Coaching

"There isn't an individual from our organization who was not impacted by your powerful real-life presentation. Your ability to connect with our people and talk to their issues continues to be the subject most talked about at our recent meetings. Simply put - your session was the best investment in terms of bottom-line value that I could ever make for my people in my company."
-Richard Baker, Chairman & CEO, Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp.

Why Invest in a Coach?

For many executives business strategy decisions are easy. But when it comes to people issues the decisions become difficult. Building and managing relationships doesn’t come naturally for many executives. And decisions that affect lives-careers-families-self esteem are downright difficult. As a result many executives procrastinate in handling people issues such as poor performance, or communication and behavior problems, and conflicts. Even larger issues such as development, succession planning, and retention are put aside. These executives become simply stymied.

However, many progressive companies are realizing that talent management is critical to their company’s growth. And talent management can no longer be ignored or fixed through books or seminars. Individual intervention-or coaching-is necessary and many times the only solution for an executive who may otherwise be talented in operational functions but lacks the people skills necessary to be an effective leader.

Why Does Coaching Work?

Executive coaching produces better results than workshops and seminars because it is a one-on-one process focused on the individual executive’s capacities, behaviors, values, beliefs, motivators, and challenges. Rarely can these be addressed in group sessions or even by the person himself.

I compare this to starting an exercise program. Have you ever started exercising by yourself-possibly watching a TV program, following a DVD, or attending a group workout-only to find that you weren’t sure whether what you were doing was effective?  Did you also find that sticking with the program was more difficult than the exercising?  And then how long did this “go it alone” process last? That helps explain why exercise equipment is so often seen at tag sales.  However, if you worked with an exercise coach sticking to the routine and doing it correctly would encourage you to continue. Exercising with a coach also motivates you, stretches you to exceed your expectations and produces better results.

Solution: Custom Coaching

Coaching as in personal training must take into account the person’s current status, capacities, desires, and issues to be overcome. One-size-fits-all does not work. A big consideration must be the level of the executive. C-level executives have different challenges and therefore different needs than a mid-manager level. Senior executives must be comfortable and knowledgeable in skills that include dealing with shareholders, boards, financial institutions, and growing the next level of executives. Mid-managers need skills in coaching, leadership, accountability, communication, and others. And all need to know, understand, and work with their individual emotional mind sets.

Coaches Ask Questions-Consultants Also Provide Advice. You Want Both.

  • You have a need or a problem. You look for a solution. Someone provides you with an answer. It doesn’t work. Why?
  • You want to change a behavior. You know the changes you need to make. You make them. They don’t last. Why?
  • You’re told to strengthen a skill set. You take a class. You read the manual. You follow the formula. You’re then asked why you haven’t improved. Why?

To begin to change, improve, and grow you must begin with where you are. You need a baseline. All leaders have blind spots and what an objective coach provides is more than just an opinion. The use of unbiased tools such as assessments and in-depth questions helps tell you where you are. For example, if you want to lose weight you must first know what you weigh. So you get on a scale and it tells you. Then you decide how much you want to lose. Everything you do after this measurement is based on that knowledge. You’ll know if you succeed by comparing to the initial baseline.

A great coaching experience works the same way. A good coach will first assess where you are. Then he or she will ask what you want to accomplish. Together you determine the possibilities, the desired outcomes, and the process which will help you get there. Your coach should then provide you with strategic keys so you can realize your potential within an agreed to time frame.

Case in Point
A key ingredient is the coach’s experience. How well does the coach understand the reality of where the executive lives daily? Ideal recommendations within an ideal environment are great. However, do they apply to and solve real day-to-day problems?

Here’s an example. I recently was called on to coach a senior executive at a major retail company. The reason for the call was that this executive’s current coach had no clue as to the day-to-day pressures of his job and continued to recommend solutions which were difficult if not impossible to implement in the hectic ever changing world of retailing. I know retailing. Having lived in that world and run a retailing company I knew exactly what the problems were. Within the first 2 months of my work with the executive results occurred. Why? Coaching has to be framed in real life. It’s not about how you as an executive should be behaving, doing, communicating. It’s about what is reasonable, doable, and effective given the environment and boundaries you must work within.

One More Crucially Important Point
An executive who is coached also learns how to coach others. That is one of the key side benefits. Every great leader knows that one of his or her primary responsibilities is to mentor and coach those rising in their ranks-their direct reports. When the executive experiences the coaching process this enables her to understand the impact and power of coaching. And as a result then understands the impact coaching will have on her direct reports.

Here is the Quality Most Successful Leaders Have in Common:They all have a Coach!

Terri Kabachnick serves as a coach and confidante to some of the world’s most distinguished leaders. Terri focuses on forming a partnership with the person she’s coaching, takes her clients beyond their comfort zones, and focuses on rapid results. She is an internationally recognized expert on “perfecting the human side of business” and the author of "I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You".

Get Your Coach Now

Call The Kabachnick Group to speak with Terri - 800-275-8374 or email her at terri@kabachnick.com.

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own."
-Benjamin Disraeli

 

Customer Feedback:

“Terri, your coaching is literally priceless!  In the time you and I have worked together, you have helped me grow in so many ways on a professional and personal level.  I’ve had many breakthroughs regarding my management style and how I communicate with my peers, subordinates and senior management.

Specifically, you have added tremendous value to my sales team as well.  You have helped us make the right hiring decisions, help retain and grow our current talent, and provided guidance to take corrective action when a person on the team wasn’t a good fit for the expectations of the position.

Terri, you are a great communicator and listener.  You read me and my team members like an open book.  Every large company has a CEO.  What they really need is a CEC, Chief Executive Coach.  You should be every successful company’s CEC!
-Garret Ellberger, East Coast Director of Sales, RR Donnelley

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