Integrated Life Advocates

Our success comes from finding people like you

A critical ingredient to ThirdPath’s success is expanding the group of Integrated Life Advocates who help us achieve our goals. Integrated Life Advocates (ILAs) are a diverse group of individuals and professionals who help men, women, families, leaders, and organizations achieve a more integrated approach to work and life as coaches, therapists, consultants, bloggers, journalists, academics, and interested individuals.

Integrated Life Advocates join our community to learn and grow. ILAs are educated and supported around specific ThirdPath knowledge, tools, and processes to achieve more success in their own lives and in the work they do around work-life integration. To do this ILAs are matched to form learning groups who then examine the different elements of the “Whole System Approach to Change.”

Integrated Life Advocates become part of a network actively promoting a new approach to work and life. Through ThirdPath learning groups, our bi-annual ILA Forum, and ThirdPath community events, ILAs have gone on to support change both personally and professionally. Over time, qualified ILAs have also helped facilitate learning groups, organized ThirdPath events in their communities, written blog entries, or become one of the coaching resources we offer to individuals and families.

To learn more about the ways you can become involved in the ThirdPath ILA community read the questions and stories we’ve listed below. Or look at one of the many resources we have for our growing ILA community interested in helping us make wider change in the world.

Questions About Integrated Life Advocates (ILAs)

Q: I’m not a professional in the field of work/life integration. Can I still get involved in the ILA community?

People have joined the ILA community because of their interest and commitment to making change in the world – some work in the field, but many others are parents, grandparents, students or professionals who are interested in learning more about our work. Some ILAs work directly with ThirdPath on a variety of volunteer projects. Others use their time and experience with ThirdPath to develop their own pursuits such as a blog, a coaching business, or a consulting practice.

Q: I’m a seasoned professional, how will my involvement in the ThirdPath community enhance my practice?

Coaches, therapists, and consultants are often compartmentalized based on their work with individuals, families, or organizations. We’ve found that learning through the “Whole System Approach to Change” gives a fuller perspective and thereby gives you greater expertise to serve your clients. The ILA community also offers you as a professional an opportunity to learn and grow from others that have a different perspective and recognize the difficulty of the change we are asking people and organizations to make.

Q: How is my personal experience relevant to my role as an ILA?

ThirdPath very intentionally seeks and finds people that are experimenting in their own lives as they try to manage life and work. Many in the ILA community “walk the talk” as they share care of their children with their partner, work a flexible schedule, and/or use ThirdPath tools with their clients. Others come into the ThirdPath community with the idea that they want something different and are ready to learn how to put their new plan in place.

Q: My work focuses on leaders and/or organizations. Why do I need to learn about family redesign?

Our work with Integrated Leaders has shown us that the leader’s success is also contingent on his or her ability to develop creative and flexible solutions at home. One parent backs up the other parent during a temporary uptick in work and both parents become experts in prioritizing the needs of family. To truly develop 21st century workplaces, we all need to become experts in supporting conversations both at work and at home to design lives where both can become a priority.

Q: My work focuses on individuals, couples and/or families. What will I gain by learning about work redesign and leadership redesign?

Couples often become stuck because of the barriers they imagine they will encounter at work. Our work with integrated professional has shown us that career success is not an either/or choice between work and life. Even in an unsupportive workplace, couples have multiple options, especially when they can “get on the same page” around their work and family goals. By becoming an expert around what is possible – both at work and at home – you then increase your ability to help clients achieve success in both spheres.

Q: This sounds great! What do I do next to get more involved?

Do you want to connect with a community of people interested in finding ways to support a wider movement for change? Contact us, we’d love to tell you more about our Integrated Life Advocate community. You can even get started this month by joining our Thursday with ThirdPath calls where we showcase pioneering individuals and experts who share their experiences with the wider ThirdPath community.

ThirdPath’s ILA Network

Below are a few of the ways Integrated Life Advocates meet and share ideas in our ThirdPath ILA community:

Q: Integrated Life Advocates Groups

Our ILA learning groups provide an opportunity for ThirdPath to share cutting edge knowledge with a diverse group of individuals and professionals who then use this information to create wider change. Through a curriculum that examines the “Whole System Approach to Change” participants learn about work redesign and integrated leadership so they can help clients develop a win-win approach to work and life. We also look at family redesign and how it plays a critical role in promoting individual level and organizational level change. In time ILAs are educated and supported around specific ThirdPath knowledge, tools, and processes to achieve more success in their own lives and in the work they do around work-life integration.

Q: Integrated Life Advocate Forum

Every two years, the ThirdPath ILA community gathers in person to learn and share knowledge around the four cornerstones of the “Whole System Approach to Change“: Work Redesign, Leadership Redesign, Family Redesign, and Individual Change. Participants take an active role in learning and sharing through paired listening, small group interactions, and large group discussions. The next event will be held spring 2014.

