Featured Program: Developing Leadership and Integrity

Practical Coaching Skills for Executive Development

• Develop Powerful, Values-Based Leadership.
• Encourage Integrity in Your Organization.
• Retain Your Key Human Capital.

Karlin Sloan & Company is proud to present its premier program, Developing Leadership and Integrity. In this five-day intensive, you will develop concrete skills and strategies to build leadership and management performance. We will speak frankly about difficult issues in corporate leadership development, including the real return on investment in human capital, dealing with issues that are not coaching appropriate, and promoting ethical decision making in a profit-driven culture. We connect individual development to corporate development and explore best practices in implementing coaching initiatives in organizations.

Who is this program for?
This program is designed specifically for Human Resource and Organization Development professionals who develop leaders and managers in organizations, and for Coaches and Consultants working in the corporate sector.

This program will cover the following topics:

• Mastery of coaching in the corporate realm
  
• Red flags: when coaching is not the answer
  
• Effectively using 360° assessments and delivering challenging feedback
  
• Utilizing Thinking Style and Personality Style assessment and delivering results
  
• Developing Emotional Intelligence
  
• Assessing and coping with organizational and individual defenses
  
• Motivating, inspiring, and creating accountability in others
  
• Coaching and organizational politics
  
• Sharing case studies and intriguing stories about coaching and its outcomes

If you are interested in attending an upcoming session, or in becoming a host company for this program, please contact Karlin Sloan & Company at 718-596-2451.



Executive Coaching: Risks and Benefits

My time with my coach was invaluable. I am making better decisions faster, and working more effectively with my group. I believe this played a big part of my being elevated to Senior VP.” - Anonymous

Executive Coaching is a popular phenomenon – but are there risks as well as benefits? Organizations such as JP Morgan Chase, Pfizer, MTV Networks, Boeing, Marriott, Cisco Systems, and Disney utilize Executive Coaching as a leadership development strategy because it has great power to enhance performance.

Executive Coaching is a one-on-one relationship between a decision-maker and a leadership development expert. It is a customized, conversational solution to performance enhancement, and in the right hands it is a powerful tool.

Recent research states that when Executive Coaching is utilized effectively it enhances both individual and team productivity, strengthens the organization, increases quality and improves service to customers, and retains key executive talent. We know it works, but there are risks to be aware of. Above all, ensure that you choose top quality providers.

One-on-one Executive Coaching is NOT appropriate for the following issues: addressing psychological problems and delivering messages that should come from management.

Coaching IS the right solution for individual performance improvement, skills building, confidence and leadership presence”, brainstorming, strategizing, developing influence, assimilation of feedback, managing defensive behaviors, problem solving, and getting commitment to a specific outcome.

When hiring a coach, how do you know you're getting a quality provider? Executive Coaches must have experience, knowledge and results behind them. They must be able to keep confidentiality, and to understand organizational politics and the realities of the leadership role.

Questions to Ask When Hiring an Executive Coach

1.) What are your credentials?

a. Appropriate credentials can be academic – psychology, human and organization development, education, or certification from a quality program

b. Appropriate credentials can be experiential – based on successful client relationships and a proven track record

c. Appropriate credentials can be specific to topic (i.e. Presentation Coaching, Team Coaching, or specific to former role (i.e. former CEO or former VP of HR)

2.) What is your methodology based on?

a. If your coach can articulate their methodology and you believe in it, that is what's most important. A second question is do you change your methodology based on different needs?”

3.) Do you work within a network or independently?

a. If you are matching individual coaches to individual senior leaders a sole practitioner may be appropriate.

b. If you are concerned about consistency and quality for a large-scale initiative we recommend either working with an established network, or finding a methodology that will be utilized across the board.

4.) What is your philosophy of confidentiality?

a. Coaches should be highly attuned to confidentiality issues. They should be aware that any illegal activities or activities that would endanger the organization for any reason must be disclosed. Individual participants in a coaching initiative must be informed that any records of the coaching interaction can be subpoenaed in the case of legal action.

5.) How do we know we will get results?

a. There are as many answers to this question as there are coaches. There are positives and negatives to measuring the outcomes of coaching. Be certain that the philosophy of the coach or coaching network that you hire is in harmony with your organizational values.

6.) What results have you gotten with previous clients? Were they measured in any way?

a. Be satisfied that there is an answer to this question!

Coaching Problems To Watch Out For

• Individual coaches fiercely devoted to their individual clients' success help them strategize to move up in the organization, even when it's not appropriate systemically, financially, or skills-wise. Inadvertently this causes rifts amongst leadership, particularly when there are numerous people being coached confidentially, all working on their own personal agenda rather than a team agenda.
  
• Coaches with good intentions talk to leaders at top levels about work-life balance when they are in a crunch time with deliverables. The result = no credibility for the coach.
  
• Coaches without training in how to recognize psychological issues are unprepared and get caught” in their individual client's pathology.
  
• Coaches who are not well-versed in cross-cultural issues may not work well with global leadership.
  
• Multiple individual coaches are hired from different companies with different backgrounds. They all introduce different models of leadership and organization development to different leaders, and no one is speaking a common language.
  
• Coaches are not utilized in their areas of expertise. The best coaching programs define types of coaching, such as: Executive Level, Management Coaching, Team Coaching and Performance Coaching.