ICF as the Vehicle for Change
I find our (ICF’s) mission very powerful to work with. Imagine where an organization exists purely for the global advancement of the coaching profession. We are that organization! We exist because we want to create a thriving community and every member of ICF is an ambassador to accomplish that mission.
According to the 2016 ICF Global Coaching Study, 84 percent of coach practitioners believe to a moderate or large extent that coaching is able to influence social change. ICF has been working very hard towards fostering an environment where coaching enables societal change. This was one of the reasons for the creation of the ICF Foundation. Since its inception in 2004, the ICF Foundation has been instrumental in creating a community of coaches who are, in some way or another, a part of creating this change.
The question that we need to keep asking ourselves is, “How will we work together as coaches for a better future?” We can be a force with a presence of more than 30,000 Members across 148 countries. We have an opportunity to develop partnerships and connect with organizations and people across the globe and ensure coaching reaches the farthest corners of the world. We can be the community that really democratizes coaching and creates a global impact. The work with the ICF Foundation is one such example of this.
A project that has created a lot of excitement recently from the Foundation is the “Ignite Initiative” project. Through the Ignite initiative, the ICF Foundation works in partnership with pioneering chapters and coaches to provide coaching for the greater good, demonstrating that coaching works by building capacity, accelerating and amplifying results. The project focuses on partnering with organizations that support the field of education, including school districts, individual schools and nonprofit organizations.
Ignite continues to grow and gain momentum with ICF Chapters. There are currently 45 projects being implemented by 32 Chapters around the globe, and many more will be launching on a rolling basis. At the completion of some of these projects, the ICF Foundation will capture the outcomes in videos and testimonials to be widely shared with ICF Members and the general public.
I am excited by the fact that Chapters and Members are the vehicles to make this happen. We are acting as one large global community, where boundaries of land, language, race, etc., are being surpassed, and we are coming together to achieve the mission of making societal change happen.
We are also transcending “boundaries” within ICF. As coaching continues to grow in many different directions, so does ICF, with things such as Membership, Credentialing, Program Accreditation and the Foundation. As the ICF Global Board considers how to best serve each of these groups and what services to offer, we must also consider how they impact the organization and coaching as a whole. This is a great example of how two different groups, in this case Membership and the Foundation, can come together to unite ICF, further coaching and make a positive impact in the world.
Imagine a future where each of our Chapters (more than 130 of them) and 50 percent of our Members (15,000) gets involved and picks up one Ignite project each. If each of these Members can provide coaching for 10 hours in a single year, we can cover 150,000 hours of coaching every year! That is the power of our community and our abilities to make such a huge difference across the globe.
We, coaches, are givers by nature!! So, I invite you (both Chapters and Members) to become part of this journey and give. Together we can accelerate and amplify the results and create a beautiful future together, where everyone, everywhere has an ICF coach!
Rajat Garg, MCC
Rajat Garg, MCC, is a Certified Leadership Coach and founder of Coach-To-Transformation. After first having a career in IT strategy consulting, Rajat brings his unique experience of technology, strategy consulting, development and program management to his coaching. He has worked with CXOs, senior managers, managers, and board of directors of small private companies to multi-billion dollar publicly traded organizations. Rajat is a founding member of the ICF Bengaluru Chapter, and he has served on numerous ICF Global workgroups, including the ICF Nominating Committee, Independent Review Board and International Prism Award panel of judges. Rajat currently serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the 2019 ICF Global Board of Directors.
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Thank you Rajat for your call to action, “Imagine a world…” So many coaches only look at what they might create individually when we are all stronger when we work together to create change. Our combined voices and actions create the opportunities for the individuals to succeed.
Thank you Marcia. I agree the power of collective is much bigger and stronger 🙂
“Stronger together”… and so beautifully demonstrated from the ICF Global Board – thank you Rajat & Marcia for your most compelling case. Social progress is within our gift as coaches and the power of the ICF working alongside the ICF Foundation is facilitating that change… where everyone everywhere has the opportunity of accessibility & choice and YES to an ICF coach too!
Thank you Saima. As part of the foundation, you guys are doing an amazing job!!
Rajat, Thanks for a nudge – it is always good to remember that I have a responsibility as well as a right as a coach. The responsibility is to pay back all the good coaching has done for me personally and professionally. I love the fact that our own ICF Foundation is a brilliant way to do that. Yours is a reminder to be a contributor as well as a consumer of the ICF. Thanks!