Serban Chinole

I know that this post can intrigue some of you, it is just a follow-up after the recent visit of Alan Seale  in Romania. We have been honoured to have him as a main presenter at the second ICF Romania conference.

Alan arrived early in Romania and he requested to visit Transylvania, we went to Meschendorf and spent some magical moments in Monica’s house.

During this visit Alan explained us the potential of that area, giving us a preview in his practical process for creating miracles. He presented a model of raising personal awareness during conference and promised a follow-up with practical tools.

Since that presentation we hoped to initiate this and I can say that soon he will announce the format together with ICF Romania Chapter.

I invite you to read his books and look for our messages, be well.

Back in 2004 I was browsing the Internet and I found an article about coaching. Being curios I read the whole thing with surprise and resonance. For the first time in many years I felt connected to a missing element from my practice. At that time my consultant career included several projects in major companies and working with managers and sales forces.

First step was to seek some seminars online, more on how to market yourself as a coach, however the shift in my believes regarding consultancy and training versus the new and mysterious coaching was not coming.

I asked Steve Mitten,MCC how can I see this and he suggested to sign in for a Fundamentals seminar in person in San Rafalel, California and this was the moment I had been missing for a life. Needless to say or describe my feelings and new perspectives after this  introductory seminar, since than I had only one goal, to seek new results for me and with my clients.

My first client hired me in 2005, his goal was very important for his new life in Canada. I visited him in 2008 and I saw the house from his vision in reality, all the accomplishments that he had in a few years. I know that coaching is working because I can notice my changes when I receive coaching, so I decided to celebrate my progress in coaching career today.

Let me explain: This year ICF(International Coach Federation) celebrates 15 years of existence and we organize as local chapter the second ICF Romania conference with global speakers and Balkans participation, more than 100 persons in audience.

My contribution to this celebration is a special offer for all the friends and interested persons who can hire me for a month minimum at my original fee from 2005!

Why? Simple, today I was announced that I reached the PCC level (Professional Certified Coach) and I want to celebrate with my new clients at an affordable rate for them.

This celebration will be on a first come, first served basis, limited to 3 months, coaching done via skype or phone. I want to thank all my existing clients, and looking forward to continue the journey.

So?

We learn every day from many events certain things, not always in a nice way. You wake up in a winner perspective, get ready for the meeting you will attend, engage a powerful conversation and leave with a good feeling about yourself.

In the same room of reality, you start to organize a celebration for the weekend, make choices on the guest list, catering, music and imagine the cool feeling of play.

Messages are coming via e-mail, another opportunity, another plan, who knows maybe you can repeat success.

Who is this person? What is his story? Is this his life?

What is missing? Perhaps we love too much our opinions and we can only accept the win. Life is good and sometimes you cannot control everything. It is ok to tell your story from a healthy perspective, and this is called failure.

If you are ready to fail too and keep an empty cup mentality you will be listened.

Enjoy the journey !

The last video message from Tony Robbins was about Sly Stallone and his dream to become an actor, how easy was for him to have this dream and what was the importance of not giving up.

Without pretending that my dream is similar, I choose to share it with you, five years ago while working with Steve Mitten MCC, I was challenged about my dream on coaching and development of this new profession in Romania.

The early days looked similar with ICF global story, I traveled to Timisoara and participated in a discussion with potential team members for ICF Romania, the resistance and skepticism I found made me wonder if this is a good idea. After all many new things started there, however in the coaching case we were asked what is the benefit of participating in this common project.

I did not take this personally, somehow two persons were open to support my dream so in August 2006 we opened the local chapter. The years after we grew up as a chapter slowly and many times I wondered if all the obstacles are part of this journey. Now I know and I want to acknowledge the effort of the active members and the accredited ones because they honour their commitment to themselves and coaching profession.

I also want to thank Alain Cardon,MCC, who develops coaches according to the ICF 11 competencies, also Gerard O’Donovan who kindly accepted our invitation last year in our first conference.

We celebrate the 15 years of ICF global by launching the 2nd conference and we benefit from 3 fantastic speakers, join us in our dreams, come with yours and let us see the resonance.

Two years ago during ICF conference in Montreal I had the honour to see Vandana Shiva

speaking about the importance of seeds. At that time I was not aware of her work, or about the importance of original seeds. Take a moment, and ask yourself how much of the food you eat now is natural and has organic base. It is useless to say that food is food, and it is not important if we still eat organic tomatoes or vegetables, if our flowers that we love and give to our wives, mothers and friends are from our gardens, if the eggs and meat we buy have hormones and chemicals inside.

