FIRE UP Blog
ICF Conference Las Vegas 2011
Following my attendance at the 2012 ICF International Conference in Las Vegas I thought I would share some important lessons learned.
It is 15 years since I was last in Las Vegas and let me say the transformation is unbelievable. Gone are the cheap buffets and bargain drinks – now its glitzy upmarket resorts with prices to match. The current day Vegas seems in stark contradiction to a conference on evolving higher levels of consciousness. However oxymoron as it may be we gathered together for the 2011 ICF Conference on “Playing to the Edge”.
I find it entertaining that my first Vegas highlight is on ethics! I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a pre-conference get together hosted by the Association of Coaching Training Organisations (ACTO) which was to highlight how an ACTO Conference session would be conducted. Although there was a selection of topics to choose from the one that resonated with me was how, as coach training schools, we approach teaching ethics. While it was a relatively informal pre-conference session it produced some of the most profound and memorable conversations of the conference.
One such conversation revolved around the idea that thinking ethically requires us to leave a conversation a little ‘disturbed’. It is true that we give students a ‘disturbing experience’ of how an ethical dilemma feels; how do we facilitate a conversation in which there is no rules – it could be two rights – it could be two wrongs.
The ultimate messages for teaching ethics were to present ‘dilemmas vs answers’ and facilitate ‘conversations vs conclusions’. I have already put this into practice this week with great results.
From this fascinating pre-conference session it was off to the opening keynote by Michael Gelb, author of How to think like Leonard Da Vinci. He opened by highlighting some of Da Vinci’s many talents and introduced the element of ‘sensationale’ which involves thinking using all our senses. Leonardo engaged all his senses in thinking and as coaches we need to encourage rich experiences engaging emotion. Barbara Gelb entranced us with her fine operatic voice; a magnificent way to begin and connect everyone in the room to the importance of being present in the moment and absorbing with all your senses.
A key message was to be curious and notice connections. Everything connects to everything else so find the connections, embrace the unknown, and discipline yourself to look at everything from three perspectives as Leonardo did.
I must admit that the theme of the conference reminded me of one of my sister Marg’s favourite fridge magnets which states, ‘if you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much room’. We liked to think that was our motto in our 20s! In keeping with that I was keen to choose the sessions that I felt would be most provocative and invite me to think differently. The highlights for me were Doug Silsbee, Robert Kegan, Sir Ken Robinson and Trudy Bourgeois.
Presence in coaching
Doug Silsbee’s session was about your presence in coaching. From his website, www.dougsilsbee.com, comes this definition: “Presence-Based Leadership is about awakening to our context, and discerning our contribution. Making courageous commitments. Taking coherent, skillful, and authentic action. Doing the inner work of self-development. And, building the foundation of Presence, the meta-competency of aliveness, resilience, and creativity.”
The session required reflection on our own ability to witness our habits and be capable of noticing the impact of these habits on our coachee. This was done via an experiential process. Prior to the activity Doug spoke about the energy a coach creates in their client and asked the audience to experience how the energy of different archetypes made us feel as a coachee; in essence getting us to witness our own habits.
We were asked to take on the archetypes of the expert, the driver, the empathiser and the centred coach. Finding a partner we stepped into the physiology of each archetype separately whilst our coachee declared their issue. As I took my turn as the coachee declaring my issue, it was profound to feel how different the energy of each archetype felt and how that transferred from the coach to the coachee. It was certainly a powerful lesson to pay attention and be very centred before beginning a coaching session. Holding the space requires consciously coming back to that point for each and every session. It was a timely reminder as an experienced coach to be a witness to my own behaviours and energy in the coaching moment and take the time to centre consciously each and every time.
In contradiction of change
Robert Kegan was my next session and what a gift it was. Robert is Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and was a wonderfully engaging presenter. He asked the audience to get deeply involved in resolving the single thing we personally want to get significantly better at now. The entire session was an extended coaching session that we carried out with the partner.
Robert stepped us through a process intended to bring to awareness the unconscious commitment that works in contradiction of creating the change we desire; these are the commitments he says “have us” and that are out of sight. He cited the example of patients who did not follow doctors orders in taking Statin; a medication necessary following a heart attack and required long term. Over 53% stop taking the medication after 12 months. When asked why they stopped most said, “I don’t know”. In researching this, Dr Kegan found that the counter commitment at play was related to the person’s desired self-image. Having to take medication for the rest of their lives made people feel old and they dreaded that association so much that, even though the consequence of not taking their medication was death, their desired self-image as youthful and vibrant was potent enough to cause them to stop taking it. He described the situation as becoming like an internal tug-of-war.
