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10 Executive Coaching Goals for 2015

October 22, 2014 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Point: Executive coaching has been doing rounds in the global business community for the past 2-3 decades. Now it has become a billion-dollar industry, with more and more companies hiring executive coaching specialists to mentor their C-suite executives. However, executive coaching is continually evolving as the definition of leadership keeps changing. As we approach 2015, we thought it would be interesting to look at how executive coaching will help leaders in the coming new year… So think of this as a Tip of the Spear “Happy New Year!” (Yes, we realize we’re early!)… Enjoy!

#10 Senior Management Being Trained to Train (and Lead!)

While executive coaching is meant for top tier leaders, in order for its benefits to be reaped by the entire organization, the training should be passed down to employees with potential. In the coming year, we are likely to witness more and more senior managers (after going through executive coaching themselves) directly becoming responsible for identifying, hiring, and developing future leaders in the company.

#9 Better Succession Management

This follows from the previous point of “Trained to Train” in #10. As crucial leadership roles start to be filled by internal candidates, not only does it streamline the success-planning process, but such leaders tend to enjoy better financial performance for their organization’s as well.

#8 Engaging Leaders in Strategic Thinking

A leader should learn to go beyond their own department, and even that of the organization. They should be able to look at the big picture and gain a broader business perspective that takes into account the social, economic, and political factors at play. But more than that, executives should be able to look beyond the short-term day to day business decisions and periodically engage in long-term strategic thinking. This means focusing on the ‘why’ of the business instead of just the ‘what’ and ‘how’.

#7 Active Listening

Some leadership skills remain the same, no matter which era and economic conditions the business is operating in. You may have read about active listening a lot on the Tip of the Spear Ventures’ “The Point!” blog, but even as we head into 2015, active listening remains a much sought after leadership communication skill. Hence, centered executive coaching and leadership development programs should put more emphasis on active listening.

#6 The Art of Thinking

This follows from the previous point. Leaders should not only listen more to the people that they work with, but also encourage them to think creatively and offer their suggestions for unique business issues. This is done by asking open-ended questions, and more importantly, building trust with your team.

#5 Two-Way Communication

Building trust is essential for leaders, especially CEOs and other executives who are hired to lead teams they have not worked with before. One of the best ways to do so is to encourage two-way communication in the workplace (which is how communication should be done in the first place). Leaders who like to maintain an elite distance from their team are likely to find hesitant employees in their midst who never offer their “true” suggestions for key business decisions.

#4 Data-Driven Decisions

While ultimately leaders will make key business decisions based on their experience and intuition, there is a growing need for executives to understand, interpret, and use data to find key business opportunities.

#3 Time Management

Modern leaders are realistic, but their also unrealistic when it comes to the demands of time on their schedules. They know that they don’t possess infinite resources of time and energy. Hence, they need to be trained and execute in time management. They need to identify areas where time is being wasted and use those periods to pursue value-added activities.

#2 Greater Delegation

Collaboration would be a more accurate term. Communication should go beyond active listening and eloquent speaking where you can reap practical benefits of working with a team collectively to meet corporate goals. Trust also plays a major role in delegation as you learn to trust your team, while they learn to respect your authority.

#1 Commanding Authority

Finally and most importantly, true leaders are those who make their presence known through their confidence, body language, and speech, as they communicate in a way that inspires others. Think of it this way, sometimes your actions speak louder than your words!

Summary

To sum up, as we head to a new year, some leadership skills still remain relevant, especially where the executive themselves assumes the role of an executive coach. This should be the foundation of any executive coaching or leadership development initiative.

If you’d like more information on the Centered Executive Coaching programs offered at Tip of the Spear, or any of our other Business Advisory Services including Leadership Development and Communication Skills Training for Leaders, please use the CONTACT US page of this website.

5 Keys to Effective Executive Coaching as a Leader

October 21, 2014 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Point: We’ve talked about how as a leader, it’s “lonely at the top.” Well, guess what? If as a leader you attempt to do everything all the time in and of just yourself, your tenure as a leader will be a short one! As the saying goes, “it takes a village” so it goes that it takes a “team” to compete and succeed in today’s economy. Likewise, while a C-Suite executive can undergo personal executive coaching, this alone doesn’t guarantee the success of the company. To achieve that, the executives should assume coaching responsibilities and instill a culture of employee development in the company… In other words, act as an executive coach as a leader. What follows are 5 Keys we’ve identified at Tip of the Spear to help you as a leader develop just such a culture, and coach your way to success… Enjoy!

