Earned the Professional Certified Coach Credential

I recently earned the prestigious designation of Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from the International Coach Federation (ICF). The ICF is the leading global organization of over 20,000 professional personal and business coaches and offers the only independent and internationally recognized coach credentialing program. By earning a PCC, I have made a solid commitment to my own coaching but also to the profession of coaching.

The requirements for this credential included attending an ICF-accredited coaching school (I attended two), earning certification from those schools, being mentored by experienced coaches, taking an exam, and logging coaching hours. Out of all of these requirements, I am most grateful for the 1000 or so coaching hours that I logged--since it is through the practice of coaching that each of you have helped me to hone and refine my coaching skills and perspectives.

So, I share this with you, in gratitude for all the way that you have helped me to develop as a coach. Thank you!

What Does It Cost To Pay Attention?

by Larry Peers

“I went into a McDonald’s yesterday and said, ’I’d like some fries.’ The girl at the counter said, ’Would you like some fries with that?’” – Jay Leno

The humor in this joke points to an increasingly serious challenge for many of us: to pay attention. More and more we are distracted and torn in so many directions that our responses can be as automatic and as mindless as the server in this joke.

Daniel Goleman, in book, Focus, examines this increasingly widespread phenomenon that he calls an “impoverishment of attention” impacting individuals, work teams, and organizations—in fact, our culture as a whole. Even the church is not exempt. In his book, Paying Attention: Focusing Your Congregation on What Matters (Alban Institute, 2005), Gary Peluso-Verdend wonders whether churches can have “institutional attention deficit disorder”—as they lack focus, get easily distracted and seem to lose sight of their central purpose. Maybe you’ve actually experienced this?

Certainly, many clergy also feel the challenge of the “impoverishment of attention.” Again and again, I hear from clergy who struggle not just with their capacities to respond but also to attend. Indeed, there is a collective sigh among many of us as we struggle to find the practices and the disciplines to catch up, stay focused, and be more present to our life and our ministry.

One of the values of coaching  is the opportunity to focus one’s attention on what is at the heart of one’s ministry. Often times, we can lose that sense of what really matters. We can put our call “on hold” while we are doing other—sometimes non-essential—things. In coaching, we can be reminded to listen to what we are called to do in the midst of all that is possible for us to do. As we are present to one another, perhaps we can also cultivate a Presence that strengthens us for inspired, in-Spirit-ed action.

In coaching, we often don’t have the absolute answers for one another, but we can offer the questions that open up perspectives and possibilities. Here are some questions adapted from various sources that we can offer—to help us focus on what matters:

1. What question, if answered, would make the most difference to your ministry and/or life right now?
2. How often do you hit the “snooze alarm” on what matters? What would happen if that came to the forefront rather than the backdrop of your ministry?
3. What big, unexamined assumptions have you made about what’s possible or not possible in your ministry? How might you test out these assumptions in your actual actions over a period of time?
4. What is the legacy (or impact) that you want to create in your ministry or life? What do you need to do more of or less of in order to create that legacy (or impact)?
5. What is it “costing” your soul and/or your ministry to not focus on what really matters?

In coaching, I have often offered questions, such as these,followed by some specific tools for establishing the practice of living and ministering from one's priorities.

Expanding My Coaching and Consulting Practice

Over the last 3 ½ years, I have been the director of a national program for clergy learning and support across each season of religious leadership and across many faith traditions funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. This has been tremendously successful work that has deepened my commitments. During this time, I have done a limited amount of congregational consulting and coaching.  As the grant funding is coming to a close, I have decided to expand my consulting and coaching practice.

For congregations: I bring a whole-system-in-the-room approach to discerning strategic directions and purposeful change.

For clergy: I bring my extensive training and background to leadership coaching, and professional development training. I have come to appreciate the need for some clergy to also attend to their well-being and am offering some expanded ways to support clergy in this. Perhaps you know someone, who could be served by what I have to offer. I appreciate your letting them know about me and sharing my websites and/or contact information with them. Thank you.

www.lawrencepeers.com

www.clergywellbeing.com