President's January 2014 Letter

Happy New Year!

After hearing the book “Let Your Life Speak” by Parker Palmer mentioned three times within a couple months, I knew I had to read it.  It challenged me to listen to my own life on a deeper level and pay attention to not only my gifts and talents, but also to my constraints and limitations as a way to “listen for the voice of vocation” in 2014. 

The ICF core competency of Active Listening describes this type of listening…and as this is the core competency that ICF Chicago is focusing on this month, it was apropos to have this be the way to bring in the new year.  And while we are at it, let’s listen to our own lives as we start out the new year. What do you hear…and what will you do about it?

World Café 2013

Speaking of active listening, you could really see it during our December 9^th World Café event. The focus of the event was Creating a Premier Coaching Community! We had a record number of new comers and the prevailing theme was that people wanted to have more events like this to get to meet and know each other as a community of coaches. The input gathered from the event will be available soon and the ICFC board and committee teams will be using this input to guide our programs and initiatives this year.

In the News

I am excited to announce that we have thirteen new **committee chair members joining the ICFC leadership team in 2014! The ICFC board will be hosting a Committee Chair Onboarding Orientation on January 13^th and will introduce our new team members along with new board members that same evening at our January Chapter Meeting.

 

**We still have a couple openings for Membership Committee Chairs; contact Betty Terrell at membership@icf-chicago.org with your interest. It would be great to have you join us for the January 13^th orientation!

As coaches, we have a unique position to influence and impact for good the greater Chicagoland area and beyond this year. Thank you for what you do…it really matters! Whether you work with one or many.

 

In Anticipation of a Great Year,

Wendy Balman, CPCC, ACC
ICFC President