4 minute read
The Gold Standard in Coaching
from 17 Training Edition
As I write this article, we are only a few weeks out from the AGM on 7 September 2018, which signals the start of my year as President of ICF Australasia.
I figure there are two ways of looking at the next year, one, a year of never ending zoom meetings and an overflowing inbox or two, an exciting year of change for our organisation and professional coaching in Australia and New Zealand.
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While the former is true, the latter is why I am involved.
Change is the key message everywhere in today’s world, disruption the buzz word and it is no different in the coaching profession. To meet this challenge the International Coach federation (ICF) in Australia and New Zealand is embarking on exciting new initiatives in all three of its strategic platforms; Coaching Excellence, Member Engagement and External Stakeholder Engagement.
On top of this we are going to be rolling out a new structure and way of operating that will better serve our members while driving efficiencies in our operation. The icing on this ambitious cake is we are also celebrating our 20 th anniversary as a chartered chapter of the ICF.
This is an important milestone as we are the second largest chapter globally and one of the oldest.
Operational Structure
For years now ICF Australasia has been operating with a board and 10 branches with a couple committees and the odd project team when we have a conference or alike. It has worked at one level but also had its challenges.
The challenge is that the chapter is spread across two large countries, 5 time zones and run by time-poor volunteers – well let’s face it, we were suffering from what many organisations face; poor communication lines, distrust and an “us and them” mentality.
Jump in this year’s president, Melinda Horton, with a strong emphasis on building trust, collaboration, reducing duplication and things have started to turn around.
The key was the establishment of a project team to review the operational structure.
This team has a come up with a new structure which is currently being shared with the board and branch leadership teams for comment and will be fine-tuned with an expected roll out over the next 12 months.
The key features are the creation of a small statutory board (5 Members) which will focus on Finance and Governance and a new executive management team (EMT) made up of the statutory board and all the Branch Presidents.
The EMT will be responsible to develop and implement strategy.
We are also reshaping 3 director roles to align with our strategic pillars; Coaching Excellence, Member Engagement and External Stakeholder Engagement.
There is a lot of excitement about the new structure and a real desire by everyone to serve our membership as best we can.
What is in store for 2018/19
Our 3 strategic pillars drive the focus of our activities each year and we will continue with these areas of focus for the coming months.
Coaching Excellence
Sitting under this pillar are our Professional Standards (PSC) and our Virtual Professional Development (VPD) Committees.
We are seeing more and more coaching panels being established with a requirement for panel members to hold an ICF credential and we expect this trend to continue. For this reason, we will continue with programs that assist our members to gain and renew their credentials.
Established at the beginning of this year the VPD committee was tasked with leveraging our chapter size and virtual event capabilities to attract world class presenters. By having these larger events we have been able to significantly drop the cost to members while still bringing in essential revenue for the chapter and branches.
The committee is currently in the planning stages for the next 12 months.
External Stakeholder Engagement
For years the ICF has been working to establish closer ties with professional association in Australia and New Zealand. Over the next 12 months we will see a big change in our relationship with the most important of these associations.
The Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) has over 20,000 members and shapes the HR profession in Australia. ICF Australasia and AHRI are currently in the process of formalising our partnership and several key initiatives already being shaped.
One of these is establishing a joint special interest group for internal coaches.
Member Engagement
From my perspective this is an area that we have an opportunity to collaborate more effectively across the branches. Over the next 12 months I would like to see a stronger focus in our activities to enhance our member experience.
Two key areas of focus will be our social media strategy and new member induction. With respect to social media, right now we have many branches doing separate things which can dilute our presence. I am told by the tech wizards that by combining the many platforms we will have a stronger impact.
With respect to member induction, I know there are many great things being done in branches and there is an opportunity to create more consistency.
I think we can learn from each other, leverage best practices, and reduce duplicated effort.
Introducing the 2018/2019 ICF Australasia PresidentDr Tony Draper MCC
Tony has more than 35 years’ experience with multinational corporations, both as an employee and an executive coach.
Tony supports organisations with the implementation Organisational Development initiatives including the training of internal coaches. He also trains and developments new ICF accredited executive coaches.
Tony is a Master Certified Coach, and the President of ICF Australasia and owns an executive coaching company DraperCo. He is also the Asia Pacific Director and the Director of Training for The Forton Group, a UK based Leadership Coaching Consultancy.