Q: Peer Support Groups

As a participant in ILA learning groups, ThirdPath also supports interested ILAs to meet in small groups of 3 people to listen and be listened to as they balance their work and life goals. The peer support calls meet weekly and provide an opportunity for each person to talk about their professional goals, their families or what ever feels important at that juncture. Over time, each group builds a significant amount of trust and collective knowledge. As a result, participants often find they can use this group to think more creatively around professional and personal issues that have felt challenging as they help their clients and themselves reach for their biggest goals and dreams.

Q: ThirdPath Community Events

Members of the ThirdPath community gather in cities across the country in a variety of ways. For example, an ILA recently organized a meeting for lawyers with an interest in work life integration to hear about ThirdPath’s work. Another ILA included several members of the ThirdPath community in a panel discussion about new parents and work family balance. ILAs all over the country are organizing gatherings big and small, and ThirdPath is here to help. Look at our calendar of events to see what may be happening near you.

Join our network of individuals and professionals who believe in a new approach to work and life. By doing this you will gain the opportunity to connect, learn, get support and help make wider change.

Whole System Approach to Change

Our Integrated Life Advocates groups provide ThirdPath Institute an opportunity to share cutting edge knowledge with a diverse group of individuals and professionals who then use this information to create wider change.

We do this by examining the “Whole System Approach to Change.”

Topics that are addressed in the “Whole System Approach to Change” curriculum include:

Work Redesign – An introduction to the 4 ways work can be redesigned and how we can support clients around win-win work/career redesign.
Leadership Redesign – Case studies of integrated leaders are reviewed and the “21st century skills” used to succeed at work while also carving out time for life.
Family Redesign – Helping families find their “North Star” – their preferred approach to balancing work and family – and understanding the influences of money, time and gender.
Organization Change – Case studies are reviewed and the concept of “collective boundary setting” is introduced.
Individual Change – How to assess people’s readiness for change and understanding “tangos” – the places where husbands and wives, bosses and co-workers, sometimes get stuck when trying to make change.
Reflecting on our own practice – Case presentations and support around our own work life goals.

Through our Integrated Life Advocate groups, we also establish a safe and supportive environment so participants can gain insights about their own lives and the interconnection between personal change and wider change. How do our unconscious assumptions – our tendency to over work or follow traditional roles at home – get in the way of the change work we do? How can we learn to challenge these patterns and expand our impact?

To learn more, print our summary document describing the “Two Year Curriculum” for ThirdPath’s ILA calls. Or take a closer look at the many resources we offer individuals, families and leaders and Integrated Life Advocates as they take the next step towards achieving their dream of leading an integrated life.

ILA Stories

Rachel Allender “People can lose their sense of hope around what’s possible. ThirdPath has armed me with information to help my clients hold on to their dreams. With a little foresight, they learn that creating a partnership around work and time for children can actually be quite delightful. ThirdPath teaches parents to assess their situation, know where their limits are and to know when to push. I’ve learned this for myself and now I can support my clients to do the same.”	Elaine Chaney “It’s wonderful to interact with other professionals who share my passion for creating family friendly workplaces and who are working with individuals and organizations to make it happen. Learning ThirdPath’s tools and processes in more depth has also been a big benefit. This is a wonderful group of people, and as an independent consultant, it’s been very valuable to find groups of like minded people to connect with.”
Mario DiCioccio “I was drawn to ThirdPath because I believe the ThirdPath mission is so needed in today’s world. I continue to stand with my ThirdPath colleagues because not only do I value the contribution we ThirdPathers make; but I value the group of smart, supportive and creative colleagues that we’ve assembled.”	Anna Gambucci “Thirdpath has given me cutting edge content, visionary stories, and a forum for honest dialogue to develop my long-held questions and convictions about family equality and quality of life. I hope to share a clear, articulate message and be a connector of people in the launch of this deeply-needed, brilliant Movement of restoring balance for individuals and families in 21st century America.”
Doug Gertner “When my partner and I became parents, our path to Shared Care was immediate. It did not take long for us to feel fairly unique and somewhat isolated, especially professionally. My involvement with ThirdPath Institute has connected me to like-minded colleagues around the world, which in turn has energized and informed both my professional practice and my parenting.”	Dottie Lamm “I was immediately taken with this pioneering group. The ILA conference calls have been a godsend in keeping me up to date on the new parenting challenges couples face. I have also learned, and have been able to promote through my writing and public speaking, what the workplace is doing and still needs to do to help their employees live integrated lives. I continue to connect ThirdPath with courageous workplace leaders in Denver as they keep the faith in this precarious and challenging economy.”