• Editor's Comment
• Interesting points to live by
• Debate – is plagiarism rife? Copyright explained
• A day in the life of a corporate coach
• Learning by numbers
• The importance of being honest
• Book review
• A corporate case for motivation
• A client's marathon story
• Honesty and values
• The history of common sense
• Values – the ultimate marketing tool
• ECI up-date

Some coaches have written in to say they think so:

‘Plagiarism seems to be rife in this industry whereby any information developed by someone is taken and used at will by other coaches and the source is not acknowledged. This concerns me greatly and I believe it is unethical and potentially libellous’

Merydith @ mwilloughby@iprimus.com.au

‘Also e-mail lists encourage plagiarism. New coaches especially are always asking for help, ideas, etc. and when they get it, they use the information as if it was their own’ 

Barbara @ barbara.dalpra@nyasa.biz

‘Plagiarism is bound to happen for two reasons; the industry is less than 10 years old in the UK.  Therefore, there isn't the wealth and depth of experience to draw on that many other industries have access to because everything is new. Also the number of coaches being 'churned' out means there is possibly not enough 'new' challenging material to go around’

Dawn @ dawn@rainbowpromise.co.uk

Many individuals do not understand how to copyright or what the copyright protection is about. Therefore, as a value added benefit, our committed team of ECI volunteers have exhaustively researched the issue and prepared the following brief for your serious consideration. Ignore this information at your own peril!

'Copyright gives the authors economic rights allowing them the use of their own material in a number of ways.  These ways include making copies, issuing copies to the public, performing in public, use on-line, and broadcasting.  Copyright also gives the author moral rights to be identified as the author of the material and to object to the distortion or mutilation of their material.

This enables authors to gain economic awards for their endeavors and to encourage them and others into future creativity and future development of new material.  This type of material is usually the result of a long hours, creative skills, and/or investments, which without protection would allow others to exploit the material without paying the creator.

Copyright law is found in Part I of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  The legislation of Copyright law has been amended by various other primary and secondary legislation, which are not included in this act. 

What does Copyright cover? Taken from the Internet details of the Act  includes:

• Literary, dramatic and musical works
  • where 'literary work' means any work, other than a dramatic or musical work, which is written, spoken or sung and includes a table or compilation and a computer program
  • where 'dramatic work' includes a work or dance or mime
  • where 'musical work' means a work consisting of music, exclusive of any words or action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with music
• Artistic works
  • graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, irrespective of artistic quality
  • a work of architecture is a building or a model of a building
  • a work of artistic craftsmanship
• Sound recordings and films
• Broadcasts
• Cable programmes

• Duration of copyright in literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works
  • Copyright expires at the end of the period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies, subject to a number of clauses.
  • or where the work is by an unknown author, copyright expires:
    • at the end of the period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made, or
    • if during that period the work is made available to the public, at the end of the period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which it is first made available
• Duration of copyright in sound recordings (see regulations for detail)
• Duration of copyright in films (see regulations for detail)
• Duration of copyright in broadcasts and cable programmes (see regulations for detail)

1. I used to be a learned professor. Now I'm a learner.
    
2. When I was learned, life was a quiz show. Now that I'm a learner, life is a discovery channel.
    
3. When I was learned, it was a question of how much I knew. Now that I'm a learner, it's a question of how much I'm being stretched.
    
4. When I was learned, knowledge was everything. Now that I'm a learner, kindness is everything.
    
5. When I was learned, knowledge went to my head. Now that I'm a learner, knowledge travels the longest foot in the universe--the foot that separates my head from my heart.
    
6. When I was learned, I used to point my finger and pontificate. Now that I'm a learner, I slap my forehead all the time.
    
7. When I was learned, I used to think I was the best. Now that I'm a learner, I do the best I can.
    
8. When I was learned, I was frightened of new ideas. Now that I'm a learner, I'm just as frightened of old ideas.
    
9. When I was learned, I looked to the past: to have confirmed the set of beliefs I already had. Now that I'm a learner, I look to the future: to grow, be stretched, and remain open to what I don't know.
    
