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