Robert’s session then went through a process of managing our self-perception and resolving the issues to which we were “unconsciously immune”. You can access more of his work via www.mindsatwork.com.
Reveal unto themselves
If you have never heard of Sir Ken Robinson (as I had not) head off to youtube and prepare to be entertained. I hardly stopped laughing for his entire keynote of an hour and at the same time took away some gems to ponder. Sir Ken asked, “How do we reveal people unto themselves?” and discussed how many of us get pushed down paths that give little joy or meaning to our lives and yet don’t think to change that.
He went onto to discuss that if we are to meet the challenges of our times it requires us to think about ourselves differently. We live in the most connected generation ever; there is no precedent in human history. We also have the largest population ever which has created challenges never before encountered.
Sir Ken advocates that for us to resolve these problems will require a whole rethink of education and a new form of consciousness. He quoted David Thoreau: “Live your life as close as possible to the channel your energy flows”. We are given signals all the time about life but many people are never tuned in to what is possible. Coaching is a way in which we can support people to find their natural aptitudes and discover a way to be in their element every day. He gave many examples of people who get such joy from what they do and implored us all to find our true north and notice the energetic shift that creates. By the time Sir Ken was finished the auditorium was filled with inspired people.
Agents of change
It was fitting after Sir Kens inspiration to attend a workshop that asked the question, “What role can coaches play as agents of change for driving an innovative leadership shift from ‘Command and Control’ to ‘Collaborative and Inclusive’?” I found this session with Trudy Bourgeois, the CEO and Founder of The Centre for Workforce Excellence, incredibly valuable given that many of my major clients are in Emergency Management who are struggling to make that shift. Trudy described the VUCA world – Volatile, Uncertain, Ambiguous and Complex. I am sure we all resonate with that apt description of large corporate organisations.
The reality of having four generations in the workplace means that creating inclusive environments that foster creativity and build emotional connections between employees requires a whole new set of skills. Trudy led the audience through the use of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument to foster whole brain thinking. If you are not familiar with whole brain thinking you will find more at www.herrmann.com.au.
Whole brain thinking opens up a new way of thinking about how to enrich relationships, build individual awareness and enhance productivity. More on Trudy at www.workforceexcellence.com.
We hope to see you at the 2012 Australasian Conference. As an attendee at the past three Australian Conferences I think we really know how to ‘Play to the Edge’ down here. With Vegas being my first US Conference I will proudly say you can rest assured the quality of the 2012 program will rival anything you will find internationally.
Kathy McKenzie, FIRE UP Coaching director, is a specialist Communications and Leadership Facilitator, Coach Trainer, and Executive Coach.
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Quote this article on your site | Views: 90
ICF Conference Las Vegas 2011
Following my attendance at the 2012 ICF International Conference in Las Vegas I thought I would share some important lessons learned.
It is 15 years since I was last in Las Vegas and let me say the transformation is unbelievable. Gone are the cheap buffets and bargain drinks – now its glitzy upmarket resorts with prices to match. The current day Vegas seems in stark contradiction to a conference on evolving higher levels of consciousness. However oxymoron as it may be we gathered together for the 2011 ICF Conference on “Playing to the Edge”.
I find it entertaining that my first Vegas highlight is on ethics! I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a pre-conference get together hosted by the Association of Coaching Training Organisations (ACTO) which was to highlight how an ACTO Conference session would be conducted. Although there was a selection of topics to choose from the one that resonated with me was how, as coach training schools, we approach teaching ethics. While it was a relatively informal pre-conference session it produced some of the most profound and memorable conversations of the conference.
One such conversation revolved around the idea that thinking ethically requires us to leave a conversation a little ‘disturbed’. It is true that we give students a ‘disturbing experience’ of how an ethical dilemma feels; how do we facilitate a conversation in which there is no rules – it could be two rights – it could be two wrongs.
The ultimate messages for teaching ethics were to present ‘dilemmas vs answers’ and facilitate ‘conversations vs conclusions’. I have already put this into practice this week with great results.