#5 Build or Bust Trust

It has often been seen in organizations that while employees are willing to learn, this willingness doesn’t automatically make the training process effective. A major issue is a trust barrier between leaders and their employees. If you want to coach in-house talent to occupy future C-suite executive seats (you do have a succession plan, don’t you?), then you have to start building relationships with your key employees. When the employees trust their leader as coach, they will learn more effectively.

#4 Become a Great Listener

As a leader, you may be proficient in reading, writing, and speaking, but now it is time to exercise arguably the greatest of all leadership communication skills: listening. This might entail you shunning your personal judgments and opinions in order to listen actively, paying special attention to the body language of your stakeholder. I know that every leader would like to be Steve Jobs-like, and fire off at the mouth with little regard for their employees, but let’s leave that to Steve…

#3 Continuous Evaluation

One-way instruction doesn’t work when it comes to effective coaching. When you get started, you need to outline the goals for training and also determining how far you are from achieving those goals (Think of it as a form of “gap” analysis you’ll conduct). You have to highlight behavioral changes that you both would like to see in the employee being trained, and then provide feedback from time to time to let them know how well they’re doing.

#2 Asking Powerful Questions

Effective executive coaching teaches people to think in the right direction, or manner. You need to ask your employees the right of kinds of questions to enhance their problem solving skills (Think of these as “powerful” questions). Make sure that these questions are clear and concise (ideally 7 words or less), they should be open-ended, should test the knowledge gained through previous coaching sessions and experience, and they should help the trainee move further towards reaching their goals.

#1 Criticize – Dish and Receive!

Finally, you need to support your stakeholders with active listening and encouraging them by being open to their suggestions. However, you should never withhold your criticism when they are not showing progress (Please pay note to my Steve Jobs-like comments above). However, you have to use constructive criticism, which means you express your opinion honestly without being confrontational. Remember that the stakeholder is being coached to become a future leader where they will have to make their own decisions. So, do rock their boat from time to time and encourage them to use their best judgment to accomplish goals.

Summary

Ultimately, the effectiveness of any coaching program as a leader is judged by results, and these can only be achieved if you follow the aforementioned guidelines when developing a leadership development program. In the end, your work with stakeholders can be dramatically improved by your leadership skills as a leader.

10 Criteria for Selecting an Executive Coach

October 17, 2014 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Point: It’s lonely at the top. Ask any CEO and s/he will confirm. As a CEO, you are supposed to know all the answers, and even the slightest mishap from your end can cause you to lose your position as the C-suite executive, no matter how hard you have worked to get there. This is why the CEO is in need of coaching and leadership advice. However, studies show that more than 60% of CEOs do not receive executive coaching. The trend needs to change. But how will you select the “right” executive coach to work with, and is there such a thing? The following are 10 ways in which you can find the best centered executive coach… Enjoy!

#10 Ask for A Test Drive

One way to find out if a person is fit for the executive coaching job is to ask for a walkthrough of the leadership development process via a test drive. This usually includes a starting point, identifying key issues to be addressed, and the goals to be achieved. The coach should be able to give you specific scientific (or a flavor) for how they employ methods that will be relevant to your situation.

#9 What Coaching Methodology?

This follows from the previous point. It should be clear from the onset what kind of feedback, tools, and methods will be used. A mark of a good coach is that they listen more than they speak in order to identify which areas of your CEO-persona are most in need of immediate improvement. Also important is to identify if they are able to suggest/explore the best in class strategy development to achieve such changes.

#8 Feedback – Coaching or Conversation?

Feedback is an integral part of executive coaching. Sometimes all a CEO needs is someone identifying their blind spots. Of course, the coach will help you in this respect, but they will start by gathering feedback of what the team members and board of directors think about you. This stakeholder input is crucial to engagement success, and long-term sustainment.

