Dear Colleague,

Why spend 6+ months working on knowing yourself better? With budgets tight and time constraints even tighter, what is the value of committing to a corporate coaching program? One of our most successful coaching clients simply said "I want to be a better man." That's a big order but a common desire of high potentials, male or female.

Most high potentials recognize they can't sustain success without a trusted advisor. Few leaders can maintain an accurate perspective of themselves while under constant stress and pressure for results. Most leaders need a coach to help them maintain balance and gain perspective on what is most important.

The best coaching takes a comprehensive look at 1) strengths, 2) derailers, and 3) strongly held, personal values. Then it puts those in alignment to be maximized. Whatever you are gifted in, whatever your unique strengths and abilities are, an experienced coach will help expand those gifts, strengths, and abilities and put them to work for you and your organization. That's the first step.

Secondly, a coach also provides an understanding of why self-defeating behaviors can derail us and helps put in the guard rails so we don't go off the cliff. Most high potentials fail because their personal derailers go unchecked and unchallenged, not because they don't use their strengths.

Third, values define who we are inside and intrinsically what the purpose is of our professional lives. Values can fuel an individual to make client service the #1 priority, give away millions, or gain significant recognition as a super star. Strongly held values can put billions in the bank, take an organization global, or create breakthrough technology. Putting the 3 together - strengths, challenges, and value - is an art and a science.

Most of the coaching clients with whom our firm works are mainly focused on business results and, if they are inclined, occasionally take on some role in their team's personal development. But personal development generally isn't their main focus, and rarely do our clients have someone who is actively developing them. A corporate coach's only focus is the leadership development of their coachee. As we have seen over and over, companies rise and fall based on leadership.

The anatomy of coaching is marvelously simple and hugely complex...like the physical design of a human being. The healthier, the better. The more oxygen, the fresher the ideas. The chemistry between the coach and coachee creates the magic that can get siginificantly better results. Time invested in one-on-one coaching clarifies thinking and can produce a laser-like focus. Additionally, the nuances of creative thought and innovation are stimulated in great coaching discussions.

An experienced coach knows when to push, to step back, to listen, and to offer a recommendation. Blind spots cloud judgment and every leader has them. Within a corporate structure, few are initiated or empowered to point these out to a superior even when they are evident to everyone. But that is the primary role of a coach...to gather information from a number of sources, ask the relevant questions, and make useful, honest recommendations.

	"All coaching is, is taking a player where he can't take himself." --Bill McCartney - former head coach at the University of Colorado ______________ "Coaching helps you take stock of where you are now in all aspects of your life, and how that compares to where you would like to be." --Elaine MacDonald - Author ______________ "I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable." --John Russell - Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd

1. A strong personal desire of a leader to get better. Even a 1 degree increase takes 211 degrees to 212 degrees which turns hot water to steam and drives locomotives.

2. Research to find the right coach. You want to click with your coach. This is too important a relationship not to have great professional chemistry and mutual respect. A coaching relationship can last for years. In our experience an ideal coaching relationship is a combination of constant improvement that takes you and your organization to the next level, robust discussions that produce fresh thinking, and genuine enjoyment of the coaching process.

3. Thoroughness and confidentiality throughout the process. Most coaches use both validated corporate leadership assessments and a verbal and/or written 360-degree feedback process for a comprehensive picture. Assessment results should be shared with others only by the coachee, not the coach. Discussions between the coach and coachee are private, unless mutually agreed upon. While a coach can be a champion and advocate, the coachee will move forward faster by selectively sharing his/her leadership results directly with the boss.

4. A commitment of between 6 and 12 months. Change takes time and reinforcement. The coaching that sticks best is a hybrid of face-to-face coaching along with phone and virtual coaching. Our recommendation is that, at minimum, the first and the last sessions are in person. Too much can be falsely assumed without the context of body language and eye contact. Humans bond better and longer when they meet in person.

5. Clear, ongoing goals for 30/60/90 days so that annual goals become a reality. There is nothing like regular accountability to get better results. The action planning process that is produced from coaching leverages the "big rocks," those 3 to 5 goals that really matter, and doesn't waste time on the small issues.

6. A well thought out, long-term plan. The formalized coaching process should produce both short- and long-term planning. The long-term plan needs to be put in place after the end of the formal process, so the coachee stays a lifelong learner and leader. A good coach will maintain contact, in some form or fashion, with the coachee for years.

There is a popular book called "Younger Next Year" by Chris Crowley that documents the value of an hour of daily exercise to not only stop the aging process but reverse it. Corporate coaching also provides a renewal and growth. It leverages strengths like no other process can. Using our natural abilities on a daily basis literally strengthens us, like physical exercise does. Bad business habits get attention and are eliminated. Staleness and burnout are reversed. Energy and creativity return.

Can executive coaching be measured and quantified? Studies done on the financial payback have quantified at least a 6 times return on investment. A coached leader makes more informed decisions, thinks more strategically, and produces stronger results. A coached leader also actively considers the legacy he/she is building and how to put succession planning in place so the team and the organization continue to thrive.