Blog Post

Columbia Coaching Learning Association (CCLA),

Happy Sunday and Happy Monday's Day!

The communication below was sent out yesterday via the CCLA/NING platform to all program alums - there are important elements that I would like to share with our boarder learning communication, specifically: (a) 2 upcoming professional development events and (b) exciting plans for a "CCLA Board of Directors 'Re-Start' - to take the organization to the next stage of growth - Please Read!

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Professional Development

This can be the perfect time to invest (time and energy, where possible money) in your own on-going professional development. For example, most  weekday mornings between 11:30 AM to Noon (Eastern Standard) Marshall Goldsmith has been hosing guests on various topics on LinkedIn live - these are free, quick, yet useful. Since learning about these 4 weeks ago, I've been able to attend at 3 per week and really look forward to them. During, what were "normal times" I can't remember ever attending to my own professional development in such a consistent way - this is sometime I plan to change moving forward.

There are two upcoming professional development events I want to make you aware of (1 free and 1 @ low, discounted rate for CCLA members, given that we are one of the co-sponsors). For both, you'll need to, you guested, go to the CCLA/NING site for session information and registration information, including a "discount code" for the ICF event:

NYC Chapters of ICF & SHRM June 3rd Virtual Event (7:00 to 9:00 PM Eastern Time | U.S.): Building Coaching Cultures: Who, What and How | Use The Link Below for Event and Registration Details | NOTE: Dr. Terrence E. Maltbia will be monitoring this all-star panel focused on organizational coaching | BE sure to use the CCLA discount code before registration: 4RQILSVT

Keynote: Renée Robertson, PCC, VP, Coaching in Organizations, ICF

Moderator: Dr. Terrence Maltbia, Associate Professor of Practice, Faculty Director, Columbia Coaching Certification Program (3CP), Teachers College | Columbia University, 

Panelist: 

• Brian Underhill, Ph.D., PCC, Founder & CEO, CoachSource, LLC
• Stephanie Licata,  M.A., ACC,  VP, Executive Coaching Practice at Purpose & Performance Group | OD Consultant | Executive & Career Coach
• Debra Hamilton, SVP/Chief Learning & Development Officer, Fulton Financial Corporation
• Jennifer Paylor, Leadership and Management Development, People Engineer, IBM Corporation

Link For More Event Details and To Register:

https://icfnycchapter.org/event-3830995

Graduate School Alliance of Education in Coaching (GSAEC): Invitation to June 4 Virtual Event (11:00am – 12:30pm Eastern Daylight Time (US) Scholar-Practitioner Campfire Chat - Coaching Across Cultures | Use The Link Below for Registration Details - This is a Free Event. NOTE: The Columbia Coaching Certification Program (3CP) is an Instituational Member of GSAEC so by include "Columbia University" as your instituation and note whichever of the following best applies to you as your "status" -  "Student, Current Participant, or Program Alum. Again, use the link below for times, a lists of panelist, session description and registration details.

Agenda

• Introduction: About GSAEC, About the Scholar Practitioner Campfire Chats
• Coaching Across Cultures: Perspectives from Scholars and Practitioners
• Facilitated Roundtable Discussion
• Close and Coming Attractions

Featured Scholars and Practitioners

• Ana Maria Reyes, PhD | CEO and President, New Worlds Enterprise, Inc. | Affiliated Faculty, University of Pennsylvania
• Lisa Rock, MCC | Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer | Neuroleadership Institute
• Terrence E. Maltbia, EdD | Associate Professor of Practice | Department of Organization and Leadership | Columbia University
• Gina Chaney, Inclusion and Diversity Business Lead for US Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

To Register (Remember to name "Columbia University" as your Instituational Affliation

There is no cost to attend but pre-registration is required to attend the meeting: Click here to register.

NOTE: If you are aware of upcoming events that you believe our community would be interested in, post them in the "Member Blog" area of the CCLA site.

Growth of Our Learning Community

I would like to close this communication, with something that is near and dear to my heart - that is the intentional growth of our learning community. I don't simply mean growth by numbers, that is actually happening, with each passing year.

