Hello coaches. I'm Brighton
West with Invite Change, and today we are starting a brand
new series for you and it is coaches who have changed
to become a coach. So instead of starting out fresh,
when they were young saying, coaching is the thing for me, I'm going
to do this. Somewhere along the line, they were building a
career somewhere else, probably turning into executives and
whatnot and decided to change a little bit and to become a coach. And so today
we have someone very exciting. His name
is Brian Powell. He's a P C C, and he is here and he's
going to share his journey from where he was before becoming
a coach to where he is now, and also a little bit
further ahead after that. So let's bring Brian on and have
him introduce himself. So Brian, what I want you to do actually is
I want you to start out and tell us who you are, but also what was your
first experience with coaching? So where was the seed planted that
brought you to where you are now? Thank you, Brighton. It's a
pleasu
re to be here with you today. I think when we first started putting
this together and thinking about my coaching journey, it's been something of a challenge
when I first started in this industry. So when I think back, I started as a
leader in the financial services industry. I was a branch manager, regional manager, and found myself at Wells Fargo Advisors
leading a large team of about 300 with 12 direct reports. I think sales,
service, operations, forecasting. What happened, it was actually giv
en a coach at one
point and I wasn't given a coach to really enhance my skills. It was more
about they wanted to fix me. So the rest of the executive team
was more in that high I personality style where I'm a high D. So I talked to individuals 99
out of a hundred on the D scale. So it was really giving to
me and introduced as giving
me a coach as a leader, more about fixing me to kind of fit the
mold rather than really thinking about bringing out my strengths and the things
that really could be
applied in that way to help the team accelerate. Really when you think about
that diversity of thought. So you're at Wells Fargo, they
think they need to fix you, so the right thing to do
there is to hire a coach. Was this an I C F certified coach? And let's talk about what
that coaching looked like. Did the coach come in to fix you
or were they more of a coach? Coach? Yeah, great question. So I did not even know about the I C F
before I started getting into coaching. So this coach was not I C F
certified, however made just a
huge impact on my life. So as the executive board is told about
really trying to fix me into that mold, this coach came in and really
started to understand who I was, what we wanted to drive towards, and really focus on the strengths and
opportunities that I had as a leader. So really was impactful and then that
started my journey down becoming a coach just from that interaction that I had
with that previous coach at Wells Fargo. Great. Well thank you for sharing
that. Glad that the coach
understood coaching. I mean, there is kind of that continuum, I
guess, of people who are I C F certified, maybe like MCCs who know exactly what to
do with coaching down to the person who really doesn't have any training, who
just said, okay, well I'm a coach. So there was somewhere in
between, so that's good. So maybe you could take the next step
forward in your journey to where you are as an internal coach, but you
also do external coaching. So we're going to be talkin
g about
both of those, mostly internal. That seems to be the biggest
part of your journey, but what was your next step forward
towards becoming an internal coach? Yeah, it was sort of by accident, right? So I'd always loved coaching
my team as a leader, something I was very passionate
about. So those weekly one-on-ones, really making sure that they
could reach their full potential. And then the opportunity came up when I
was at Wells Fargo where we decided to open up a leadership executive coach
ing
department, jumped at the opportunity, jumped at the chance,
applied for that role, went through several stages and
really got the job and thought, this is what I really want to do. Was
passionate about it. And quite honestly, Brighton, I thought going into
it, I'll be a rockstar at this. I've been coaching for 20
years with all my teams, with all that previous experience,
but I was humbled real quick. So as I entered into coaching, the whole team found that we really
didn't know what we did
n't know. And so that's when I started to
explore different opportunities such as International Coaching Federation
and getting certified through that organization. Previous to that had no
idea the organization even existed. Yeah, well how long ago was
that when this was start? Just starting at Wells Fargo. About nine, 10 years ago now. Okay. So the I C F had been around for
15 years, but still a lot of people, huge amount of people still don't
know that I C F exists or that I C F, that there ca
n be I C F accredit
or trained coaches. So, okay, so you now know that the I C F exists. You're part of a big group of people
that's essentially going to bring coaching to Wells Fargo, to the entire organization of Wells
Fargo to all their executives. And so now you know that I
C F exists and your team of, I think you said eight or
12, what was your next step? Yeah, so we started to
seek out different schools. So once we really understood that
mentioned being humbled real quick that we needed to
get some training, we started and we interviewed about
five different accredited schools, and that's where our journey
led us to invite change. So met with Invite Change and had a
great reputation out there. Once again, really thinking about how do you elevate
your coaching within an organization. And then eight of us went through the
training all together in a cohort to go through our first A, C, C. Okay, wonderful. So
you're at Invite Change, which is of course a
