Announcement of new ICF Level 1 Accreditation for Performance Coach Pathway and all you need to know about the latest ICF changes.

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The International Coaching Federation (ICF) has changed their accreditation and coach credentialing process. The new three-level accreditation structure aligns with their three credentials ACC, PCC and MCC.  

• ICF Level 1 Accreditation replaces ACSTH accreditation.
• Performance Evaluation is delivered by the Coaching Education provider, not ICF.
• New ICF Credentialing Exam.

What it means for you: 

1. Our Performance Coach | Silver Plan is now ICF Level 1 accredited.
2. We’ve changed the names and numbers of our program modules to avoid confusion with the three ICF paths (see below).
3. After your Performance Evaluation we’ll issue the ICF Level 1 Certificate. You can then apply for an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential via the ICF Level 1 Path.

Discover how to overcome entrenched dependent cultures.

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The Performance Curve

Early in my career I joined a huge global organization in the oil and gas sector. Its culture was very much in the Dependent zone as illustrated by The Performance Curve.

When our MD Tiffany Gaskell polled the audience at the recent Corporate L&D Summit in Barcelona, she found that most of the delegates also identified their organizational culture as Dependent. I found this curious, not least because my personal experience was about a decade ago. It doesn’t seem much has changed.

The stickiness of Dependent cultures can be attributed to a number of factors. For me, the most prevalent, and arguably the most deeply ingrained in our society, is how we are educated. The excellent Ken Robinson Ted Talk ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity?’ points out that a theme of the school system is that it conditions children to be compliant and to avoid taking risks.

The boom in executive coaching
– Financial Times

Discover how performance reviews can bring out the best in your employees.

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Performance reviews: just the words can fill us with dread, whether manager or team member. We surveyed 150 people last week on the words that sprung to mind, and they included “difficult conversations”, “delivering bad news”, “time-consuming”, “negative”, “hard”. But we see performance reviews as a real opportunity to have positive discussions – and we would like to share a few pointers to help you sail through them this year.

Firstly, performance reviews need to be meaningful and impactful to the employee and should leave them feeling valued, confident, better prepared and more motivated. Whether you call them appraisals, evaluations, year-end performance reviews or 180 degree feedbacks, these sessions can so often go off-track. We recommend you begin by setting a positive intention for the outcome of each conversation and keep your intention in mind from start to finish. In this way, you can focus on getting the highest performance while also strengthening relationships, employee engagement and retention.

A typical performance review is held as a year-end conversation. One of the hardest conversations to have, they are most beneficial if held as just one of a series of on-going conversations. To avoid surprises at the end of the year, it’s important to have regular meetings throughout the year, checking not only performance but also looking out for any lack of alignment. After all, investing time to prepare properly for each employee’s year-end performance review is time saved during the rest of the year.

How do we guarantee our performance reviews deliver their full impact?

Capture regular examples you can share that will serve to improve performance, behaviour and relationships. When did they miss, achieve or exceed? What was their behaviour before, during, after? What was the impact on the team and the organization? Over the years, managers and employees alike have come to think that only negative feedback is constructive and tend to dismiss positive feedback. Having real examples ensures that all feedback is perceived as genuine and valuable. Some employees feel threatened just hearing the word “feedback” (again, because we so often have negative connotations). And many managers find it a real challenge to deliver the feedback that people need to hear, particularly when they want an employee to change their behaviour.

We have created a Coaching Feedback Framework that allows employees to identify their own strengths and recognize where they need to improve. It helps managers to acknowledge and celebrate these strengths and successes, clearly communicate any changes they want to see and to consolidate the employee’s valuable insights and learning from the feedback process. The Coaching Feedback Framework makes it easy for a manager to lay the groundwork so an employee is receptive (and eager for) feedback, while building their self-esteem and motivation to elicit the highest possible performance in the next year.

But feedback is just one part of the appraisal conversation. A truly successful performance review needs a clear structure that includes preparation, context setting, feedback, actions and accountability. Coaching skills will ensure clarity, collaboration and positivity that all create a possibility for your employees to grow, develop and achieve their career aspirations. Performance management built on a coaching approach is perfect for developing and retaining top talent and leads to greater alignment and better-performing employees at all levels.