#7 More than a Sounding Board

All leaders need someone they can confide in and who can act as their sounding board. However, if that is all that your prospective coach is claiming to offer, it is better not to hire him. Put another way, you want more than just a 1-sided conversation to take place if you expect results (and you better expect results!)

#6 Confidential Information – To Share or Not To Share?

This is a no-brainer. The coach needs to ensure 100% confidentiality regarding what happens during the coaching session. Working with a coach that doesn’t guarantee confidentiality could be a potential career-threatening move. Keep in mind, in the event your organization is sponsoring the initiative, they will expect to get updates regarding your progress. Simply put though these “sharing moments” should be done at a high-level (think 30,000 feet!)

#5 Track Record of Success

All the above-mentioned factors are essential, but they amount to nothing if the coach cannot refer to successful clients serviced.

#4 Testimonials

When selecting executive coaching services, always ask for testimonials of past (or even existing) clients. Most importantly, follow up with this cadre of clients to find out what they experienced positive, negative, and if they had to do over again if they would. This will show just how result oriented the coach really is.

#3 Accountability

This is an important point in leadership development. You should either hire the services of the coach on a personal basis, or use company funds under your discretionary control. If the coach is being paid by the organization, then you’ll need to ensure that loyalty and accountability lies with the organization as well as you as the leader (In our Centered Executive Coaching engagements where this is the case, we typically refer to this as a “triangular” relationship between coach, coachee, and sponsoring organization).

#2 Monitoring Progress

Only a genuine coach will explain to you strategies that will be used to measure improvement in your behavior during and after the coaching program is over. In our Centered Executive Coaching programs we typically initiate the sessions by structuring a dashboard of key performance indicators (KPIs) or important metrics to measure/review at periodic intervals throughout the engagement.

#1 Compatibility

Finally and most importantly, make sure that you have the right chemistry with the coach you are hiring. Ideally, look for a coach that offers a complimentary session so that you can ensure that you are comfortable with the coach selected.

Summary:

The CEO of today works alone. They may collect all the praises, but then they also get all the blame. Only a sound leadership coach can help them ensure long-term success, which is why it is essential to choose the best one.

If you’d like more information on Tip of the Spear’s Centered Executive Coaching offerings, please use the CONTACT US page of this website.

How Executive Coaching Benefits the C-Suite

October 16, 2014 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Point: As the job of a CEO becomes ever more demanding (is that even possible? Yes!), more and more chief executives are willing to receive professional advice and coaching. Executive coaching is no longer considered as a punishment given to incompetent CEOs. Rather, it has now become a trusted form of leadership development (even a sort of status symbol). In the following post, we discuss the benefits that executive coaching offers to C-suite executives (CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CTOs, CHROs, etc.)… Enjoy!

Why a C-Suite Leader May Need Coaching?

On the surface, it doesn’t make sense for a person that has escalated to the C-Suite to go for a coaching session. Don’t they already know everything? Well in actuality, they don’t. Our research at Tip of the Spear reveals that as many as 78% of C-Suite leaders are expressing a willingness to be coached.

This is also the call of modern times. Previously, C-Suite leaders could manage on their own, and executive coaching was considered some sort of remedial action. However, today’s leaders work under so much pressure that they may need essential assistance from time to time. They have everything riding on their shoulders, but at the end of the day, they are just human beings too!

Too much responsibility can easily cause burn out leaders, further complicated by poor decision making. Is it then any wonder that C-Suite leaders are now lasting 7.6 years on a global average down from 9.5 years less than 2 decades ago?

The Cost of Not Being Coached

People who earn themselves the C-suite executive spot have the ability to make sound judgments on a consistent basis. However, all it takes is one wrong decision to lose all of that. That is why, they need someone who keeps the executive on their “toes” so to speak, and in a corporate world marred by office politics, you can’t expect this role to be fulfilled by stakeholders.

And even if stakeholders are asked to give honest feedback about how well the C-Suite leader is running their portion of the company, chances are that communication will not be honest and will withhold negative feedback.

Think this isn’t you? Think of the last decision you made in the C-Suite that didn’t exactly go as planned (Come on, be honest, there had to have been one if not more decisions you made in the last 12-months that just went wrong!) Now take the costs (actual as well as opportunity) associated with that mistake, as well as the revenue (lost or potential not realized). We’re guessing that it’s at least six digits (+$100,000) if you’re honest!

