Special Promotional Feature

If you were at the BC HRMA conference last May, you will recall the resplendent moment when the winners of the Awards of Excellence were revealed on the stage. What a joy it was to witness the results of dedicated efforts among those outstanding HR professionals.

Next year, on February 21st, the International Coach Federation Vancouver chapter will also celebrate excellence among their professional community.  Through the Prism Award we will honor the achievements of a coach who has made a veritable and measurable difference in an organization.  With the new Impact Award we will acknowledge and rejoice in the remarkable success of a coaching intervention in the life of an individual.

At this time, our momentum is quickening towards November when the coaching awards nomination process will come to a close.  The final day for the Prism Award nominations is November 1^st and for the Impact Award, nominations must be received by November 15^th.  The ICF award committee invites you to consider nominating yourself, if you are an ICF coach, or encouraging coaching colleagues you may know to do so.  You can view and/or use the nomination guidelines, criteria and application forms from the links on the main page of our website.
Alongside the ongoing progress of the coaching profession in being recognized and better valued for its major contributions to business and individual successes, we look forward to our award event to further enhance this progress.  We hope that you will be among us on February 21^st to partake in this wonderful event and celebrate with us the synergies of our respective professions for the benefits of our people and our workplaces. 

Dave Busse, for his company Essential Impact, was the winner of the 2010 Prism Award.  During a recent interview, Dave shared a few insights about this winning moment and its impact:

Dave, your company Essential Impact won the 2010 Prism Award, what was most memorable about that event?
“We had 55 clients attending the event and I remember many of them commenting on how much they appreciated being there.  The success stories from the client companies were really powerful and inspirational.  Even though there was work involved in the nomination process leading up to this moment, it certainly was all worthwhile.”

What was the best part of the winning experience for you and your company?“It was not so much the winning moment that was most meaningful for us, rather, the value was in getting our client to gain clarity on their progress. They had to identify not only the most obvious benefits but also the collateral, unintended benefits of coaching. They made the content of their success story from implicit to explicit and that was a stimulating reflective exercise in itself. For example, even though they initially thought they did not have strong numbers showing a huge difference, they became aware of the multiple benefits of having established a coaching culture among employees in their organization. This client also observed that turnover went from one hundred per cent to ten per cent and that the volunteer program they had been trying to launch really did take off.”

What other benefits do you see resulting from the Prism Award and its upcoming event in February 2013?
“One strong benefit is that for the coaches and the client companies being nominated, it’s an opportunity for appreciative inquiry of the best kind.  And of course, it helps to enhance and augment the credibility, the breadth and awareness of our profession which still has a way to go in North America as compared with other parts of the world such as South Africa, India and Europe.”

We look forward to receiving nominations from some of the coaches among you, and from the coaching colleagues you want to support. Join us on February 21^st, for a truly memorable and fabulous event; to be moved by the success stories and to support your fellow coaches who, like you, strive to excel and make a powerful difference. Tickets for the event will be available on our website starting October 2012.

Please contact Suzanne Gavin or Jody Béke, ICF Nominations Committee, for more information.