Dear colleagues-coaches,

I have a pleasure to share impressions of the meetings the lovely Swedish coaches, Jenny Bergh and Barbro Nyberg, during my trip to Stockholm.

My sincere gratitude is to the Russian and Swedish Chapters for giving the opportunity to learn about coaching and the ways of promotion in this profession in Sweden. Contrary to my thoughts what coaching in an well-developed European country has already become an integral part of the culture in any organizations, however, the position of internal coaching in business organizations has not yet become commonplace. The situation with coaches ICF in Sweden has many similarities with our situation. The concept ”coach” is widely used by different specialists in the field of personal development, so there is also a hot topic of clarifying the standards of coaching ICF. Lena Gustafsson, President of Swedish chapter, does a lot of work in promoting of the profession of a coach ICF in public media resources.

Swedish ICF coach community is represented by about 300 members, what is around 100 more than we have in Russia. As I understood, coaches are widely represented throughout the country. Where is no imbalanced concentration in one city compared to us, where the majority of coaches is provided by Moscow. There is a variety of niches, coaches have their own specialization, very often offer to clients a combined set of services: consulting, trainings, team and individual coaching.

What else it seems to me important: it is the role of the Board of Directors of the Chapter. As I said earlier number of coaches in Sweden is around 300 and they are scattered across the country. The Board of Directors works hard to unite its members into an integral team. During the year there are many events aimed to promote on the market the coaching ICF and allow the coaches to meet and join their efforts. The Chapter regularly informs its members about completed work and events, thereby creating a productive environment for team work.

I am very grateful to the Swedish Chapter, Barbro and Jenny for their time and efforts to arrange this meeting. It was very important to feel be a part of a Global Organization which supports its members in all corners of the World. And yet, in addition to the sense of globalism and absence of boarders, I learned the stories of 2 great coaches about their way in profession. Their experience and openness gave me faith that I will reach my own ambitious goals.

To be an ambassador of ICF is not only very honorable, but also inspires and energizes to grow as a professional! Everyone can try himself this role, if you take part in the project ”Coaches by Ex-change”, which was launched in Russia this year. As for me personally, I will be pleased to welcome guests from Sweden in Moscow any time and to get them familiar with our city and coaching in Russia.

With sincere appreciation to my colleagues in Sweden and Russia,

Olga Roditeleva, coach ICF, Russian chapter.