From this fascinating pre-conference session it was off to the opening keynote by Michael Gelb, author of How to think like Leonard Da Vinci. He opened by highlighting some of Da Vinci’s many talents and introduced the element of ‘sensationale’ which involves thinking using all our senses. Leonardo engaged all his senses in thinking and as coaches we need to encourage rich experiences engaging emotion. Barbara Gelb entranced us with her fine operatic voice; a magnificent way to begin and connect everyone in the room to the importance of being present in the moment and absorbing with all your senses.
A key message was to be curious and notice connections. Everything connects to everything else so find the connections, embrace the unknown, and discipline yourself to look at everything from three perspectives as Leonardo did.
I must admit that the theme of the conference reminded me of one of my sister Marg’s favourite fridge magnets which states, ‘if you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much room’. We liked to think that was our motto in our 20s! In keeping with that I was keen to choose the sessions that I felt would be most provocative and invite me to think differently. The highlights for me were Doug Silsbee, Robert Kegan, Sir Ken Robinson and Trudy Bourgeois.
Presence in coaching
Doug Silsbee’s session was about your presence in coaching. From his website, www.dougsilsbee.com, comes this definition: “Presence-Based Leadership is about awakening to our context, and discerning our contribution. Making courageous commitments. Taking coherent, skillful, and authentic action. Doing the inner work of self-development. And, building the foundation of Presence, the meta-competency of aliveness, resilience, and creativity.”
The session required reflection on our own ability to witness our habits and be capable of noticing the impact of these habits on our coachee. This was done via an experiential process. Prior to the activity Doug spoke about the energy a coach creates in their client and asked the audience to experience how the energy of different archetypes made us feel as a coachee; in essence getting us to witness our own habits.
We were asked to take on the archetypes of the expert, the driver, the empathiser and the centred coach. Finding a partner we stepped into the physiology of each archetype separately whilst our coachee declared their issue. As I took my turn as the coachee declaring my issue, it was profound to feel how different the energy of each archetype felt and how that transferred from the coach to the coachee. It was certainly a powerful lesson to pay attention and be very centred before beginning a coaching session. Holding the space requires consciously coming back to that point for each and every session. It was a timely reminder as an experienced coach to be a witness to my own behaviours and energy in the coaching moment and take the time to centre consciously each and every time.
In contradiction of change
Robert Kegan was my next session and what a gift it was. Robert is Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and was a wonderfully engaging presenter. He asked the audience to get deeply involved in resolving the single thing we personally want to get significantly better at now. The entire session was an extended coaching session that we carried out with the partner.
Robert stepped us through a process intended to bring to awareness the unconscious commitment that works in contradiction of creating the change we desire; these are the commitments he says “have us” and that are out of sight. He cited the example of patients who did not follow doctors orders in taking Statin; a medication necessary following a heart attack and required long term. Over 53% stop taking the medication after 12 months. When asked why they stopped most said, “I don’t know”. In researching this, Dr Kegan found that the counter commitment at play was related to the person’s desired self-image. Having to take medication for the rest of their lives made people feel old and they dreaded that association so much that, even though the consequence of not taking their medication was death, their desired self-image as youthful and vibrant was potent enough to cause them to stop taking it. He described the situation as becoming like an internal tug-of-war.
Robert’s session then went through a process of managing our self-perception and resolving the issues to which we were “unconsciously immune”. You can access more of his work via www.mindsatwork.com.
Reveal unto themselves
If you have never heard of Sir Ken Robinson (as I had not) head off to youtube and prepare to be entertained. I hardly stopped laughing for his entire keynote of an hour and at the same time took away some gems to ponder. Sir Ken asked, “How do we reveal people unto themselves?” and discussed how many of us get pushed down paths that give little joy or meaning to our lives and yet don’t think to change that.
He went onto to discuss that if we are to meet the challenges of our times it requires us to think about ourselves differently. We live in the most connected generation ever; there is no precedent in human history. We also have the largest population ever which has created challenges never before encountered.
Sir Ken advocates that for us to resolve these problems will require a whole rethink of education and a new form of consciousness. He quoted David Thoreau: “Live your life as close as possible to the channel your energy flows”. We are given signals all the time about life but many people are never tuned in to what is possible. Coaching is a way in which we can support people to find their natural aptitudes and discover a way to be in their element every day. He gave many examples of people who get such joy from what they do and implored us all to find our true north and notice the energetic shift that creates. By the time Sir Ken was finished the auditorium was filled with inspired people.