wonderful organization to do
your coach training with. So how did that go? I mean, you had lots of experience
coaching your internal team. What was it like to then meet
with someone who's an M C C, someone who really knows coaching? Yeah, you bring a smile to my face,
Brighton when you mentioned that, right? So I think back to that first experience,
and I actually wrote an article, it's called Are You a Whiteboard Coach? The reason I say that is we do a learning
lab together every single week as we came back as a team and w
e're growing
our skillset. And when it was my turn, I actually prepared ahead of time, but going to the whiteboard and scripting
out the questions that I was going to ask when I showed up to the learning lab. And I remember Janet asking me afterwards,
Brian, how do you feel you did? And quite honestly, Brian, I
thought I'd knocked out of the park, I'd hit every question
that I had up on my board. I thought through it and then really
thinking about what that looked like. And Janet really had that
conversation of, let's have a talk, let's talk about what true coaching is. And so really working with I C
F credentialing through invite change to really have my understanding
of coaching versus consulting. Wonderful. And that is Janet Harvey, the head of Invite Change
that you got to meet with. It's really great to
meet with those people. Janet's been in coaching since
the beginning of the I C F. She's been very involved
at the international level. So you went through your A C C
training, you
r whole team did, and Janet clearly was
a big influence on you. Anyone else that was an influence
on your coaching or your career? Yeah, it's the thing Brandon I.
Love about the coaching community. So when I first started on that journey, not only did I have now Janet as a
mentor along with all the invite change coaches, but I reached out
to several others. So Dr. Marshall Goldsmith reached
out to him through email. We've had some communications and spent
some time with him training certified in
all his processes in terms of
stakeholder coaching, 360 assessments, leadership training, and then also
another different John Matone. John used to coach Steve
Jobs, Roger Enrico Pepsi, and he has an organization
called Intelligent Leadership. And so I reached out when I first became
a coach and I told that story about being humbled real quick. I wanted to show up and be able to be the
best version of myself for the clients that I supported. I want to
make sure to do it right. So sought out a c
ouple of mentors,
spent a lot of time with them, and really proud to say they're still
good friends that we talk quite often. Great. And so are those
paid mentorships? I mean, these are some of the top
people in the coaching world. How does one even make that happen? Yeah, I talked a little bit earlier about
being a high D and really wanted to make sure that we were doing this right. So I had reached out proactively
to both individuals and really came across with John the
first time we had met.
It was going to be more of a paid
engagement. Hey, I flew out to Orlando, we were going to spend
a few days together. It's going to walk me through
the certification of all
his different processes that he had as well. We spent the first day together
and then we decided that hey, this wasn't going to be a paid engagement, that this was something that he was
really going to invest the time because he saw that I wanted to invest the time
and really help these leaders become the best versions of the
mselves. So it started out in one of
those instances as possibly
a paid engagement or a paid mentorship. But once again, knowing the coaches that are
out here in the community, it was really about supporting myself
as much as I was supporting him, learning from a different lens as well. Great. And you mentioned the term mentor, which I think having mentors is a
wonderful thing and you've got some of the top mentors in the industry
to work with you, which is wonderful. But I want to make the dist
inction here
that we're not talking about mentor coaching, which is what I think of as mentoring
with a Capital M mentor coaching is if anyone's involved in the I C
F and going through the process, getting their A c C or their P C C,
they're familiar with the mentor coaching. It's a process that
evaluates your progress as a coach and helps you with
that process. So a mentor, this is something a
little different. Yeah, why don't you just tell
us what do you see? What is the definition of
a mentor
with a small m? Yeah, so there's a couple of
things that resonate with me. So when we were talking about
reaching out and finding mentors, so I really looked at them
as the experts. So Dr. Marshall Goldsmith had written all these
books, had been coaching for decades. Same thing with John Matone
coached all these great leaders. They were really looked at as the expert. So I was there to really learn from 'em,
get curious, ask a lot of questions. Now those relationships evolved over
time to once
again where we just became peers, more of coach to coach
conversations. And once again, those still apply to this day. I think the question when you
think about mentor coaching, I had confusion when I first
came in. As I mentioned, I didn't know that the I C F first
existed when I got into becoming a professional coach. And what I've learned about
mentor coaching is much
different where that mentor coach is not looked at as the expert. That person is more of a thought partner
to help that other
coach really become the best versions of themselves. So how can they help them with
other opportunities, blind spots, things that they really want to dedicate
time towards so that when they show up as a coach, they can make sure that they're given
the best that they can to help their clients succeed as well. Great. Thank you for laying
out that distinction. So let's continue forward
with your journey. Are you still at Wells Fargo
