Coaching World is a quarterly digital publication of the International Coach Federation. It is distributed via email and accessible at icfcoachingworld.com.\r\nCoaching World is developed and produced by the ICF Marketing Department.\r\nLindsay Bodkin\r\nDirector of Brand Management\r\nAbby Tripp Heverin\r\nCommunications Coordinator\r\nAnn Jarvis\r\nMarketing Manager\r\nKristin Kelly\r\nMarketing Specialist\r\nStephanie Wright\r\nBrand Designer\r\n\r\nSubscribe!\r\nSign up for bonus content and Coaching World updates straight to your inbox!\r\n\r\nAdvertise with us!\r\nPlease contact Toby Bishop at [email protected].\r\n\r\nWinner of a 2013 APEX Award of Excellence for Most Improved Magazines & Journals\r\n\r\nOpinions expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily endorsed by Coaching World or the International Coach Federation (ICF). Content may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission.\r\n\r\nInternational Coach Federation Headquarters\r\n2365 Harrodsburg Road, Suite A325\r\nLexington, Kentucky 40504 USA\r\nPhone: +1.888.423.3131 +1.859.219.3580\r\[email protected]\r\n\r\nEDITOR’S NOTE:\r\nRECIPE FOR SUCCESS\r\nMy mother has always maintained that if you can read a recipe, you can learn to cook. It was with her voice in my head—and a stack of cookbooks in my arms—that I stepped into the kitchen the summer after my first year of college, dead set on becoming a self taught amateur chef. Three months later, I’d learned how to prepare a smooth, creamy béchamel sauce; perfected broiled salmon and memorized the recipe for black-eyed pea salad that I still use today.\r\n\r\nSince that first summer in front of the stove, I’ve realized that my mother was only half right. The ability to read and understand a recipe will take you far, but the best cooks are the flexible ones: They can build a meal around a seasonal bumper crop, make a last minute ingredient substitution or tweak a dessert to accommodate a guest’s special dietary needs. \r\n\r\nIn this way, I see cooking as an apt metaphor for coaching. Being well-read and well-versed in the theories informing the profession is essential, but until you put this information to work by adapting it to the needs of individual clients, combining approaches when needed and identifying the frameworks that best allow you to craft an authentic coaching persona, you won’t be on the path to mastery.\r\n\r\nThe 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study revealed that 87 percent of coaches draw from at least one theoretical model when coaching, citing theories of leadership (53 percent), organizational development (35 percent), organizational psychology (28 percent), neuroscience (26 percent), adult education (19 percent), philosophy (15 percent) and economics/finance (4 percent). Twenty-four percent of respondents said they drew from a theoretical model not included in the above list.\r\n\r\nAdvancing the art, science and practice of coaching by negotiating the intersection of theory and practice has been a top priority for ICF in 2013. As we strive to maintain a global-standards system characterized by a world-class credentialing program for coaches and accreditation system for coach-training programs, we’re also investigating the numerous and diverse theories and models that shape coaches’ practices and\r\ncoach training in service of defining and describing a coaching body of knowledge. We’re also merging theory and practice at our new series of ICF Advance events. These robust, interactive educational programs will advance participants’ knowledge of evidence based methods and provide hands-on opportunities to put their skills to work.\r\n\r\nThis issue of Coaching World provides another opportunity to explore the interplay between theory and coaching practice. Most of the experienced, professional coaches who contributed to this issue gravitate toward a specific theoretical framework, but regardless of orientation, they have one goal in common: to introduce you to theoretically sound tools and techniques that can enrich your coaching or, if you decide they’re not the right fit for you, enhance your understanding of the kaleidoscope of theories and practices that give the coaching profession its richness and diversity.\r\nAfter you finish reading, let me know what information you find most useful, and tell me what you’d like to see more of in future issues of Coaching World by emailing me at [email protected]. I can’t wait to hear from you!\r\nSincerely,\r\n\r\nAbby Tripp Heverin\r\nCommunications Coordinator\r\n\r\n