FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

True leaders never stop learning and strengthening their leadership skills. They and recognise that these changes are far more likely to stick, with support from a coach. Business Week (Conlin, November 2002) includes American Express, Pfizer, Unilever, Bain & Co., and even the U.S. Treasury on its list of organizations that retain Executive Coaches. The Hay Group reports that up to 40% of Fortune 500 companies use Executive Coaches, and that number is increasing.

Coaching is about asking questions that create insight and momentum, which pave the way for transformational leadership. The Harvard Business Review (Rucci, Kirn, & Quinn, January 1998) published a study that linked employee satisfaction to revenue growth at Sears. They measured a 4% increase in employee satisfaction over a 12 -months, which translated into more than $200 million in additional revenues. Those revenues increased the Company's market share by nearly one-quarter of a billion dollars.

The Manchester Review on Coaching found that every dollar they spent on coaching resulted in $6 return on investment. But these changes take time and patience. There is no other way. Gallup Management Journal (Coffman, January 2003) reports that superior management pivots on relationships, not technical skills. These finding make it clear that it works. Executive Coaching improves leadership, retains talent, and increases revenue.

Because she has experience as an executive and is certified in Executive Coaching, leadership, personality differences and conflict resolution, you can count on receiving:

confidentiality, focus, clarity and support

enhanced emotional intelligence

a sounding board, with new approaches to problems

momentum to move from good to great

an action plan with a partner to hold you accountable for achieving what you want

Some other benefits of our coaching also include:

Create the time to lead your organization, not just manage the next crisis.

Extend your leadership effectiveness by leveraging your existing strengths in new ways.

Adapt your leadership approach to continually meet the challenges of changing circumstances.

Know how to inspire your people to action, and use the power of a shared vision.

Know how to shift your organization's culture to increase innovation and productivity.

Create an atmosphere of trust, mutual support, and open communication to enhance staff morale and performance.

Know when to challenge and when to encourage to get the most from your team.

A coach is essential when we want to make strides in leadership development. Because we cannot see what we are blind to, we often need unvarnished feedback that helps us grow. . Because a certified coach has the training to work with you to create the action plan that gets you to where you want to go faster than if you were on your own.

Making better decisions

Coaching helps the client to see the world through a different pair of glasses. When viewed from a different perspective , solutions to an old problem often come into sight. It may involve approaching data from a different perspective, examining assumptions, responding to people differently, examining and aligning espoused values with what you actually do.

Developing new ways of thinking

Executive Coaching offers an opportunity to explore your options, gain clarity, renew your passions, focus your strengths and ultimately increase your income. You become refreshed and more effective faster than what you would be able to achieve on your own.

Return on investment (ROI)

Coaching is a solid investment With greater self awareness, knowing what you do that facilitates good decisions, or blocks progress, is essential to improving results. You need to know how you impact the business.

Attaining healthier life/work balance

Examining your actions and finding you are (or are not) leading the life you want is important in determining where to focus. When we stop for long enough to listen to our true values, the significant things in our lives become clearer and decisions are easier.

Coaching increases Emotional Intelligence

Research is showing that a person’s success is more due to his/her emotional intelligence than their IQ. Emotional intelligence, which is learned, has to do with how effectively one deals with one’s emotions and the emotions of others in areas such as interpersonal communication, decisions and conflict.

Is where you are spending your time and effort getting you what you want?

What is the gap between where you are now and where you want to be?

What changes are you ready to make to align your actions with your objective?

Initially, we like to begin coaching in person if possible, but it is not essential. our contracts are retainers, and are for at least 3 months, Typically, Executive Coaching occurs over the telephone to accommodate the executive client's busy schedule and travel itinerary, but not always. our telephone clients are responsible for phoning me on the scheduled date and time.

Coaching plays a key role in next generation workplace learning. Leadership is an interaction that creates comfort with personal responsibility and commitment towards a vision. Leadership Development is the process of strengthening our leadership competencies in the ways that get us closer to our ultimate goals.

Albert Einstein once said,

"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles but no personality. It cannot lead; it can only serve."

With coaching, things all fit together better including our pace of growth, initiative, and emotional intelligence to determine the effectiveness of our goals, teams, perspectives and relationships.

“The crux of leadership development that works is self-directed learning: intentionally developing or strengthening an aspect of who you are or who you want to be, or both.”

-(Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis
& Annie McKee (Harvard Business School Press)

When BusinessWeek published its annual survey of executive education in Oct. 20, 2003 , 134 companies from 20 nations reported enrolling more than 21,000 employees in leadership programs, at a cost of $210 million. That's a significant investment that has a learning retention rate of under 20% when there is no follow-up coaching. Wouldn’t you like to increase that to 80% ? Follow-up coaching will leave a legacy of strengthened authentic leaders and a culture that will nurture innovation and success.?

A survey of 3,000 leaders and associates in 117 organizations reports that 63% plan to increase spending on leadership development programs that 75% of HR executives surveyed don't give a high quality rating to, likely due to lack of skills implementation follow-up.

The paradox of spending more on what's not working is unfortunately due to leadership development being seen as a classroom event. Like learning to be a great chess player, author or skier, it takes much practice and understanding to acquire the insight and long view balance of reflexes that are needed. A workshop to increase awareness may be essential, but it is not usually sufficient to make profound changes in behaviour. Profound changes, like habits, happen over time.

The survey also reported that two-thirds of the respondents said leaders at their company exhibited at least one potentially fatal flaw or "derailer" – a personality attribute that interferes with leadership effectiveness. Derailers are familiar to us all. Since they are more personality-oriented than skill-based, they are more difficult to change than just teaching someone a new skill.

Leadership development must take on a more longitudinal approach before the hoped-for development takes place

Enter coaching. The steady application of support that is appreciated by a successful person who has a desire to make some changes happen, and wants it to happen faster than doing it on his or her own.

Personal transformation leads corporate transformation--one person at a time.