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May 9th, 2013
 We’re happy to have Paul Garro, Executive Director of City Year San Antonio, as our guest blogger. A featured speaker for iPEC’s “Dialogue Among Thought Leaders” series, Paul has been successfully serving the educational community for 20+ years. In addition, he’s been a national consultant for “Teaching the Hard to Reach,” and has authored the first of a series of books entitled, “Classrooms of Inspiration.”
So, what builds trust?
For starters, a strong foundation for trust develops when you expose your limitations, own your actions, and admit that you can’t get everything done all by yourself. In fact, vulnerability and humility have the effect of gathering people together to shape meaning and motivate change.
Trust is also built by a demonstration of our values. When leaders stay true to their values, and their actions are aligned with what they say, confidence begins to build in the people they lead. In essence, these leaders develop powerful vulnerability, which translates into demonstrated integrity — one of the very cornerstones for building trust.
In the Corporation for National & Community Service’s study, “Volunteering and Civic Life in America,” participants from various cities across the country were asked to rate their level of trust in their neighborhoods, public schools, corporations, and the media. While neighborhoods and public schools had the highest levels of trust, corporations and the media were shown to have much lower levels, revealing the tremendous opportunity that exists to connect with our communities and become trusted partners.
How do we break down barriers and build bridges in order to capitalize on this opportunity and formulate trust? In other words, how do we creatively form relationships on our way to successfully building trusted community networks?
Being well-versed in your beliefs, and in your craft, allows you to embody your values and develop strategic relationships with the people and organizations within your communities. From these relationships, your academic organization can build a trusted portfolio of business and community network partners.
So, spend some time with a bit of self-reflection on these seemingly simple, yet powerful, questions:
- How well versed am I in who I am?
- How well versed am I in my craft?
To be sure, listening is also key, as is finding the commonality that exists between your organization and those within your community. Be bold and persistent in finding that commonality; it’s the fuel that will spark your ability to build networks of trust.
When you combine these elements together, you’ll also portray a sense of confidence – confidence in your yourself and in your mission. With trust and confidence, and community alignment, you’ll be amazed by what you’ll be able to accomplish together.
Again, powerful vulnerability, that sense that you don’t have all the answers, that you can’t go it alone, is what paves the way for building, and sustaining, these all-important networks of trust. While they help to provide us with the strategic levers necessary to catapult the trajectory of our organization to an entirely new level (e.g., increasing its capacity for change, propelling its growth), perhaps most important of all is our shared ability to deliver a positive social return to our communities.
What do you see as possible within your organization, and across your community, by tapping into your own powerful vulnerability? And, how can you be a disciple in building communities of trust?
Paul Garro
Executive Director
City Year San Antonio
*The image above is an actual painting by Paul Garro, which not only reflects his artistic talents and immense creativity; it’s also a very personal reflection of his heart-centered approach as a servant leader.
Tags: education, iPEC, networks, opportunity, possibilities, trust, vulnerability
Posted in Educational Markets Division, Guest Bloggers, leadership
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April 22nd, 2011
Last week, we introduced Zack Lemelle as the Managing Partner of our Corporate Engagement Services Division here at iPEC. This week, in an effort to give you a bit of insight into this “engaging” guy, we thought we’d share an excerpt from a recent Q & A session with him.
What’s the most important skill you learned at iPEC?
I embraced all the skills I learned during my coach training experience at iPEC, most notably those that fostered a keen understanding of new ways to connect with colleagues on both a personal and professional level so that, as a team, we were able to move forward in the most effective and efficient way possible.
These new competencies directly impacted my ability to keep my organization engaged, energy levels high, and performance strong. In fact, during tough times of downsizing, outsourcing, and deep budget cuts, our cultural value survey results were always the best across our global corporation. We consistently achieved double-digit improvement in our scores.
iPEC’s coach training program also strengthened my leadership skills and those of my staff. I’ve always patterned my leadership behavior around this compelling question, “if they take away your title, will they still follow you?” The power of that question, especially when combined with the Core Energy Coaching™ process, has helped me to guide my previous organization through some of our most challenging times.
What’s your hope when it comes to working with organizations through the Corporate Engagement Services offered at iPEC?