10. When I was learned, I knew where I was going. Now that I'm a learner, I don't know where I'm going----but I know whom I'm going with.
     
11. When I was learned, I loved to talk. Now that I'm a learner, I'd prefer to listen, because that's when I'm learning.
     
12. When I was learned, I had something to teach everybody. Now that I'm a learner, everybody has something to teach me.
     
13. When I was learned, I was impatient with dumb people. Now that I'm a learner, I'm grateful when people are patient enough to dumb down to me and care enough to smarten me up.
     
14. When I was learned, I thought that all knowledge was a form of power. Now that I'm a learner, I suspect much knowledge is a form of weakness.
     
15. When I was learned, life was knowledge about God. Now that I'm a learner, life is knowledge of God.
     
16. When I was learned, I knew where my nose was headed. Now that I'm a learner, I go where my nose leads me.
     
17. When I was learned, mission meant, "go to give." Now that I'm learned, mission work is becoming pilgrimage: mission means "go to learn."
     
18. When I was learned, my life revolved around what other people thought about me. Now that I'm a learner, my life revolves around what I think about myself and what God thinks about me.
     
19. When I was learned, from the high ground of hindsight I instructed the past on where it went wrong. Now that I'm a learner, the past instructs me about how I can right the future.
     
20. When I was learned, the power and mystery were in the big words. Now that I'm a learner, the power and mystery are in the small, simple words.
     
21. When I was learned, I thought that the educational system was so much better than the market, the other main channel for the mediation of cultural capital. Now that I'm a learner, I realise just how closed and controlling the knowledge industry can be.
     
22. When I was learned, I deemed the great threats those made dangerous by strength. Now that I'm a learner, I deem the great threats those made dangerous by weakness.
     
23. When I was learned, I loved to fill out questionnaires. Now that I'm a learner, questionnaires are an exercise in saying "I Dunno" since I keep ticking the "don't know" box. ("Don't know" doesn't mean "don't care")
     
24. When I was learned, I imagined myself the church's resident "know-it-all." Now that I'm a learner, I'm more willing to admit I don't know everything.
     
25. When I was learned, I was always trying to speed things up. Now that I'm a learner, I'm always trying to slow things down, even when I'm speeding up.
     
26. When I was learned, I bragged about how our knowledge is an ever-deepening ocean. Now that I'm a learner, I shudder at how our wisdom is an ever-shrinking drop.
     
27. When I was learned, I said, "Take it from me." Now that I'm a learner, I say, "Don't take it from me." I boast no immaculate perceptions. I see through a glass dimly.
     
28. I'm still an academic. As a theologian, I have my little bottle of Windex and am cleaning that glass for all it's worth. I'm trying to get rid of as much fog and film as I can. But the best I will ever to is to "know in part." I will never "know it all." God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8), and God's thoughts not our thoughts.
     
29. There are still some know-it-alls out there. Some people are like Moses. They think they can see the face of God . . . and live.
     
30. The best we can do is hear God's voice, and in rare moments of mystical and metaphorical ecstasy, gently touch his face.
     

I believe that discovering one’s values is one of the most rewarding challenges we face in our lives. It is also one of the fundamental steps that we, as coaches, should take in our relationships with our clients, as one’s values and beliefs represent the pillars of who (s)he is.

As many agree, values are who we are. They give meaning to our lives and the more we honour them, the happier we are. However, few people ever teach us how to find our true, personal values. We are brought up conditioned to believe that there are good and bad values, that we must subordinate our personal fulfilment to the collective interest, even though “Values are not morals. There is no sense of morally right or wrong behaviour here” (1). Unfortunately, “too many people feel that they cannot speak up for their deep values […], that such a thing is somehow impermissible” (2).