Bottom line: A C-Suite leader needs an unbiased, yet talented and experienced coach to help stay at the top of their game.

Summary

To sum up, while C-Suite leaders hold the highest positions in their organization, they are also the ones that need to hear the truth more often. This “truth” delivering role is seldom fulfilled by team members and employees (i.e., Stakeholders). Hence, executive coaching finds its greatest relevance in the upper echelons of the organizational hierarchy.

If you’d like more information on Tip of the Spear’s Centered Executive Coaching offerings, please use the CONTACT US page of this website.

Will Your Leadership Poor Communication Skills Get You Fired?

October 16, 2014 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Point: Does having the necessary qualifications and certification in your field guarantee job security? While as a leader you know good education improves your chances of getting hired, staying on that job and being promoted is an entirely different animal. Leadership communication skills typically requires dignity, perseverance, and most importantly, communication skills training for leaders. This is the total package of leadership development, which is perhaps the only way of achieving long-term success. Likewise, failing to learn essential communication skills spells doom for everyone in the organization, including C-Suite executives. This article lists communication five (5) blunders that can (and should!) jeopardize an executive’s career… Enjoy!

#5 Flirting on the Job

It should go without saying, but a leader we met with last week was unceremoniously dismissed from this organization of 10+ years because he flirted on the job. Many actually see flirting as a way to climb up the corporate ladder. Here at the Tip of the Spear Ventures firm, we don’t promote Machiavellian, Venus, or even Cupid-like tactics. Instead, we look to provide genuine leadership development education through the proven Leadership Challenge methodology. Hence, take our advice and refrain from flirting, as it can easily be taken the wrong way (I’m not certain there is a “right” way here!)

#4 Emailing News That Is Best Delivered in Person

As a leader unfortunately we have to at times deliver bad news (Hopefully this is the minority of the time). This bad news could include something significant to the organization’s employee structure, such as layoffs. When you deliver such news via email, stakeholders (those being relieved of their duties, as well as those staying) will obviously lack body language and other non-verbal clues needed to deal with the emotional response following the message. As a leader, there also will be an opportunity for you to stand and face the unpleasant music (See point #3 below). That is why as a leader you should always convey bad news in person, and picking up clues from the recipient’s body language and facial expressions whether they are comprehending the key parts of the message or not. Clarity could go a long way in minimizing long-term disruption.

#3 Shying Away from Difficult Conversations

This follows from the previous point. But along with delivering bad news, a leader also needs to give negative feedback from time to time. When you avoid such conversations, you are giving way for small problems to escalate into larger ones that will ultimately reflect negatively on you. So, deal with negative behavior head-on. First listen to what the employee has to say about his performance (listening being a key leadership communication skill as well) and see whether the issue is genuine or not. In any case, you need to have the ability to communicate assertively in order to be heard by your workforce.

#2 Not Maintaining Eye Contact

Everyone knows that you listen with your ears, but maintaining eye contact is essential to let the other person feel that you are actually listening. Body language matters when it comes to leadership communication skills. Hence, if you fail to maintain eye contact, this not only is considered a sign of disrespect, but people will also think that you are a (to use the term) ‘shady’ person.

#1 Beat Around the Bush Messages

Finally, a sign of effective communication is the right choice of words so that you can communicate your message in the shortest amount of words possible. Think of Twitter: If you had to deliver your message in 140 characters or less, what would you say? How would you say it? This is a trait to be sought in the fast-paced corporate world of today. On the other hand, going on ceaselessly about a single point makes people think that don’t know what you are talking about.

Summary

In short, without effective communication skills training for leaders, you are not likely to last long and achieve your full potential in the work environment, no matter how high you stand in the organizational hierarchy. You need to be respectful of your employees and use nonverbal cues when communicating, such as eye contact. Most importantly, you should have the ability to both encourage and discipline stakeholders.

If you’d like more information on Tip of the Spear Ventures’ Communicate with Influence series, specifically aimed at communication skills training for leaders, use the CONTACT US page of this website.

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