Spring is here and if you have a small garden you can choose to start a small organic garden, there is a seeds bank in Romania who can provide organic seeds if you convince them that you want to grow organic vegetables.

What is the link with coaching?

Let me explain, 15 years ago a group of enthusiast people in US decided to start a non-profit organization, called ICF. In the early days they were around twenty people, today ICF has more than 16.000 members, over 150 chapters in more than 45 countries. It is offering the only global recognized, independent credentialing program. This process is based on eleven competencies to support understanding the coaching profession.

The way of working in every country is like having a small organic garden, every member of the local chapter participates to the greater effort of educating the market, of course one person at a time. Last year our local effort was globally recognized in Orlando in the section for small chapters with global spirit.

This year in Bucharest we will benefit from the wisdom of three recognized international coaches, Andrew Atter, Alan Seale and Alain Cardon.

We invite all the ”organic” seeds of coaching from Romania and Balkans and why not Europe to join us in celebrating 15 years of ICF and 4 years in Romania.

I dedicate this post to my wife Raluca, also business partner, coach and friend.

We both graduated in 2007 Coaching Training Institute, and I remember how I sold her the idea, in the first two days of her Fundamentals, she called me saying that coaching is not for her. In the last day, somehow she recovered and became motivated to continue.

The context for starting a new career was not very good, she was busy with our daughter Ana, and thinking on going back to her corporate life.

First clients were enough to make her change her mind, and despite the tough and unknown market, she is now coaching C-level and High Potential executives.

How easy is to be in coaches family? Well, if we just ask each other using our tools, action does not take place, is just like having two opposites forces. The good part is that we can agree on our commitments and have precise boundaries.

In my last working group, in a coaching exercise, when I shared my project for this year about ICF Romania 2nd conference, one of the managers asked me: so, Serban who is organizing this event, my wife I answered, and everybody laughed, and then I was asked: what about you?

My answer was: I am in charge with strategy. So it is nice for me to design a nice plan and ask questions the project team, but  I am confident because she is in charge.

In  the last two weeks I had a chance to work with three groups of managers, to discuss with some prospect clients and to work on launching the ICF Romania 2-nd conference.

What is my learning point? The only way to project and make yourself clear about what coaching is and why is considered one of the best ways to achieve change and results long term, is when you practice.

Talking or promoting is not enough, selling is even worse, however when you embark in a coaching journey no matter in what format you are in a different reality.

I heard comments on the recent Oscar awards, and many reported disappointment for Avatar score. I wonder why, my answer is simple, many of us have fantasies and avoid what IS.

The Iraq war is reality and we like to believe that this will not happen to us, the analogy I see here is that people are determined to pursue fantastic outcomes, but will avoid what is here NOW.

Five years ago I was wondering if coaching can change lives, now I measure the results, and boy, the journey is just starting.

So what is this title? Could be a sales model, or maybe a mnemonic ?

How about three great teachers? Yes, this the key, you want more about the mystery, go to

www.coachfederation.ro and find out.

This my gift for you, read the post and make comments, more to come soon.

Cool?

Yes we do, we enjoy every moment and this is our secret as coaches.

How we start is a different story, everybody has a personal experience and some of us prefer a route for development, related to a certain school or model.

It is the beginning with a-ha moments, the process and attention to skills, early clients that challenge our way of thinking, the questions that we welcome at networking events and of course the excitement of new.

We keep doing week after week sessions and we add, and sometimes lose clients to our practice, no matter what, we do not give up what we love.

How is this journey now? Well, the same, exciting, we celebrated in style last week, we offered pro-bono sessions and we are ready for the next challenge.

Somebody asked me last week, what is my Destination in coaching, the answer was:

I just love the journey, this is what keeps me happy,

Peace and love for everybody!

We are busy with current events, chasing new prospects and projects and in this continuos run forget to breathe and enjoy the NOW.

This is my challenge and I stop today and offer my services pro-bono for a week, meaning I celebrate my profession, my clients, my partners and last but not least all my teachers.

I want to thank my clients first because they give me permission and allow me to implement solutions, what is more they pay me for my efforts, my partners many thanks to Andrew Atter, Viorel Panaite, Radu Stanescu, Ioan Nicut, Raluca Chinole, to name a few, and of course Steve Mitten, Kathy Munoz, Phraba, Bill Turpin, CTI community, ICA community, ICF Romania local chapter members.

I accept that not everybody will understand why we volunteer and do things for free, that is fine with me, peace and love to everybody.