or are you somewhere else now? I'm not. I've taken
couple turns in
my career, so I've always looked for new engagements
and I did spend a couple of years at Merrill Lynch as well as a director
there and worked all out here on the west coast. And then I spent some time
over at a telecommunications company, crown Castle as an executive leadership
and team coach before I now have the current role that I'm at where I'm working
at a large asset management firm and really working across the country,
actually some global assignments as well. Great. So since you kind
of built the Wells
Fargo coaching internal coaching team, you've since moved on to be an internal
coach at other organizations it sounds like, and really to be at the
top of some of those teams. So also though you do a
little coaching on the side, this seems to be something that I know
a lot of the invite change people they work for invite change, but they
have their own thing going on. So what's your own thing look like? Yeah, so I have an organization
called Executive Coaching Space. So when I
first started that
about four or five years ago, it was really to dedicate time
to, again, leadership and teams. I'm very passionate about helping teams,
that whole system to achieve the goals, how they communicate effectively together, how they're able to build out things that
are going to be important for them to raise their level, raise their
performance, raise their game. So spend a lot of time there. And then also one thing I've learned
about the coaching community, we love to get back, so
I spent
a lot of time in nonprofits, so coach a lot of nonprofit executive
teams, middle managers, emerging managers. What I've learned about nonprofits
is that it's not about the paycheck, it's about the passion, the cause,
which really connects with my values. So I do a lot of pro bono engagements
when it comes to nonprofits as well. Awesome. Well thank you for doing
that and being part of that. And I think that takes us into a
little bit of what your future holds. So as the people are viewin
g this, I want to go through your
whole transformation also, and we're going to get
some tips before the end, but let's continue that transformation
into where you see yourself going next. Yeah, I think right now it's been
fantastic to look back on the last nine, 10 years. Once again, I always
say this profession found me, I didn't go seeking it, but it's something that I've
become very passionate about. And the one thing I've learned about in
this profession that there is no finish line. So con
tinue to grow that skillset and go
from once again individual coaching to now to a point where we're coaching teams, we're coaching entire
leadership executive teams, really working with them together so
that they can really hear the message, understand each other and contract
together in a certain way so that they can really reach their goals either
quantitatively and qualitatively, which sometimes gets left off the table. I think also I've become a
global ambassador for the
ICF F Ignite progra
m this year. So I was honored that I was actually
mentioning that represented and now a part of that team. So there's eight of us across the globe
that are actually spreading the word around nonprofit, pro bono coaching
programs that can be set up. And we partner and assist all the I C F
chapters and really making sure they can launch a program for their coaches,
their community, and then once again, these nonprofits that really give
back to where we work and live. So when you asked me that ques
tion, that phrase of there is no finish line
really resonates is I continue to grow my skillset, really think about what that
next iteration of coaching
is moving forward and always trying to be learning and growing, whether it's the coaches that I work
with through the I C F chapters, through the board that I sit on or invite, change has been a great resource for me. I think I've just completed my sixth
or seventh course over the last nine, 10 years with invite change. And really the coaches th
at I've
gotten to interact with that I probably would've not have met had I not taken
those courses has been another thing to really attribute to my growth
and development as a coach. Great. As you were saying all this, like little things were pinging into my
head about the cohort and how amazing that is and I C F and how much it
has evolved over time and how it's changed from coach training to
coach education, the L one, L two, L three sometimes
confusing, but really great. Did you by any chanc
e get to the
last convention down in Orlando? I know that convention
just happened recently. A lot of invite change people
just came back from that. I did. It was my first time Brighton. I had not been to converge a
converge event in the past, and so I made it down
there over to Orlando. I actually got to meet the Janet and the
whole invite change team that was there in person. So almost after a
decade of virtual connection, we actually got to meet in
person. So that was fantastic. And then as I
was mentioning, be
a part of the I C F Foundation, the global Ambassadors, a lot of my different peers on that
team were there as well as present. So some individuals from Malaysia, some
from South America, some from India. So it was a fantastic way for us to
all get together, spend a few days, share some of our thoughts and ideas
moving forward as well to affect once again, all these great coaches throughout
the globe. But then like I said, it was a special moment to be able to
see Janet and S
arah and everybody on the invite change team in person
after all these years. Yeah, I always forget that Invite Change has
been a virtual training organization for many, many years before everyone else
switched to virtual during the pandemic. So this is old hat for them, but
it is so wonderful to get together. I've been to a number of converges
myself, and it is wonderful. You have such a powerful group of people.