A bit of historical context...

When, what is now, The Columbia Coaching Certfication Program (3CP) was conceived during the Fall of 2006, there we three core design guildlines: (1) we structured a 1-year long program that combined two, 1-week residential coaching intensives on the front-end and back-ends of the program, with an 8 month, technology-enabled, field-based practicum, as to attract both a national and international participant base (vs. regional); (2) residential intensives would focus on introducing the theory/research behind a given coaching practice; move immediatedly to recorded application (i.e., try-out and observation) in fishbowls with laser feedback; with the practicum period designed for client application and reflection; given this design, the ideal cohort size was 26, with a maximum capacity of 34 - yet 30 would be better); and (3) offer the "front-end intensives on an open-enrollment basis, yet given this was a "graduate-level" professional credential, offered by a Research 1/Ivy League university, "acceptance" into ACI would be based on meeting theshold requirements and "full-certification" based on meeting all program requirements within a 60-day window post ACI - thus the expectation, was, and still is, with in-takes of between 50 to 60 per Cohort, the expectation was that 25 to 34 from each in-take population would be "readiy" for ACI within the window of the practicum period.

Overall, with a number or refinements along with way, all three of these factors have proven true since launching our 1st Cohort during the Fall of 2007, attending ACI in the Summer of 2008, and completed certification in the Fall of 2008. Regarding the first point, between 25 to 35% of a given Cohort resides outside of the U.S., this international participant based provides a level of cultural richness to the experience. Now in our 13th year, the program's intake across 24 Cohorts has grown from our 32 in Cohort 1 (ECI - 20 participants and ICI - 12 Participants or 32 in Total) to an average in-take in the past 5 years of 50 per cycle, or a growth rate of about 36 percent. During this same time period, our ACI Cohort size has increased from 20 in Cohort to an average of 33 during the pass 5 years, or growth of about 39 percent - a level that exceeds our desired upper range of 30, yet slightly under our maximum capacity - the program is where it wants to be in terms of enrollment and ACI attendance levels, in the past 5 years we've worked to improve the certification completion rate post ACI - and canceling the Spring In-take for Spring 2020 has provided to space for us to reach back to those who have done so, to encourage them to try to complete this unfinished business between now and the next cycle with Cohort 24.

The above is "growth numbers" regarding The Columbia Coaching Program - in terms of the broader CCLA - community, as of today (5.10.20) there are 1,297 people on this site: (a) 518 of our 679 program alums (or roughly 76% of those who have completed ACI) - efforts are underway to increase the percentage here, it was 150 in 2014 when we launched, and 448 in March when we started the current outreach campaign; (b) 182 who completed The Front-end Coaching Intensive (ECI or ICI), this number is lower than it had been, because removed those that have completed ACI from this list to reduce "double counting;" (c) 587 "friends of the program" - this category includes alumni from various Columbia Degree Programs interested in coaching; as well as, the boarder coaching and talent management community, along with prior Conference Attendees - NOTE: over the years many people learned about the coaching program this way (so we are currently reviewing this category for those actually attended ECI, ICI, and/or ACI - to again avoid double counting); (d) all 11members of the program's core facilitator team; and (e) 6 external examiners.

Opportunity to Grow Connection and Engagement Levels...

So, enrollment and ACI attendance growth has been realized in our 13 year history, and as founder director of the program, I'm please with a number of our collective accomplishments:

