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Your resume, however brilliant, only deserves 6 seconds. At most.
The infra-red images mirror the amount of time a recruiter scans your resume. See this image from my friends at CEB.
And 65% of applicants do not meet the basic requirements for jobs they apply for.
What are you waiting for?
We all need coaching at times. Call Doug Gray, PhD, PCC, at 615.236.9845 today.
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The first Action Learning Summit was held on Friday, May 20, 2016 at the Marriott in Nashville, TN. and was a huge success! If you missed this one, don’t worry, our second Summit is coming up!
What is the Action Learning Summit? Imagine 11 strategic business leaders sharing their expertise to a select group of progressive business leaders. Add excellent food and drink and we have a recipe for success.
Here is some of what you missed, plus some video testimonials..
Assumption: I have no doubt that a select group of smart people (like us) can change the world.
1.You stated that your day would be remarkable if you:
2. At the end of the day several takeaways included:
Hold the date: join us on Friday, November 18, 2016.
The short answer is, “Corporate coaching works inconsistently.”
Corporate coaching is commonly an internal form of talent development. Think of three pillars in talent development: (1) acquiring people, (2) developing people and (3) retaining desired people. Corporate coaching can be used to develop and retain desired employees. Not everyone is a desired employee.
Like all organizational responses, the success of any initiative designed to provide corporate coaching depends upon the organizational culture. Culture can be described at three levels: (1) artifacts (observable structures or processes, often hard to decipher), (2) stated beliefs and values (goals, values, not always aligned with artifacts), and (3) basic underlying assumptions (unstated or unconscious patterns that often define outcomes. See Schein, 2010.) Get the point? Corporate coaching may or may not work consistently. Consequently most organizations require external consultants to design and deliver results.
Now it is 2016. The trend toward packages that “Assess-Debrief-Design” for Individual Development Plans (IDPs) is now a large market led by KornFerry and DDI and others. Sadly, they are limiting themselves by selling those services as “corporate coaching packages.” Too often they are assessment requirements, often driven by HR or legal compliance needs. By analogy, after a physician diagnoses a concern they recommend but cannot require treatment. So it is with too much corporate coaching. Another provider that delivers corporate coaching globally is CoachSource. (Disclosure: I am one of 28 engagement managers, we provide unparalleled corporate coaching services.)
On a related note, corporate coaching is not a commodity. There is a trend away from resource-based views of talent as a fixed commodity (like a manufacturing unit) to a dynamic resource with unlimited potential and higher engagement. (But that is for another post or direct discussion!)
Should you have any questions it may be better to chat directly by calling Doug Gray, PCC, at 615.905.1892 or by contacting me here.
What are you waiting for?
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Recently 4 people have asked me that question. There may be something in the air, like ignorance or fear. Here is a quick model for you to determine if you are a good fit for your organization.
The Competing Values Framework (CVF)
Models provide cognitive maps or useful images for self-assessment and consulting. For instance, the competing values framework defines four boxes from two continua: flexibility or control, and internal or external focus (Cameron, 2008). The result is a simple diagnostic model that can be used to assess your organizational culture (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: The Competing Values Framework (Campbell, 2008)
As you read the following descriptions ask yourself these 3 questions:
Organizations with high flexibility/discretion and high external focus and differentiation are adhocracy oriented. These organizations are dynamic, entrepreneurial, people take risks, and they value innovation and experimentation. Leaders in an adhocracy are visionary, risk-tolerant, and innovative. The adhocracy organizations value experimentation, readiness to change, growth, acquisitions, and new products and services. Examples include technology-based disruptors such as Uber, Airbnb, Virgin. The key word is “create.”
Organizations with high stability/control and high external focus and differentiation are hierarchically oriented. These organizations favor structure, coordination, efficiency, and stability. Leaders in a hierarchically-oriented organization are good coordinators, organizers, and efficiency experts. The hierarchical organizations value stability, predictability, efficiency, rules, and policies. Examples include Bank of America, Community Health Systems(CHS), and Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). The key word is “control.”