My hope is that organizations realize it’s time for a new approach to the traditional methods of leading and engaging employees because great things happen when leaders increase the energy of their teams and get their people focused away from current circumstances and onto higher aspirations.
The stated objective of our Corporate Engagement Services Division is to be the leader in building engaged, energized organizations for innovation and growth, and to fundamentally change how organizations lead, inspire, and grow.
What are the common misconceptions that you see when it comes to coaching?
That coaching is only for individuals that have performance gaps. In fact, coaching is for everyone. Leaders at all levels of an organization can benefit from adopting the skills and competencies of iPEC’s Core Energy Coaching™ process. The results are undisputed!
Companies that embrace coaching as a core competency see improved performance in every aspect of their organization. Morale increases, enthusiasm increases, engagement increases, and performance increases. The Core Energy Coaching™ process shows tangible, measurable outcomes, which is what leaders certainly like to see.
Who inspires you?
First and foremost, my unwavering faith in God!
Second, Robert Savage, a former senior executive of a large multi-national corporation who epitomized the leadership question I shared with you earlier, “if they take away your title, will they still follow you?” Everyone drew from Bob’s energy. He inspired us all to look beyond our present circumstances, and to focus our attention on what was possible in order to accomplish extraordinary results — in spite of the tough challenges we faced.
Third, William Weldon, the guiding light of Johnson & Johnson, a company for which I had the pleasure to work for many years, whom I admire for his steadfast commitment to the J & J credo, a document which espouses the company’s tenets.
Next week, Zack will share his perspective on what’s driving the need for organizations to re-engage and re-energize their workforce – right now!
What’s your perspective? Who inspires you?
Tags: business coach, iPEC, leadership, success, training, workforce engagement
Posted in Business Development, leadership, Training Programs, Zack Lemelle - Corporate Engagement Services
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September 15th, 2010
By Guest Blogger CJ Scarlet
Within two weeks after the idea for my new coaching venture tumbled out of my mouth, I read Bruce Schneider’s Energy Leadership and I shifted. This book immediately changed my thinking about what coaching could accomplish when done from the right energy levels and for the right reasons.
A few months later I attended Module IV, Energy Leadership and I was transformed. Everything I knew as a coach and a human being was challenged and a totally new perspective of the world emerged. I have been an Energy Leadership evangelist ever since.
I would like to share with you five simple yet profound ways Energy Leadership and iPEC’s Breakthrough Laser Coaching have changed the way I do business—both as a coach and as an entrepreneur:
1. Garbage in, garbage out. If I am not in a healthy state of mind, especially when coaching, I will not achieve the results I seek. Without exception, I am most effective in my personal and professional interactions when I am in anabolic energy. My partners and I created a short centering exercise that we and our coaches use before entering a session, based on the acronym You COACH. It goes like this:
Center. Physically and emotionally release old energy. Enter the Now. Call on your Higher Coach.
Offer gratitude for the opportunity to serve. Open a safe space for wisdom, understanding and learning.
Allow. Release responsibility for the outcome. Trust yourself. Trust the process. Trust your client.
Create the environment for possibilities and choices to emerge.
Honor the innate wisdom and potential of your client and yourself.
YOU COACH.
2. Look to the thought. To get to the right action, first get the right thought behind it. This makes sense, as you cannot achieve the right action if your thinking is off-base. Our coaches explain to each client that “Thoughts lead to feelings, which lead to actions” in order to help them appreciate that a new thought is required if change is going to occur. We then help the client explore new ways of thinking that enlarge their perspective, help them recognize that they alone possess the power to change their situation, and take action. Works every time!
3. Validation is extremely important. People long to feel validated and heard—in fact, I believe it is one of our most important needs, second only to being loved. As coaches, if all we do is listen and validate, we will have met the most basic needs of our clients. I love the look of relief and appreciation on my clients’ faces when they get validated. It validates me and helps me know I’m making a difference in their lives.
