Misuse of CEO Power

After a review of the CEO's I have coached, 85% appear to use the power of their office in getting things done with their staff! That causes the executive to be overwhelmed with work others could do. I ask: is the underlying cause the need for control? A client just told me they are overwhelmed with people needing to come to her for decisions and opinions. Part of that phenomena might be a lack of trust of others. What is the worse case scenario in empowering her staff to take greater responsibility? They might make some poor decisions which they can learn from. So how does one get over so much need for control? Answer: we talk about it in order for the client to discover why they are in this situation. From that discussion, one discovers ways for greater success.

BONUS DILEMMA

I need insights into the "black box" of year end compensation decisions.

Two of my clients are looking for better ways to use compensation as a motivator for higher performance.  Once a year conversations does not do that and most people I ask feel it is a mystery how their bonus and base are calculated based on achivement of specific goals or expectations assigned. Question: how can we effectively manage-inspire an individual's achievement of annual goals and expectations using $$$ conversations on a regular, say monthly, basis? The challenge seems to be creating a culture where people clearly know the financial impact of their work throughout the year.

What has been your experience? Suggestions? Best, Alan Alan Booth Management Consultant Executive Coach Instructor, NYU School of Leadership Web: http://www.AlanBoothCoach.com Land: 203.454.3502 Cell: 203.216.6232

SHOULD BOB BE TERMINATED?

It is my experience that top executives frequently avoid firing people. So when my client, CEO Frank asked me: "Should Bob be terminated?" I was surprised...but he was more so at the end of this project. Situation Frank inherited Bob as VP Sales when he came to this private company three years ago. Bob was criticized for the lucrative deals he cut with customers rather than protecting margin goals. [I was not sure if that really was the disconnect] So Frank hired a new VP Sales and moved Bob over to Strategic Accounts selling. But in this role he struggled to meet Franks expectation of effective presentations that could result in business solutions that were win-win. However, Bob was good at developing trusting relationships with customers, his rep organizations and distributors. Second, he consistently arranged appointments with senior executives ... he just did not have the ability to design and present programs for his strategic accounts. Risks If Bob was terminated, the company risked destroying the relationships he had built up for years, putting at risk significant business revenues. With the CEO battling Bob through lengthy emails, threats and heels being dug in on both sides, there was a risk that Bob might be near suing for harassment. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Send me your thoughts and I will forward the actual solution. Alan

ISOLATATION

Virtually every second generation business owner I have worked with, complain that conversation at home is always focused on Dad's business. This at the exclusion of spouse and kids. I experienced with the same thing with my Dad who spent nearly every weekend fixing up our house. I still have many of his paint brushes he left me. I believe some have over 10,000 hours on them. Big Surprise when my wife told me 15 years ago, that my tombstone should simply say "HE WORKED" Bigger surprise when I woke up one day realizing that all of my "friends" were associated with my business. No real friends. So I am on the mission to making genuine friends and finding the strength to turn off business implications. Hard work! Best, Alan Friend Finder and Executive Coach

My HR Friend

Surprised to receive this message from a former HR friend Yes Alan, truth hurts. Surely my friend the honest, candid and unvarnished 1-to-1 coaching feedback you provide clients have caused an unintended narcissistic wound, or few over the years?  Coaching does not really involve feedback, rather motivation for a client to self-reveal. Perhaps this person would genuinely benefit from executive coaching! To my friend: "What is causing you to bring up narcissism?"

Who Are You?

To really succeed, you need to know yourself better than anyone else and to be able to clearly present who you are with confidence

WHAT IS COACHING?

Every single person I ask about their perception of coaching has a different answer. So let me clarify through a very short video I was stunned when an executive replied, "I enjoy good acting but turned off by the money part." Whew! I am in a heap of trouble with my profession! Coaching Observation

I QUIT

Sharing the position of a majority of executives I meet and coach An executive I met this morning says, "I have been doing this for over 30 years. I am THE expert. He has quit looking for opportunities to grow himself or his business. If this describes you, would you be interested in finding out how to grow your job satisfaction, # of clients, # of clients who introduce you to their friends [as the only source of business]?