Organizations with high internal focus/integration and high stability and control are market-oriented. These organizations are results-oriented, value competition, achievement, and performance. Leaders in a market-oriented organization are hard-driving producers, directors, and competitive. They value winning, increased market share, achieving goals and targets, and rewards. Examples include Merrill Lynch, insurance salespeople, and car salespeople. The key word is “compete.”
Organizations with high internal focus/integration and high flexibility/discretion are very personal places, like an extended family, where participation, mentoring and nurturing are encouraged. The leaders in clan-oriented organizations are coaches, mentors, or parent figures. These organizations value loyalty, tradition, collaboration and teamwork. Examples include the United Way, most churches, most nonprofits. The key word is “collaborate.”
So where is your organization? Where are your individual values? These opposite and competing assumptions are useful descriptors of dominant orientations and value sets. But they do not determine behavior. You determine behavior, when you make your choices. Your individual values do not change.
The key executive coaching question is: How can you re-design your life to work in an organization that supports your values?
Frankly, that is why people hire an external consultant as an executive coach. Once we know an organizational culture, then we can predict your individual effectiveness, success of a merger or acquisition, and your individual quality of life.
Then get in touch with me, your Nashville-based leadership and executive coach, at 615.905.1892 or schedule a complimentary leadership coaching session to discuss how you learn best. As your leadership coach, I strive to provide you with the tools to create an impact, rally optimistic coworkers and comrades, as well as maximize group and individual productivity and creation.
What are you waiting for?
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Reference:
Cameron, K, (2008). A process for changing organization culture. In T. Cummings (Ed.), Handbook of organization development (Ch 5). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
This morning I explained Systems Thinking to a client who owns a small leadership development business using professional actors. This CEO was struggling to articulate the unique value of his company. And he needed to prepare for a big meeting with a prospective buyer tomorrow that could lead to 10x his previous revenue for 2016. I mentioned leverage, and the idea from Archimedes that “with a big enough lever one could change the world.” When he wanted examples, I described the applied systems thinking that Macdonald, Burk and Stewart (2006) implemented at entrenched mining companies in Australia. He remained confused. He needed to see a model. He wanted to find simple words to describe the cascading effects of organizational change, so I drew a model with concentric circles like a bulls-eye. The smallest ring was unlabeled, to represent the chaotic core of deep change, the next ring was individual, then team, then organizational, then societal. That model helped him to describe the levels of systems thinking at the prospect’s organization. He has the words and a model. He met the prospect and wrote an excellent proposal that solves their problems. Now I am looking forward to hearing if he closed the business.
This afternoon I met with a fellow board member of the Nashville, TN Association of Talent Development (ATD) chapter to plan 2016 activities. She leads Learning and Development at Bridgestone and I discussed Systems Thinking with her. She needs to replace an aging workforce, and has developed programs with the largest university in the state, MTSU, using values from their company and partnering with the US Naval Academy and the US Army at West Point. In short, they desire to teach essential leadership skills using their company values at a public university. Concurrently, Bridgestone needs to relocate 30-50% of their senior leaders from two other states to their new corporate headquarters in Nashville, without losing significant intellectual capital. She is excited and overwhelmed about the changes ahead for Bridgestone. We discussed ways to apply Senge’s (2996) model of a learning organization to those changes. She has the right words. And a mental model. But I do not know if she can develop a learning organization.
What are you waiting for?
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References
MacDonald, I., Burke, C., & Stewart, K. (2006). Systems Leadership: Creating Positive Organizations. Hampshire, England: Gower.
Senge, P. M. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Random House/Currency.
In a recent article published by Forbes, Verne Harnish sloppily predicts that in 2016 the term “manager” should be discarded. All companies should replace the role of manager with the role of “coach.” What rubbish. As evidence he cites only one example- that Zappos does so. Ignore this article because it is sloppy and inaccurate. Why confuse the marketplace or denigrate both roles?
Managers should manage; coaches should coach.
We need consistent terms for “managers” and “coaches” for at least these 3 reasons.
Bottom line: Avoid sloppy terms. Call managers what they are. Call coaches what they are. Invest in talent development.
To learn more, call Doug Gray, PCC, at 615-905-1892 or schedule your complimentary, confidential session here .
What are you waiting for?
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