4. You’re only human. As a leader, I have been confronted and my leadership skills tested on a few occasions, and it’s not always easy to maintain my composure. Sometimes I rise to the occasion and sometimes I respond from a place of defensiveness or fear. Just recently I made an error in judgment that frustrated one of my partners. I felt absolutely sick about it, and it was only through the long discussion that followed that I was able to realize that I am terrified of making mistakes. I have this unrealistic expectation that I will do it perfectly every time, all the time. My wise partners advised me to offer myself permission to not be perfect, and a weight dropped from my shoulders. Give yourself permission to make the occasional mistake; we’re only human, after all.
5. BLC works…for everyone. I have yet to apply BLC in a personal or professional setting when it didn’t work. Each of us has at least one friend or relative who lives in Level 1 energy, constantly complaining and seeing everything in a negative light. A close relative of mine is like this, and for decades I tried to motivate her to think and act more positively, to no avail. But when I applied the BLC method to her situation, it worked beautifully! First and foremost, I validated her, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before because I was afraid it would send the message that I agreed with her negativity. When I used validating language, her tone shifted and she began to talk more positively. Because she felt heard, she didn’t feel like she had to complain louder to get my attention. As a result, she was open to being coached to achieve a shift in her perspective. She hasn’t called me to complain since! The premise of Breakthrough Laser Coaching is so simple, yet so profound, and people find themselves sharing so deeply that I am humbled over and over again.
I urge everyone to use the principles they learned in their training to not only better meet the needs of your clients, friends and loved ones, but for yourself as well. Breakthrough Laser Coaching and Energy Leadership change lives. Let it change yours.
About CJ Scarlet:
CJ Scarlet is Chief Rover of Roving Coach International, an official partner of iPEC that is working to create World Peace in the Workplace. Roving Coach offers Breakthrough Laser Coaching to middle manager and other employees who don’t typically get access to coaching like the “big dogs” do. For more information, please visit www.rovingcoach.com.
Tags: become a coach, coaching skills, iPEC, iPEC Coaching
Posted in Coaching and Coach Training, Guest Bloggers
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July 15th, 2010
I am honored to take on the position as CEO of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). I’ve had the fortunate experience of working side-by-side with our founder, Bruce D Schneider, for more than 6 years now and have received more inspiration, benefits, and growth than can be listed here. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Bruce as he remains our Chairman of the Board and an integral part of our strategic development, and also with the rest of the extraordinary team here at iPEC.
On a more personal note, I’m very fortunate to be a ‘product’ of iPEC – I started as a student, graduated and worked as a coach, and have been part of the team for the past 6 years. As an organization, we live and breathe our principles and our coaching methodology – it’s who we are and what we do, and it ripples throughout the organization. You’ll see it in our support team, our trainers, our admissions coaches, our leadership, and ultimately our graduates.
Being around a highly engaged and energetic team and the iPEC alumni community provides me the chance to continually develop while being inspired. This is what ‘work’ and life is supposed to be like.
I’m excited to assume this post and work with our Institute to provide a clear voice for the coaching marketplace as we support our graduate coaches and leaders in making a substantial difference in the lives, careers, and businesses of their clients and employees. Thank you for the difference you are making.
Live on fire!
D. Luke Iorio
President and CEO
Tags: iPEC, Luke Iorio
Posted in Business Development, Coaching and Coach Training, Current Affairs, Uncategorized
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October 16th, 2009
D. Luke Iorio, President of iPEC’s Coach Training Division, recently sat down with Daniel Teigman of the Star Ledger to discuss the growing profession of coaching.
From the Star Ledger article:
With the nation’s unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent, millions of Americans struggle to remain positive in pursuit of work. Beyond traditional career choices like teaching, government work or the health care industry, a lesser known but rapidly expanding alternative is career coaching. In the last decade, career coaching — part therapy, part guided pep-talk — has grown to a billion-dollar industry as the jobless seek professional assistance rebuilding careers. Many hope to achieve a better balance between income and lifestyle.
Luke Iorio, president of the coach training division at the Shrewsbury-based Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching, said people often becoming interested in coaching after visiting one themselves and finding they have a talent for motivating and mentoring others.
Read on at:
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2009/10/career_coaches_blaze_a_new_pat.html
Tags: career coaching, coaching, Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching, iPEC, Luke Iorio
Posted in Coaching and Coach Training, Current Affairs, Training Programs
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