The Big Idea

​"Cohorts keep arriving at the end of Module II or Coaching for Leaders, thinking,
​'We're just getting started!''
The Shepherd Coach Team explores advanced content with a deep focus on coaching supervision, all in the context of a longer-term team."

The SeattleCoach® Certified Facilitator/Shepherd Coach Team (SCT)
"Let's carry the SeattleCoach heart out into the world!" A veteran SeattleCoach

• Shepherd Coaches are accessible and responsive.
• Shepherd Coaches zoom in: They see around corners and attend to important details.
• Shepherd Coaches zoom out: They know what they’re doing and they don’t lose track.
• Shepherd Coaches "get sheep" (and like them).

You guys know the story so far
In 2008 I started training coaches. As it has turned out, half have been entrepreneurial coaches, half internal coaching leaders. And in those first few years, I couldn't help but notice that the internal leaders who came from some of our best companies would finish training--and then leave their companies. I started worrying that Steve Ballmer would be mad. And then, around 2015, SeattleCoaches started staying with their companies--and becoming contagious. And their companies started noticing their impact. 

You know this too 
Employees today want to see purpose in the work they do and they want opportunities to grow. And if they don't have those things, they are more likely to change companies than they are to simply change roles. That's of course where we come in. The demand to help companies build coaching cultures is growing. 

Here's what I've figured out
Companies that are successful in building coaching cultures build on a three-sided stool:

1. External Leadership Coaches
2. Internal Coaching Leaders 
3. Visionary Executive Sponsors who understand the ROI as they attract, develop and keep great people

Here's what else I've been learning 
You know those SeattleCoaches who started staying in their companies as coaching leaders a few years ago? Because of them, some great companies began to ask for more training for their directors, individual contributors and people managers. So in Boise, Redmond and Seattle, those internal SeattleCoaches and I have started customizing a response.

​Thanks to our great associate faculty, our credentialing-track Cohorts these past few years have continued to flourish in the Seattle office. At the same time, I've been coaching executive leaders and collaborating with them to translate our coach training into corporate settings. I've learned that to do it right, it takes 2-3 steady and strategic years. And you have to master what I call The Five On-Ramps approach. (Trust me. If there were short-cuts, I'd have found them.)

Here's my big idea: Starting in October, I will begin to develop an alliance, a team of coaches who want to build coaching cultures on the inside of great companies
What I'm calling the SeattleCoach Certified Facilitator/Shepherd Coach Team will replace Module III (while building on and including all of that great advanced content). So even if you’ve completed Module III, this will be something new. I’d love to see your application. Our focus will be on the agenda and opportunities you bring for discussion.

My Big Idea has two parts to it
First, I will mentor and advise and work alongside a team of 15-18 SeattleCoaches--both external leadership coaches and internal coaching leaders--as they patiently and strategically find and then work with companies that are ready to build a coaching culture over the course of 2 years. 

1. To download my brain and heart: equipping, encouraging and empowering veteran coaches
2. To leverage what makes us great
3. To help great companies build Coaching Cultures
4. To develop a vision of the future for SeattleCoach that will be a tailwind for each of your brands

And second, in addition to the development of this team, I will license the use of SeattleCoach copyrighted intellectual property (IP) to the members of this team as they use the The Five On-Ramps. For the first year, the license will support the first three On-Ramps, including the SeattleCoach ICF-approved "Introduction to Coaching Leadership" materials (.pdfs and decks). And I will provide as many laminated Play Cards as you can use.

Pre-requisites

1. ​You have to have a vision--maybe even a calling--to do this work with companies. It's hard and patient work. It takes all of the professionalism, persistence and grit you can muster. There will be lots of testing and learning. It might help if you live or have lived some of your life inside of a corporate setting. (Go back and re-read the Shepherd Coach points at the top of this page.)
2. You have to be scrappy: Ready to find and create your own opportunities--although as work comes to SeattleCoach, this team will be the first place to which I'll refer.
3. Internal coaches, you have to be aiming to become a coaching SME in your organization (think of the SCT as a "train-the-trainer" opportunity). 
4. External coaches, you have to be aiming to make more than the ICF average of $68,000 per year.
5. You have to have completed either SeattleCoach's Module I and II or Coaching for Leaders.
6. And you to have already earned the ICF's Associate Certified Coach credential or have a plan to complete it by summer 2020.

Here's what it will look like in 2019-2020

• The SCCF/SC team will meet two Thursdays per month: Once for two hours face-to-face at the SeattleCoach office, and once for an hour via video conferencing.
• My request is that you sign up a year at a time, but since this work will unfold over two to three years, my hope is that members would stay with this team beyond the first year, collaborating and supporting each other as I equip you/license you to teach On-Ramps #1-4.
• The ICF has approved The SeattleCoach® Certified Facilitator/Shepherd Coach Team (SCT) for 44 hours of CCEUs for each of the three years (Part I, Part II, Part III) that you may choose to participate. This includes lots of mentor coaching and supervision as you learn the details and synergy of the On-Ramps. Of course these CCEUs are designed to help you renew or advance your ICF credentialing.
• Following our first year together, I will give you visibility as a SeattleCoach® Certified Facilitator​

In the first year we'll cover the first three of the Five On-Ramps, including

1. How to make a compelling case for internal coach training to sponsors in the companies and organizations you want to serve—anticipating their questions and concerns
2. How to collaborate with each other and with internal coaching leaders​
3. How to work with sponsors to define budgets, outcomes and ROI 
4. How to help companies to interview and select contagious participants
5. Your working knowledge of Systems Theory/Systems Intelligence and how to leverage the energy of groups and teams in sessions
6. As always, we'll work on the agenda you bring​

---

Also in the first year, I've asked each Shepherd Coach to:

1. Develop, refine and deliver their own TED-ish talk
2. Master the first three of the five “on-ramps", working with executive leaders, co-creating team meetings and offering an Intro to Coaching workshop, and to
3. To identify their professional aspirations for 2020-2021

For Shepherd Coaches who continue into our second and third years

• I'll help you to build on the first three On-Ramps, preparing and licensing you to facilitate a full "Coaching for Leaders" (CFL) Cohort (On-Ramp #4)
• I will expect each member to bring cases, learnings

 ​
With your tuition each year:

1. An evening offsite at the start of each year for team-building and goal-setting
2. Development meetings twice a month
3. A 12 month IP license. In the first year this will include:

• "Intro to Coaching" materials (.pdf) 
• "Intro to Coaching" slides (.ppt)
• "The Coaching Leader’s Arena Play Card" (I will provide all the hard copies you can use) ​​

---

Click on the box below to make your payment

---

​​At the end of our first year
We both evaluate to see that you're on-track with your goals. If you are, since this work unfolds over two to three years, my hope again is that you'd stay with this team in 2020-2021 (same tuition, same number of CCEUs from the ICF). If you wish to stop at the end of our first year, you'll still receive credit and visibility as a SeattleCoach® Certified Facilitator​. 

In addition, in our first year

• We’ll have time as a team with Dr. John Medina, my friend and the author of the Brain Rules books—he’s been a great addition to the Coaching for Leaders Cohorts at Microsoft and is eager to do more with us.*

*​If it makes sense to include either John or me in the programs you plan, we'll both be available with enough notice at our usual rates (he's more expensive that I am).

The Shepherd Coach Team for 2019-2020 is at capacity. If you're still reading--and even getting excited and would like to apply for future opportunities, contact me directly.