I admit that I hate lima beans. I ate them once in 1982 and I recall them tasting like a mixture of chalk and glue. I seriously thought my mother was trying to poison me. I haven’t touched them since.

If you’re like many coaches, accountability can be a bit like lima beans – you know it’s good for you, but it’s far from tasty.

In this month’s CAM Community of Coaches, our goal is to help you embrace accountability and see it for what it is: an important, essential, and actually enjoyable aspect of coaching.  Join us July 8 at 11AM Eastern Time for the members only webinar to learn how to make the most of accountability in your coaching!

One of our favorite coaching models is the Hourglass model. It’s a simple, but powerful model that imagines a coaching conversation in three phases:

1. In the top half of the hourglass, we explore an issue and narrow to find the “pinch point” of the issue
2. In the bottom half, we expand to explore possibilities and options for addressing the pinch point
3. As the sand piles up, we experience the third movement, which is to narrow our options to specific actions that get well designed

In my experience training coaches, I find that many coaches are unsure how to make the most of the top portion of the hourglass.  They don’t know how to explore an issue fully and too often rush to the pinch point or skip the top half and try to get right into exploring what can be done.

This month in the CAM Community of Coaching, our members only webinar will address how best to explore the top half of the hourglass.  We’ll offer some best practices and practical tools that will help you evoke true awareness early in the coaching conversation.

I’m not a big fan of one-size-fits-all thinking.  Too often this approach creates one-size-fits-none results!  After all, every person is different, and many situations call for discernment.  The same is true for earning your ICF credential.

Not every coach needs to earn a credential from the ICF.  I tend to think MOST coaches will benefit, but most and all are not the same thing.  When coaches ask me about earning an ICF credential, I boil the decision down to two criteria:

1. For many coaches, earning an ICF credential provides a real boost to their confidence as a coach.  This makes sense. After all, the process to earning a credential is the same process by which one develops into a stronger, more capable coach. The credential signals to the coach that she or he has what it takes to be helpful.
2. For some coaches, earning an ICF credential provides a boost to their credibility. This, too, makes sense.  In the crowded marketplace of coaching services, potential clients are looking for ways to recognize the coaches who truly bring excellence; credentials are an important signal of competence for these would-be clients.

This month in the CAM Community of Coaches, we are giving focus to earning your ICF credential.  Join Brian Miller as he leads a webinar on this topic May 13 at 11AM Eastern Time or watch the recording here on the Community website.