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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