• Chief among them being the program's reputation, when I go to coaching industry related events numerous people tell me about the "great things" they've heard about the program and many say they refer people to our program, having not attended themselves;
• Creation of the Columbia Coaching Learning Association (CCLA), in preperation for our 1st International Columbia Coaching Conference, the Board of Directors at the time, formally incorporated the organization, applying for, and receiving non-profit status - this provided a structure to really expand the financial position from organizing a few "assessment certifications" each year, to the revenues from a bi-annual conference - the organization is now well positioned for its next level of development; and
• International Coaching Conference, there are many accomplishments to be proud of that are the result of volunteer leadership teams planning and implementing, what has become a "must-attend" conference event for those who operate in the scholar-practitioner coaching space | Accomplishments include: (1) confernence attendance growing from slightly under 200 in 2014, to over 300 in 2016, and well overall 400 in 2018; (2) publishing e-proceedings for our 2016 & 2018 conference; (3) being the "co-editor" of a special edition of "Systemic Coaching," the theme of the 2018 in a peer review - "Philosophy of Coaching Journal" (consistent with the program's committment to contribute to the knowledge base of professional coaching) | see link for access to this issue: https://philosophyofcoaching.org/ [NOTE: look for Volume 4, Number 1 (May 2019)]

As I intentionally prepare for retirement in, or before, 2030 (which sounds like a long way off, yet as you know time flies), I have two priorities related to the program: (a) identify and help with the transition of my successor and (b) support the work of building a highly connected and engaged 3CP alumni base - I personally believe, the later is as important as the former.

Call-to-Action:

If nothing else, launching the "Virtual Connection Spaces" serie for The Columbia Coaching Learning Community has reinforced my belief that if you provide a structure for motivated, smart people to engage, they will do the rest - our experience with our 3 international coaches is also evidence of this fact - our community desires connection, we lack the structure to make it work in a sustainable way. Yet, the good news, CCLA is now in a financial position to do just that, we simply need alumni to take the next steps! There are three things are people can do to help put the foundation in place for building a more connected and engaged alumni base:

1. The first is easy: (a) makes sure your CCLA/NING profile is up-to-date; (b) and reach out to any (all alumni) you are in contact with and ask them to do the same in the next 2 to 3 weeks; and (c) respond to our request to update a more "comprehensive" professional profile when we migrate to the new Hivebrite CCLA site;
2. The second will require more effort: when Margaret McLean (program alum and member of our Core Facilitator Team) sends out a "call-for-volunteers" to help build out the new site, raise your hands if time permits - the more of us who work on a few tasks, the sooner the entire community will benefit from the potential this platform will offer (something I've been personally wanting for over 10 years); and
3. The third, is the most important, and that is, consider taking on a Leadership Position in what will be a CCLA Board of Directors "Restart" to take the next level of growth!

If you are not a program alum, one way you can get involved in priority project of the organization, is take avantage of the many volunteer opportunities for The 4th International Columbia Coaching Conference (postponed to October 2021 from October 2020 due to COVID-19) - including serving as a: sub-committee chair (i.e., papers, experiential learning sessions, and coaching demonstrations); proposal reviewer; and/or onsite logistics team volunteer. Stay tuned for various "call-for-volunteers."

I've crazy busy these days myself trying to grade papers and projects as the end of the Spring Terms comes to an end, while preparing for the Summer Term (teaching 2 classes) with a short transition period in between. Yet, I'm finding the time to support the "Virtual Connection Spaces" series and the Hivebrite project, because: (a) I now see the connection series as a valuable way to reengage our learning community (as evident by seeing people from nearly every Cohort attend these 1-hour sessions) and (b) I don't think this is ANYTHING more important to the future of both the program and the CCLA than getting this platform running, which in term, will allow both the CCLA BODs and Conference to reach our greatest asset, our alumni community. While, as an off the charts R1, there is a list of things I would rather do, yet I can't think of one, based on my 13 years of leading the program more important - some I'm going to be laser beam focused on this in the next 60 days in the limited time I have to volunteer.

NOTE: that while leading the program is part of my role @ Columbia, the conference nor any other activity associated with alumni work is not, so when it comes to this track of work, I'm a volunteer just like the rest of you, and like many of you, I choose to spend my time on this work, where there are other things I, as you, could be doing! Thanks for all of you who have served (and continue to serve) in the past, on the CCLA Board of Directors, on The Conference Leadership Team, Conference Sub-Committees, or even co-hosting our recent connection spaces. And I look forward to working with the next group who I'm confident will raise their hand to serve our learning community.

Regards,

Maltbia