It’s important that the review process isn’t seen as a necessary evil, to tick a box. It needs to be part of the values of the organization, and part of the fabric of the organization’s culture – its system of shared assumptions, values and beliefs which govern how people behave in an organization.

The boom in executive coaching
– Financial Times

Performance Consultants China Managing Director, Jeffrey Wu, talks about leading through COVID-19

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What has Performance Consultants been doing in China to help leaders and organizations navigate through the crisis and beyond?

Covid-19 has had a profound impact on business and everyday life throughout China. While we have managed to contain the spread of the virus, the road to domestic recovery is full of complexity and uncertainty. The news now is dominated by imported cases of the virus in citizens returning home from abroad and the extent of asymptomatic cases remains unclear.

As a result, social distancing is still in full effect for the whole of China, with only a partial re-opening of schools under way, in a closely controlled approach. Many of the restrictions on hospitality industries are still in place. For months we have been living in this changed world. Our “new normal” is uncertain, and uncharted. This sense of ambiguity is resonating as never before and we are understanding that we are all inter-linked and dependent on each other. Within China and globally, we need to work together and nurture an interdependent mindset to get through this crisis.

In the face of these challenges, PCI China together with our local associates have been actively helping leaders and organizations on multiple fronts.

In collaboration with leading training institutions and management magazines, we’ve hosted a series of online podcasts on leadership in a time of crisis and uncertainty. We have looked at how leaders and organizations can develop a “trust” mindset and build high-performing teams while working remotely. With entrepreneurs, we have been exploring approaches to transform their business in the face of Covid-19 challenges. For me, these sessions and the feedback from attendees have shown how a coaching approach is truly the right direction for leaders in these turbulent times, enabling organizations to release the creativity and potential in their people and build the interdependent cultures essential to both productivity and the human spirit.

Our local associates are also contributing in similar ways. For example, one of our associates Daniel Zhao has been collaborating with two of his fellow coaches, donating their time and effort to create an online workshop, titled “Creating Meaningful Work”, which aims to help organizational leaders to find deeper meaning in their personal mission and work. Many of our colleagues in coaching have been making similar efforts to help our clients and communities.

With traditional face-to-face training at a stand-still, we have launched a number of online learning products and services to enable coaches and organizations to continue, or to accelerate their development in this rapidly-changing landscape. The online workshop version of the Coaching for Performance Level 1 program has received rave reviews from participants. We have also launched GROW Training for Leaders in China. These flexible and efficient self-paced learning solutions have provided a much-needed option for organizations looking to promote a coaching leadership style in junior managers. And we have also recorded a full-length video podcast programme to further share the knowledge and real-life application of a coaching leadership style in small and medium-sized organizations and teams.

We asked our MD, Tiffany Gaskell, for some reflections on 2019 and the year ahead.

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What are the two words that sum this year up for you, and what do they tell you about 2020?

My two words would be surprising and exciting. And what they tell me about 2020 is that everything is possible. Our mission is to enable a leadership that is fit for the 21st Century. One that is ethical, sustainable and profitable. This is finally becoming a mainstream requirement and that is exciting.

Where do you think coaching is now versus 2018?

Coaching has gone mainstream in 2019 and we at Performance Consultants continue to light the way. We have received a massive amount of support through respected organizations and our clients who now recognize coaching as fundamental to the transformational leadership needed today.

The boom in executive coaching
– Financial Times

Our Managing Director Tiffany Gaskell and Charlie Kneen traveled to Barcelona for the 4th Annual Corporate Learning & Development Summit. As they were preparing, we asked them how a Coaching Leadership Mindset can be applied to conference speaking.

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When is this year’s L&D Summit and what’s the focus?

Tiffany: The summit is this week, on 23rd and 24th May. It will bring together L&D decision-makers and senior leaders. I’m speaking on Thursday afternoon and looking forward to lots of rich conversations around performance, leadership and organizational culture.

