison Smith, Christine Stiller, David Storkholm and Victor Vesely.