You Did What?

As a leader, if you can strengthen these non-financial factors, your business will could organically double in 3 years. This is from my 25 years of experience with intense listening] Seems these three things are a challenge for leaders to involve the bottom of their organization; where, surprisingly many key answers are waiting to be heard! Appreciation for work done Feeling "in"on things Growth opportunities So: which area could you personally develop? Best, Alan

GUNS IN THE WORKPLACE?

Working in the oilfields of Houston, Texas, an HR manager came up to let me know he had to settle a dispute in another plant.

So curious me, I asked him what approach would he use.

"Alan, my first approach is to be armed."

Huh!?

Seems Texas law allowed concealed weapons at work...beyond the rifles on the gun racks of pick up trucks.

The most important thing we needed to do on this assignment was build a culture of collaboration. Stakeholders at all levels needed to be involved in projects from the beginning to cause ownership on an individual basis.

Were guns every pulled at this plant? Yes.

Why? Because mangers needed better awareness of how they disconnect from their people. That awareness, alone, leads to more effective collaboration, not power struggles

Alert! Your Clients Are Talking About You

Do you know what they are saying?

When I asked one of my clients about how she thinks her clients think about her, she said they sense that “I am sometimes a hard person to deal with, my services are less than I promote and my pricing is on the low side.

That is her belief…but how do you get the truth? [It may be less harsh]

I was fortunate to have a client for 10 years.  The Executive Director who engaged me asked towards the end of the first year,

“Why do you think I keep asking you back to do more work?”

He continued, “Well, two things”:

[1] you have taken the time to really know our business and the challenges we have, and

[2] you have developed credibility by the deep relationships you have developed with my staff

50% Challenge of Hearing

 Hearing

is 50% of communication

What keeps us from  LISTENING

So to better understand the other person

Barriers:


Distractions
 Over-active brain 

misinterpretation of email/text words

IS MANAGEMENT TRULY DEAD?

We have been tricked!

The Industrial Revolution which ended in 1840 was noted by  a manager's role to assign work, evaluate quality and efficiency.

These managers did not really know how to hire workers, establish a culture that increased productivity and solve problems.

They learned on the job.

Now we have MBA education, primarily based on management theory and case studies. Do MBA's make effective managers; i.e. add value to achieving strategic goals?  No.

But they do learn on the job when their manager is more of a mentor who understand each person as an individual.

Mark Fisch was an excellent mentor manager.  One day he stopped to tell me about my confusion as to his role.  He stressed, "it is to cause you to be successful".  And his process was to coach me to be independent of him, to answer my own questions, to know what action lead to success.

That is why I dropped the word manager and became a coach.

IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING YOURSELF

After intense listening to others introduce me at meetings, I began to hear what made me unique.

It was not my title, profession or who I worked for.

But I found at cocktail parties, people were interested in how I get CEO's more competent keeping focusing their staff on what is most important. To be forward thinking [strategic] rather than reactive to what challenges are in front of them

Last Sunday night we were at a friend's house for dinner.  Many were small business owners.

The last thing they would want to hear is that I am an Executive Coach. Likewise, it didn't matter to me what profession the guests represented.

So I talked about a 2nd generation owner who hated having his son in the business and the opposing view of the son's mother [spousal stress].  That is chaos, stress and exhausting.

What made compelling conversation was when and how we can stop parenting our kids. In public companies it is the same thing but labeled as managerial power.

So..."Alan, what is it you do? In family businesses I coach to reduce chaos, stress and exhaustion."

Thus begins my brand.

Myths of Coaching

When I asked 10 executives what their perception of the coaching process is, I received 8 different answers.

 "How do you select an executive coach?"

Best answer: experience a coaching session before selection!

Subsequently, I am offering a 30 minute coaching session to create that experience

 To do so, simply email me at:

AlanBooth@mags.net