Charlie: I’ll be there both days. Some of the key topics we’re focusing on this year are innovation, digital and social learning.

What will you be speaking about?

Tiffany: I’ll be speaking about how you can really change the mindset and create the optimal culture for performance, and how L&D needs to be at the heart of organizational strategy.

Charlie: I’m Chairing the conference. There’s lots of opportunity to use my coaching skills in this role and I’m really looking forward to facilitating an engaging event.

We’re obviously all jealous, have you been to Barcelona before?

Tiffany: Yes, a long time ago. I’m thrilled to be returning to this exciting city.

Charlie: I was there for last year’s L&D Summit. I’m taking a few extra days afterwards so my wife and I can have a mini-holiday.

The boom in executive coaching
– Financial Times

Discover how coaching fits in a leadership model.

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Douglas Conant, former CEO of Campbell Soup Company, has defined his seven essential practices of leadership in the ConantLeadership Flywheel. These seven practices make up a flywheel, shown in the diagram below, and he summarizes them as “tough-minded on standards and tender-hearted with people”.

We love how Inspire Trust is the foundation practice, at the centre of the flywheel, and that the number 1 pillar is Clarify Higher Purpose – a meaningful journey is key to a fulfilling life.

The ConantLeadership Flywheel

So where would you assign a coaching approach in this wheel? Our answer is that it fits across ALL areas of the wheel, and supports every aspect.

Looking at Build Vitality as an example, the coaching approach acknowledges that vitality is within each human being in the form of power sources and strengths and these are unique to each individual. With the right tools and environment, people can tap into these to build vitality.

The coaching approach explores these power sources and strengths to raise awareness and to collate a pool of resources the individual can draw upon as and when they need. In this way, we are tapping into potential that allows for the person to come from a place of strength and energy.

Creating an optimal environment, for example with the right amount of support and challenge, celebration of achievements, constructive feedback and focus on strengths and power sources will enable people to thrive and create a high energy culture.

Discover how to respond to coronavirus, leading to uncertain times.

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We are living in extraordinary times. Coronavirus (COVID-19) has stopped normal life as we know it in its tracks. As I write this, all but one country in the world is infected. This is the first threat in history that requires us to come together and form a collective response – it is not “us against them” but rather “we are all in it together”. The word for threat in Mandarin also means opportunity. We must find the courage and resolve within ourselves to respond to this threat by finding the opportunity within. What an extraordinary moment in history that we find ourselves at – such is the interdependency of the modern world that we can now truly turn to face this threat together.

In the stark light of a threat that endangers the lives and livelihood of every single one of us, our values and attitudes are shifting in seismic ways – this is humanity’s collective moment to pause. This is the moment to stop, take stock and realign with our internal values. It is by trusting ourselves and digging deep that we will find the courage and inspiration to be our best selves and shine in the face of this threat.

Herein lies the opportunity because, however long this lasts, we will surely be living in a different world afterwards, the question is what will that new world look like? This is where inspirational leadership – leadership that is guided by purpose and values – is key to create the bridge to the future. Leaders in organizations everywhere need to find the ability to provide the way forwards for the people they lead. This will take courage, love and humility.

“The capacity is there. The crisis is the catalyst”

Sir John Whitmore

Discover why a coaching style of leadership is important to a millennial workforce

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The latest research into the millennial workforce* shows business has some way to go to achieve its potential for positive social impact. More than three quarters of millennials believe business should be a force for good on issues such as economic and social progress, conflict, inequality and corruption but, according to the research, big business is only meeting these expectations for 59 per cent of under-35 year olds.

The survey also shows that, after a year of global instability, millennials are less likely to want to leave the security of their jobs than previously, providing a huge opportunity for employers to engage. With many millennials now emerging leaders, holding senior management positions and managing people and teams, they have the opportunity to effect change in the workplace with huge potential gains for business if this potential can be successfully realized.

