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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
International Coach Federation (ICF) Vancouver is Vancouver’s non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high professional standards, being an authoritative source on coaching information and research, providing independent certification, and building a local network of credentialed coaches. ICF Vancouver Chapter is one of the 15 largest of the 108 chapters in over 50 countries worldwide. The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Visit: www.icfvancouver.org

Tuesday 1 May 2012

BCHRMA STELLAR PRESENTATIONS



BCHRMA Conference Summary
By Isabelle St-Jean, RSW ACC

If you wish you could have spared the time to attend the whole BCHRMA conference last week, read on to eavesdrop on the thought-leaders who were part of that big conversation. Between Rick Mercer’s captivating stories, David Rock’s neuro-leadership, Jeremy Gutsche’s talk on innovation, and many more stellar presentations, the BCHRMA event was a feast for the mind. Here’s a sampling of the highlights laced with insights of relevance to our coaching profession:

-        Rick Mercer delivered a fun ride through his adventures across our vast landscape. Along with his twists of humour, he also moved the audience with anecdotes about the good causes he served by instigating popular fund-raising campaigns in several Canadian schools.  Mercer ended by saying he used to be a “glass-half-empty” kind of guy, but now he celebrates our country’ s diversity and commonality of folks who are hard-working and truly generous.

-        Ms. CEO was a well moderated panel discussion including 3 CEOs: Nicole Stefenelli, Krista Thompson, and Karen Flavelle. Right at the start, they acknowledged that many of us are tired of the fight for gender equality. But, thanks to current research, the conversation has changed. No longer just about fairness, we now have facts proving that organizational health and profitability increases when women are involved as leaders. Among surprising stats, it was said that only 17% of “C” positions are occupied by women although this gender represents 47% of the total workforce.  The audience was encouraged to support women by coaching them to recognize their own value to counteract the common tendency toward the Imposter Syndrome.  Coaching was praised as an effective way to break down the barriers and limiting beliefs that still reside in both genders at the subconscious level.  We were reminded to be Ambassadors of diversity and to promote a truly collaborative culture as a pillar in organizational success.

-        Jeremy Gutsche’s expertise on trendsetting shone as he promoted a culture of revolution that fosters innovation, creativity and super charged viral messages that convey succinctly – in 7 words or less - what the company does best.  He pointed out that we should counter the tendency, in economically challenging times, to be overly conservative rather than innovative; after all several multi-billion dollar corporations like Disney and Microsoft were started during economic downturns.  Gutsche said that when we get good at something we can be trapped on top of our small hill.  But instead we should venture out and look for another bigger hill and head for its top.  One of his catchy phrases, quoted back by others, was “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Aggressive kind of language, but it affirms many coaches’ view that the importance and power of an organization’s culture based on clear compelling vision and core values-in-action cannot be over-stated.

-        David Rock presented contents from his latest book Your Brain at Work in both his keynote and breakout session.  He pointed out what has to improve: self-awareness among leaders, better change initiatives and an understanding of the brain in the workplace.  This will facilitate good decision making and problem-solving as well as collaboration and knowing how to retain composure under pressure.  Three of his main points were that the rational is overrated, attention changes the brain and that emotions are misunderstood.  It turns out that feelings are better managed and their intensity decreases when we acknowledge them and talk about them. (Off course we know that but now neuroscience is proving it).

-        Tony Hsieh author of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Passion, Profit and Purpose delivered the closing plenary keynote with an amazing elaboration about how his US company Zappos.com built its lasting success with exceptional customer service, tribal leadership and a robust company culture.

In addition, I attended several great breakout sessions that were packed with value and good content.  The award ceremony was also very well done and certainly augmented my positive anticipation for our chapter’s coaching award ceremony in 2013.