Personal values represent the True North on our life’s compass. We are instinctively trying to pursue them, and our capacity to define and understand them will make or break our lives. “The link between values and fulfilment is so obvious it may be invisible. Helping clients discover and clarify their values is a way to create a map that will guide them through the decision paths of their lives. […] It helps them take a stand and make choices based on what is fulfilling to them”. (1)

Values are influencing the degree of motivation in performing certain actions: “If a person is getting one thing, but vaguely wanting something else, he won’t be totally happy or fulfilled. Or if a person achieves a goal but, in order to do so, violates his own belief about what is right or wrong, then turmoil results” (3).

That’s why it is paramount to have a clear, common understanding of the Client’s set of values (especially the core ones). By knowing what the Client likes and dislikes, what they respect or despise, and what it would make them feel fulfilled, we can determine what Di McLanachan calls the Unstoppable Combination:

The only times a Client can feel truly fulfilled and happy are when these key ingredients are in consonance: “Our values are the things we all fundamentally need to move toward. […] The feeling of congruity, of personal wholeness and unity, comes from the sense that we are fulfilling our values by our present behaviour” (3).

Understanding the Client’s real meaning of their values is essential for a successful and productive coaching relationship. Robbins considers that “… when we use words, we’re using a map –and the map is not the territory. […] Values present us with the most subtle maps of all. So when I tell you what my values are, you’re working from a map of a map. Your map, your complex equivalence of the value, may be very different from mine” (3).

Once the Clients have defined and accepted their Values, it will help them take better and quicker decisions, both in their personal and professional lives. This is important because “Except for the financially desperate, people do not work for money alone. What also fuels their passion for work is a larger sense of purpose or passion. Given the opportunity, people gravitate towards what gives them meaning, to what engages to the fullest their commitment, talent, energy, and skill” (2).

However, if Clients don’t take the time and effort to do so, they will face a tough time because, as the saying goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”. And the less aware we are of what makes us passionate, the more lost we will be. “This drifting can affect our health; people who feel their skills are not being used well on the job, or feel their work is repetitive and boring, have a higher risk of heart disease” (2).

Contribution by Mihai Popa-Radu - Seeds for Success UK
e-mail:

1. Whitworth, L., Kimsey-House, H., Sandahl, P., 1998 – “Co-Active Coaching,
2. Goleman, Daniel, 1998 – “Working with Emotional Intelligence"
3. Robbins, Anthony, 1997 – “Unlimited Power"

ECI Standards and Ethics section recently published an updated and enhanced Standards and Ethics statement on the ECI website (click here), which was aided by research undertaken by the Research & Development section.

ECI Research & Development are continually working on a number of research projects for many ECI departments and for coaching as a whole, and would welcome new volunteers to join in their research efforts. Contact volunteers@europeancoachinginstitute.org

ECI Benefits team. In your shoes, in your environment, from your perspective, you know what kind of support and benefits would help you grow. Share your thoughts and help turn them into tangible benefits for all members by joining the ECI's Benefits team. Contact benefits@europeancoachinginstitute.org
European Conference 2005 - the ECI is running an exciting and innovating European Conference in Spring 2005. 

ECI Workshops and Events

Look for our exciting new workshop listing, starting early September, 2004. To receive more details about any workshop or to book, email workshops@europeancoachinginstitute.org with your name, address, email address, and telephone number.

ECI Accredited Courses and Workshops

• Achievement Specialists LLP
  www.achievementspecialists.co.uk
  enquiries@achievementspecialists.co.uk
  t: +44 (0)1202 255898
  • Life Coaching Handbook Diploma
    17th and 18th July, 2004 - Bournemouth
  
   
• Noble Manhattan Coaching
  www.noble-manhattan.com
  info@noble-manhattan.com
  t: +44 (0)870 7414265
  • Introduction to Life Coaching
    17th and 18th July - Venue TBC