A coaching style of leadership strengthens purpose and performance

The search for meaning and purpose at work is not restricted to the millennial generation. With older workers also motivated by a sense of higher purpose, organizations are discovering how a coaching style of leadership nurtures high-performing, collaborative teams focused on a shared vision that will enable the organization to achieve its purpose.

In Coaching for Performance, Sir John Whitmore and his team at Performance Consultants explain how a coaching style of leadership creates the conditions for high performance. The 25th Anniversary Edition of Sir John’s bestselling book presents The Performance Curve (see figure below), a model that maps the culture of an organization and relates this to the conditions for low, medium or high performance. The Performance Curve enhances understanding of how a coaching culture is a high-performance culture, enabling a collaborative workforce with shared values to flourish.

The latest findings from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and Human Capital Institute (HCI), Building a Coaching Culture with Millennial Leaders, shows how emerging leaders benefit from partnering with a coach and receiving training on how to use coaching skills with their peers and teams, while leaders at all ages want to develop a coaching style of leadership.

COACHING MINDSET The leader believes that the coachee is capable, resourceful, and full of potential. Believing in the dormant capability of a person will build their self-belief and self-motivation and enable them to flourish. And with that mindset, you can coach them to make their own powerful choices and find enjoyment in their performance and their success.

Extract from the Glossary of Coaching Terms, Coaching for Performance, Fifth Edition

According to the ICF and HCI’s report, the most effective leaders are those with the quality of emotional intelligence who use a collaborative coaching style of management. The research finds that organizations are looking to expand the scope of leaders using coaching skills, and highlights the business case for building a strong coaching culture:

• Respondents whose organizations had strong coaching cultures reported that 61 per cent of their employees are highly engaged, compared to 53 per cent from organizations without strong coaching cultures.
• Forty-six per cent of respondents in organizations with strong coaching cultures reported above-average 2016 revenue growth in relation to industry peers, versus 39 per cent of respondents from all other organizations.

A coaching style of leadership is about partnership, collaboration and believing in potential. It is leading for others rather than for oneself. With more organizations providing individual coaching (1:1 coaching) for the millennial generation and training them to develop their own coaching style, business really does have the potential to be a force for positive change and the opportunity to build a high-performing workforce motivated by a strong sense of higher purpose and the knowledge that the work they do matters.

*Deloitte Millennial Survey 2017, based on the views of almost 8,000 millennials (college or university graduates in full-time employment and born after 1982) in 30 countries in September 2016.

David Brown explains how transformational leaders create high-performance cultures.

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David Brown is CEO of Performance Consultants International, the company he co-founded with Sir John Whitmore, the father of coaching in the workplace. David has been instrumental in shaping the global performance, leadership and coaching industry for over 20 years. He was awarded the rarely bestowed Igniting Social Progress Award by the ICF Foundation in recognition of the global impact of his vision for raising performance in the workplace, and his belief in the power of individuals and organizations to create a better future.

What your grandmother could teach your organization

I invite you to think of a person you loved being with when you were young. Not a parent but perhaps a teacher, grandparent, friend of the family or other adult who positively influenced you. If I ask you to remember how you felt when you were with that person, the chances are that you’ll recall feeling listened to, that you had their full attention. You would say that although you were young this older person believed in you and treated you as an equal, and if they challenged you it was with trust and respect. To quote Maya Angelou:

We’ve run this exercise all over the world and we’ve found people everywhere have broadly the same response. And the result is they felt their potential to be limitless.

This is what high emotional intelligence feels like. It’s the ability to relate to others from a paradigm of trust rather than fear. How does this compare to the leaders in your organization? If you are one of those leaders, how do you measure up?

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

Leaders set the tone

In organizations, the leaders set the tone for everybody else. Studies by the Hay Group have shown they are the greatest influence on an organization’s culture and bottom-line performance, which they can affect by as much as 30%! Meanwhile, according to The Conference Board CEO Challenge:

“the cultural DNA of an organization is critical to success, from operational efficiency to better customer service, to greater talent attraction and retention, to higher levels of business performance and breakthroughs in innovation.”

So it seems crazy how very few organizations take a proactive approach to creating and measuring their culture.