Off to Vacation

Hi, all.

I am happy to say that I am off to vacation starting this morning. My sons, Caleb and Cameron, and I are going to Texas to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday, along with everyone else in my immediate family. It's a big deal and I am so glad to be a part of it.

There's quite a miraculous MoreToLife kind of story behind all that, actually.

Those of you who know me well know that I had my struggles many years ago with being distanced, even estranged at times, from my family. However, over the past several years, the situation has been completely resolved, to the point that I am closer now to them than ever, and they to me. There is much credit for this transformation to be given all around, to every member of my family. As for me, I'm not overstating it when I say that my part is due to the cost process, support from friends, and to Brad and Roy for the creation of this program in the first place. I bet many of you have similar stories to tell.

So, what I want you to know is that this human being will be swimming, hanging out with loved ones, visiting friends in Houston, and relaxing for a whole week!

I'm so glad to hear from those of you who have expressed your thoughts on this blog so far. Spread the word. I'll be back online the week of July 9 (vacation plus a week working in London).

With love,

Peggy

News from Clare Vivian-Neal, Business Director

Some of you may have seen the article below from Clare Vivian-Neal, Business Director, in our most recent Kairos Quarterly. However, if you missed it (or even if you didn't), I want to post it here because, not only does it give some important information, it also rings the bell of truth as to what we're really about.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I first read it. ~ Peggy

I am just back from a Power of Self Esteem course held in the mountains of New Zealand in a converted woolshed - a beautiful location in full autumn with 24 of us together for the weekend.

Emails and phone calls are flooding in today about what has been profoundly changed in the participants' lives as they go out again to their homes, work and classrooms. People transformed, families touched, a teacher inspired to be with students in a different, more respectful manner. I am once again deeply moved by the experience of what we offer.

So far this year, we held 15 More To Life courses, 4 mentor trainings, 2 focus courses, 17 Out of The Box! events, and a leadership conference in New Zealand. Two More To Life courses weren’t held due to low enrollment (northern California and Rocky Mountain Region). However, both Bozeman and Minneapolis have held MTLs this year after being dormant for a period of time, with Bozeman adding a second course in the fourth quarter of 2007. All of our courses except two have been produced at an overall profit. In addition, we are seeing some emerging markets with energy to grow: several SEE courses held in Germany and a More To Life course to be held in 2008, and active mentors in Italy, France and Portugal.

And so we see a not-uncommon organizational picture: some communities rising, some on an even keel and some waning at present. In each case - and this is the important part - our students stand in the midst of their lives, with their family, work and financial responsibilities, and hold their vision for our work in the world. They - YOU! - stand with willingness and commitment to do your part to create and pass on this life-giving methodology to others.

In addition to all this, I have thought often of Sharon Parish, now a year since she died. I miss her greatly, as do many others. She left a deep imprint on many hearts and lives. She showed us how to create boldly and to call others to their spiritual journeys. I think she’d be pleased with much of what’s being created.

Thank you for the honor of working alongside you.

With gratitude,

Clare Vivian-Neal
Business Director
Senior Trainer

Out of the Box! feedback from Frances Grant

The final Out of the Box! events were held in London and Manchester, U.K. on May 19. Following that, Martha Edgemon, administrative coordinator, compiled the numerical data and Frances Grant, trainer candidate from Scotland, transcribed the written feedback from over 600 pages, pulling out the major themes. Kudos to both Martha and Frances for this effort!

Frances has passionately supported our program for many years. Her background and project management skills make her an excellent choice to lead the Out of the Box! marketing materials project (a project held within the overall brand architecture project, led by Darren Rudkin).

We're grateful for the feedback many of you willingly gave, both positive and negative.

To see four pages that detail the overall themes you stated, as well as the "think about" recommendations you made, go to
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah827qpxjq26_151cmkt5t .

Stay tuned about the progress of our marketing initiative and the overall brand architecture project to be posted over the next several weeks.

Peggy

About Coaching Essentials

Hi, everyone.

Here’s the latest on coaching. I spent some time with Brad Brown last week, clarifying the reason for implementing a coaching program at this time in our More To Life history, reminding him of his contribution of contextual issues to be handled, Roy Whitten’s original input, Sophie Edwards' and Steve Kromberg's groundwork for the current iteration, and David Templer’s eye on 'languaging' our vision, mission, and purpose.

In addition, many of you have contributed nuances that have helped 'morph' it all into our current version - which, of course, will hopefully morph even more as we adjust to the lifeshocks. Brad appreciated all of the thoughtfulness that was apparent in our co-creation. Well done, everybody.

Regarding the Coaching Essentials training, he was very pleased with the purpose, intent, content, and flow, and he thought that Pascale Ascher nailed the salient issues with her outline / design of the course. The design specifics are currently being refined by Pascale and Sophie. Well done, Pascale! And thank you, Sophie, for your discerning and creative eye on this project and on this course.