They happen every two years I think, at the international level, but
there are als
o regional meetups, and I also work some
with the Oregon chapter, and I know they have a big pro bono arm. And doing pro bono is a great
way to get your coaching hours up. I know there's a limit
to how much can be pro bono, but it is a great way to work with your
chapter locally to get your hours up if you're looking to become an
A C or a P C C or whatnot. So lots of great options with pro bono, and I want you to give
a tip to the audience. But first before that I
want you to tell people, is it
okay if people contact you?
And if so, how would they do that? Oh, Brighton, absolutely. I think
when I think about, once again, my journey and the coaches that
have really given their input, their time to help me elevate my
performance as a coach and my learning and growth, I always want to
make sure that I'm available. So whether it's through LinkedIn,
you can look up my profile on there. It has my contact info, email information. Please feel free if you ever
want to have a question, you want
to brainstorm together, you
want to knock around a few ideas, please send me a note and I'll
respond as soon as I possibly can. Awesome. Well that is extremely generous of you because I didn't expect
that. I really expected like, oh yeah, contact me on LinkedIn. I actually had an answer ready for you
guys in the audience that if you really want to learn about coaching and coaching
schools and have any questions that are very specific about the
educational side of things, Lori Johnson with Invite
Change,
this is what she does all day long, is she talks with either coaches who
are looking to elevate their coaching skills or enter into
the world of coaching. So I'm going to have Brian's LinkedIn
information down in the description area, but also a link to connect with Lori if
you have any kind of training specific things, training specific
questions for her. She is great at answering all
those. Like I said, that's her job. That's what she does. So let's go
back to Brian before we wrap thi
s up. Let's get that final piece there, which is that piece of advice
that you have for young coaches or coaches who are working
on growing, expanding, maybe internal, maybe
external. What's your one tip? Yeah, Brian, when I think back
when I first got into coaching, I mentioned my experience and that coach
that resonated with me or the mentors that I worked with. I
think when I first got in, I felt like I wanted to
duplicate what they do, and I really wanted to think
about how do I become that
person? How do I become Marshall Goldsmith? And what I had to really learn was how
do I really show up as my authentic self? And so if I'm thinking of a new
coach coming into the industry, there's a lot of things to learn. There can be some emotions that can
involve with anxiety or frustration, really thinking through how
do I connect with my clients? And the one tip I would give
is just be okay to fail, be okay to be yourself. Come
in, learn, grow, be authentic. And I think instead of trying to
replicate what somebody else does, if you can really find your unique
voice and what you bring to coaching, I say it this way, a lot of people that I meet with is
that I feel coaching now is an art form. And every coach, if they can find their
authentic self paints differently. And so if I walk into a museum, I can appreciate different artists the
same way as I can appreciate different coaches once again, if they show
up as their truly authentic self. So when you ask me that tip, make sure
that
you can have, grow your confidence, grow your knowledge, but really show
up and be the best version of yourself, not somebody else. Awesome. Well thank you so much, Brian. I really love that the idea of
coaching as art, but as coaches, as artists at the I C F Oregon meetings, I've seen quite a number of people coach
from the a c C level to the m c level. And it really is so different. And as I've seen also with mentor coaches, that it's not necessarily one
coach does things the right way. There
are many choice points and you can
flow in different directions and each coach has their own flow. So speaking about those coaches
who are flowing up here, I've got some videos of coaches coaching
with mentor coaches watching and giving comments. So if you are a
coach and want to watch that, that video is going to
be available up here. And if we've got more available in
this series about switching to a coach mid-career, find that down here.
Thank you for watching. And Brian, thank you so much f
or
being our first guest. Yeah, it was such a pleasure, Brian, and I look forward to connecting with
all those current coaches and future coaches as well.
Comments