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Lead is a verb; it implies action. Leaders can embody all of the necessary attributes of character for leadership (i.e. honesty, integrity, openness, empathy, courage), but if they're not deployed effectively in an organizational setting, they might as well be non-existent.
Developing these attributes and operationalizing them in leaders' behavior is one focus of our practice.
Performance is a function of knowledge, skills and desire. Knowledge concerns what to do. You can memorize the directions to assemble a Christmas toy; that doesn't mean you can do it. Skills relate to how to do it. That's a function of practice. Adults learn best by "doing." After assembling that toy a couple of times, proficiency is developed. Desire is about wanting to do it. It relates to developing and sustaining the personal attributes that translate ability into results.
In most organizations, the answer to the question, "How can we help John improve his (fill in the blank yourself) skills?" is, "Send him to a workshop." Leadership knowledge can certainly be developed in a classroom. Some leadership skills can also be developed there. Leadership performance is another matter. To make leadership behavior a habit requires people to examine and understand their motives, to align their actions with their values and to take increasing, relevant action to deploy themselves in more productive ways. That requires feedback and reinforcement in a non-judgmental environment. That is best accomplished with coaching.
Executive CoachingExecutive coaching emerged in the last decade as a way to help clients become more personally and professionally successful. The International Coach Federation, founded in 1992 and the primary resource for personal and business coaching, defines it as "an ongoing relationship that focuses on clients taking action toward the realization of their visions, goals, or desires."
A February 21, 2000, article in Fortune says, "Workers at all levels of the corporate ladder, fed up with a lack of advice from inside the company, are taking matters into their own hands and enlisting coaches for guidance on how to improve their performance, boost their profits and make better decisions about everything from personnel to strategy."
Coaching is one of our core competencies. Our work will help people expand their notion of what's possible, craft actions to achieve planned results and internalize the commitment required to be effective to an extent and in ways they didn't know were possible.
That can include:
Learn more about individual coaching
Learn more about team coaching