Agents of change
It was fitting after Sir Kens inspiration to attend a workshop that asked the question, “What role can coaches play as agents of change for driving an innovative leadership shift from ‘Command and Control’ to ‘Collaborative and Inclusive’?” I found this session with Trudy Bourgeois, the CEO and Founder of The Centre for Workforce Excellence, incredibly valuable given that many of my major clients are in Emergency Management who are struggling to make that shift. Trudy described the VUCA world – Volatile, Uncertain, Ambiguous and Complex. I am sure we all resonate with that apt description of large corporate organisations.
The reality of having four generations in the workplace means that creating inclusive environments that foster creativity and build emotional connections between employees requires a whole new set of skills. Trudy led the audience through the use of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument to foster whole brain thinking. If you are not familiar with whole brain thinking you will find more at www.herrmann.com.au.
Whole brain thinking opens up a new way of thinking about how to enrich relationships, build individual awareness and enhance productivity. More on Trudy at www.workforceexcellence.com.
We hope to see you at the 2012 Australasian Conference. As an attendee at the past three Australian Conferences I think we really know how to ‘Play to the Edge’ down here. With Vegas being my first US Conference I will proudly say you can rest assured the quality of the 2012 program will rival anything you will find internationally.
Kathy McKenzie, FIRE UP Coaching director, is a specialist Communications and Leadership Facilitator, Coach Trainer, and Executive Coach.
Comments (4) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 78
Live from Vegas
It is 15 years since I have been to Las Vegas and let me say the transformation is unbelievable - Gone are the cheap buffets and bargain drinks - now its glitzy upmarket resorts with prices to match. However I will put that aside as I am here for the 2011 ICF Conference - Playing to the Edge and what more appropriate place as there is no question it is edgy here.
It is only the informal day of meet and greets and welcomes today but if it is any indication of the next few days it will be rich in authentic conversations with amazing and talented people. It is actually inspiring and humbling all at the same time - the opportunity to hang out with truly inspirational people and talk about things like ethics in 2011 and what difference are we really making?
I feel very grateful to be part of a representation from Australia that includes Karen Tweedie, previous global president and John Raymond current Australasian president. Karen and John are true leaders in the field of coaching, and what I love about them both is that they are very down to earth fun loving and happy people to be around. They both have contributed so much to the profession of coaching in Australia and probably do not get the recognition they deserve but just the energy they exude makes it a joy just being part of the Aussie contingent in Vegas.
So the conference has started with Michael Gelb and his gorgeous opera singing wife Deb opening the conference with a great session on engaging your senses. We were charged with the task of tasting wine and writing a poem so I offer you my creative efforts for Day 1 after my chocolate and wine and also surrounded by 5 other wonderful coaches from all parts of the planet.
An inexplicable moment on safari in Vegas
Sensational opera
Tempting to open the mind
Provocative, evocative our minds in symphony
A rich delicious concoction of sensational beings
That rocks - #2011icf
So the real proceedings begin tomorrow - may the inspiration continue....
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Your energetic impact on others
Think about empowering choices.
I have recently facilitated a number of workshops for organisations undergoing major restructures, and have been reflecting on how little we often understand about the importance of focusing on staying in a resourceful state of mind, especially when things are happening that we cannot control. Changes that are beyond our control can evoke feelings of resentment and anger and the full force of that frustration is often taken out on others with harmful consequences.
To demonstrate this point I use an overhead with “What you pay attention to you get more of” on it. The explanation that goes with this slide is that if we choose to focus on the negatives in a situation, we are limiting the amount of conscious attention left to see choices and alternatives. In any situation there is always multiple perspectives but the nature of our brains is that often we often get fixated on one thought or belief at the expense of others.
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Heading for Cosmic Consciousness
How tapped in do you think you are to a consciousness greater than just our normal states of consciousness - the main three being the sleeping state, the dream state and the waking state. Tonight I have had the wonderful priviledge of attending a lecture by Thom Knoles who talked about expanding our potential to experience a greater level of consciousness and then with that added capacity finding a productive outlet.
Thom used the metaphor of a 3 legged stool. The minimum we need for stability is 3 legs on a stool but it is not going to be the most stable stool you will ever have and if you have kids around you probably dont want them standing on it. So too most of us go through life utilising the bare minimum of consciousness to keep us stable. Only 15 % of our brain potential is generally maximised which raises the question of how did such a highly complex organ evolve and develop if it was not at some point being utilised in a far greater capacity than it is now?
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