The context we are holding for coaching is this: our coaches will be so familiar with the principles and skills of the MTL program that they regularly “practice the work” for their personal evolution. Our coaches will need to personally understand the benefits of our program offerings, so that they can easily coach others to obtain their goals from that space of willingness. That is why we’ll have certain prerequisites and on-going requirements in place in order to coach: having taken Power of Purpose, Way of a Warrior, a commitment to take an advanced course every other year in order to maintain personal growth, and a Senior Trainer recommendation. And, as always, there are bound to be exceptions! To further support your efforts, you will have an ongoing relationship with a senior coach/trainer/supervisor.

Here are some specifics…

Coaching Essentials is a four-month course - the first weekend, followed by 2 months of practice, peer coaching, trainer coaching, and then the second weekend, followed by the same.

So we are now planning our first pilot of Coaching Essentials, which will allow More To Life coaches to coach other MTL students - in Johannesburg, South Africa, August/October, 2007. Leaders in the U.S. are planning their pilot for November 2007/January 2008, and leaders in the U.K. will be working with their schedule to see what's possible. Our leaders in New Zealand are in the last stages of research regarding coaching within their country's context.

David Templer and Maggie Spooner have agreed to create a new page in our website for our MTL accredited coaches, complete with pictures and biographical data, similar to the trainers’ page. This will allow our MTL students to have easy access to our coaches.

Our research has shown interest in 5 different coaching tracks – MTL students (imminent), non-MTL students, leaders, executives, and performance coaching (e.g., athletes). The four coaching tracks following Coaching Essentials will likely be only one or two days of training, as all the fundamentals of coaching are covered in the first two weekends. We are planning to have the next track online by year-end. Coaches will self-select the coaching tracks in which they want to be certified. Coaching Essentials will be required for any MTL coaching certification.

In closing, a Life-Sized Thank You to you, Brad, for your deep desire to fully participate in every moment which is as apparent as ever - even through your struggles with the effects of Parkinson’s, your intent is clear. Your ability to be lucid and penetrative in the midst of it all is a testimony to your will to serve. "Thank you" is too pallid of an expression to fully convey the depth of gratitude for your modeling of warriorhood, your abiding support of others, and your deep commitment to That Which Is.

I think we have a winner, folks! - now is the beginning of the testing of our 'winner' and seeing what tweaks have yet to unfold!

Full and satisfied and ready for our next steps,

Ann Mc

Word is getting around...

I see the word is getting around about the blog! Thanks to those of you offering words of encouragement - greatly appreciated. I'll be sending out an "official" notice very soon with the URL so more of our students get the word.

But for now, please see the next post from Ann McMaster - a woman with the fire in her belly for sure. Ann is a long-time Senior Trainer of our program and the project leader for our coaching initiative. She's also, by the way, a blast to work with.

Peggy

Getting Started ...

Welcome to the first official blog of the More To Life program. I am delighted (and a little apprehensive!) to be venturing into the blogging world. My hope is that this forum becomes one of the key ways of communicating to and with our students around the world.

Goodness knows there is a lot to communicate! I’m sure some of you are aware that we are in the middle of implementing some important and exciting strategic initiatives that have been planned and agreed upon by many leaders within the organization over the last couple of years. It’s a busy and burgeoning time.

But let me back up and introduce myself. I’m sure I’ve met many of you who will come to this blog, but the likelihood is great that there will be many more whom I have never met. As a senior trainer for More To Life since 1989, it’s been one of the great honors of my life to be out in the field training. However, that’s slowed down for me the past couple of years due to the responsibilities of the executive director position that I now hold. Connecting with many of our students in a different way is also very fulfilling, as is being on the leading edge of our organization.

I think I’ll start by telling you a story.

About a month ago, I spent a few days in Bozeman, Montana where I visited with several of our students there. We had an impromptu community campfire and grill-out one evening that was fun, connecting and nourishing in every way! I had several one-on-one talks and meetings. My friends and colleagues talked, I listened. I talked, they listened. We hit a few “bumps in the road” (you know about that, don’t you?), we practiced Noticing, Truth-telling, Choosing, Creating and we expressed a whole lot of Gratitude for one another and for our program. Overall, it was a lovely, lovely time.

On my way home back to Knoxville, Tennessee, I traveled on three different airplanes. (It’s not an easy trip from Bozeman to Knoxville!) On the longest leg of my journey, I got out my processing journal and started doing some process work. About an hour later I was back in touch with my highest purposes and intentions and feeling really opened up. I started spontaneously writing a long communication to our students that I had been intending to write for quite some time – about our strategic projects, our finances, our results so far this year, etc. The letter just flowed out of me and into my journal!

To my great dismay when I got home, I couldn’t find my journal. My chest clutched! My mind raced! Where was my journal?!? And then I remembered that I had accidentally left it in the seatback in front of me when I finished writing and took a short nap. I'm sure you can imagine my angst.

But here I am now with the intention to write that "letter" and let you in on what's happening but in a different (and a little more spread out time-wise) way. I hope you’ll find it informative and connecting. That’s certainly my intention.

That’s it for now. More to come!

Much love,

Peggy