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You can also view this issue of the CV Member News online at www.coachville.com/cvm/2003/cvmn100703.html.

From Kim George
Communications Manager, CoachVille/Schools of Coaching
40,058 members in 125 countries.


Dear CoachVille Member,

CoachVille Member News is back with a slightly different format and some added features with you, our members, in mind!

Expect to see a new edition of the CV Member News every week, written by myself and Kim George, our Communications Manager. The purpose of the CoachVille Member News is to keep you informed and inspired by the “goings on” at CoachVille. You can expect to see interesting articles from various leaders in the CoachVille community, many of whom you already know. You can look forward to meeting them all in the months ahead.

One of our interactive new features is a Letters to the Editor section. We encourage you to send your comments and suggestions to us at mailto:letters@coachville.com.  You might just see yourself in a future issue! And, as always, we thank you for your continued patience during this time of transition and growth at CoachVille.

Keep playing,
	Dave Buck President, CoachVille		Kim George Communications Manager, CoachVille kim@coachville.com

For years, people have defined coaching by what it is not: coaching is not therapy, consulting, facilitating, sports coaching, etc. The purpose of this edition of the CoachVille Member News is to start a community dialogue about what coaching is AND how this relates to the future of CoachVille as a company and as your community.

We Were Recently Asked: How Does CoachVille Define Coaching? 

At CoachVille, our definition of coaching is:

“an advanced form of communication,
 based on a profound relatedness."

In other words, through powerfully connecting with your client, you are creating and establishing a form of communication that evolves both of you. This profound relatedness can actually bring to the surface issues and problems that a client has struggled with for years. In that sense, coaching is also about:

“helping an individual, organization, or team
 produce a desired result by
 co-creating awareness and solutions to problems.”

In “The Portable Coach”, Thomas Leonard referred to coaching as an integrated success technology. We would add to that by saying that coaching is an:

"individually customized, completely
 integrated success technology."

To a large extent, coaching is about being of service and adding value to others. Thomas’ legacy certainly speaks to that. Coaching is a combination of hundreds of talents, concepts, practices and skills. Coaches are really servant-leaders, seeking to profoundly communicate with their clients, and bring about change.

CoachVille’s New Theme

In keeping with the above coaching definition and the idea of servant-leadership, a new theme is emerging at CoachVille: The Premier Coaching Community - Constantly Innovating What It Means To Be A Coach. Our mission to improve the quality of coaching worldwide remains the same. This new theme simply describes how we are accomplishing our mission.

Innovation is what we do. I’m incredibly blessed to have had a long conversation about this with Thomas on the afternoon of the day he died. (Truly incredible). The theme was this: CoachVille will thrive because we have the resources, the desire and the courage to innovate the coaching profession.

What Does This Mean To You?

Because most coaches do their work as a solo-preneur, it is easy to become isolated. Your perspective is limited by the people that you come into contact with or the activities you engage in. Many coaches have limited access to advanced trends and cutting edge ideas, which results in limiting their capacity to innovate on a regular basis. At CoachVille, by virtue of our numbers (40,000 members), we act as a home, a gathering place of voices and a community that keeps you feeling connected. In that way, we provide a broad view of the coaching profession, and the world. Your CoachVille membership keeps you connected and innovative.

As new concepts and ideas are created, we introduce them to you. For example, Tom Stone came to CoachVille through an amazing series of events. Tom happened to hear about the CoachVille Full Practice Marketing conference in San Diego from a coach who had an office across the hall. At the event he spoke with Thomas Leonard about the work he was doing and an amazing friendship and collaboration began. Although Tom was not a coach, Thomas recognized in him a tremendous body of knowledge that could have profound implications for the coaching profession. The adaptation of Tom Stone’s work resulted in the Core Dynamics which we believe will revolutionize the coaching profession. They are the bedrock of The School of Personal Development and the “Absence of You” program. In this way, CoachVille is an environment where innovation occurs naturally.

How Does This Theme Impact Coaches Worldwide?

Coaching is so much more than just asking questions. Coaches assume many different roles with their clients - guide, mentor, strategist, muse, consultant. As Thomas often said, we have only reached about 3 percent of our potential in the coaching profession. Awareness of different concepts and ideas helps us evolve, and resist complacency.

CoachVille is an environment of global innovation. We are a powerful point of attraction for talented people and great ideas. Look at all of you! Through our community and our network of amazing people, we have the ability to take these resources and turn them into something a coach can use. We call this the “coach approach” (really we call it “CoachVille-ize”, but that’s not a word YET). Richard Reardon, Dean of the Small Business Coaching School, is another great example. A consultant for many years, Richard's work has been adapted to become the driving force behind the SBC, (CoachVille School of Small Business Coaching), adding a whole new dimension to the field of small business coaching.

Stay tuned for future editions, where we will be exploring this concept and sharing feedback from our members.