Here are some gifts from 2018 that I’d like to share with you, my clients and associates.
I strongly recommend that you save this url in your contact for “Doug Gray” or “Action Learning Associates.”
You may want to download this new content and add it to your digital folder for “Action Learning Associates.” There are many great resources here!
Here’s to you, at your best! When playing with new friends like Spider Monkeys, or not.
Q4 included several customized leadership development workshops.
One F500 client wanted to “develop a culture of fiscal accountability using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).” If you are a client and want to see the customized app that included that content please contact me here.
One client wanted to “introduce positive psychology practices into their organization.” Over 1,300 people have viewed the content here.
One F500 client wanted to “develop the executive presence and the reputations of their leaders.” A video of that content is here.
Several small business leaders wanted succession planning content to accelerate their leadership to the next generation.
Q3 included trademarking the AD-FIT model for any managers or professional coaches to use.
Many clients asked, “What works?” They needed a process or protocol to cascade consistent expectations to direct reports, to serve clients, to lead others effectively.
The AD-FIT Level 1 Certification Course is at www.WhyCoachesFail. If you are a client and would like free access please contact me here.
Many consultants, managers and professional coaches have completed the AD-FIT Level 1 Certification Course. And I have been invited to share the AD-FIT model at the Metrics That Matter conference hosted by Explorance, in March, 2019. Contact me for licensing details.
Q2 included my PhD in Organizational Leadership dissertation defense from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
My dissertation title was “Positive Psychology Coaching Protocols: Creating Competitive Advantage for Leader Development.“
My abstract / summary was: A gap exists between positive psychology coaching (PPC) theory and practice because PPC lacks rigorous measurement, evidence-based protocols and standard processes. This quasi-experimental study assessed the relationship between PPC protocols and performance or behavioral outcomes of leaders. The participants were global professional coaches (n = 220) who completed two sets of surveys after delivering 90 days of coaching, and completed approximately 60 minutes of digital training. The primary assessments were (a) the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12), (b) the Values in Action (VIA-72) questionnaire, and (c) the Outcome Measures Survey that included the Goal Attainment Satisfaction (GAS) score. The PPC protocols included compliance using assessments, defining meaningful coaching outcomes, compliance over time, and compliance with the AD-FIT coaching protocol. Those participants with higher compliance to the AD-FIT coaching protocol (n = 16) reported slightly higher goal attainment scores than the participants with lower compliance (n = 18). Open text box analysis was conducted to deepen understanding of the relationship between participation and leader outcomes. The top two performance outcomes (n =100 responses) were increased productivity and focus. The top two behavior outcomes (n =115 responses) were improved relationships and effectiveness. The theoretical, methodological and practical significance of this research indicate opportunities to create competitive advantage in leader development.
All of you who are individual or team coaching clients are familiar with this new client intake document. Here is a very generous gift. When I work with leaders I ALWAYS use the AD-FIT process. Since 1997. It works. Outcome-based coaching is a straightforward process. I strongly recommend that YOU adopt the AD-FIT protocols. Click on the bullet below. Then download the content. Then use these 28 validated outcomes for executive coaching or business coaching. Leaders practice leadership, just as physicians practice medicine and attorneys practice law.
Managers, by definition, must maximize the productivity of others. When we ask audiences, “How many of you are managers?” over 70% of the audience typically raise their hands. Many do not have the word “manager” in their title.
As managers, you know that it is your job to maximize productivity and outcomes from your employees. You need evidence-based best practices in leadership development. Today. And you need to demonstrate the ROI of that leadership workshop within 90 – 180 days. There is a myth that leadership development programs should only be scheduled in the spring and fall, to avoid conflicts with vacations. The reality is that leadership development workshops include both direct and virtual content that reinforces your outcomes. Our programs last 3-12 months. You should invest in a leadership development provider (like Action Learning Associates) because it is cost-effective and efficient. Your core business is something else. Our core business is to accelerate leader development.
Here are three reasons why YOU SHOULD invest in a leadership development workshop today.
Investment in a leadership workshop should directly increase your team’s engagement
Leaders need to practice leadership, just as attorneys practice law and physicians practice medicine. Many studies have shown that when employees are engaged in leadership workshops they are then more likely to be engaged in the workforce. An employee who is more engaged is a) more effective at required tasks, b) more efficient on key performance indicators or objectives and key results (OKRs), and c) more likely to stay employed at your organization. Retention of desired employees is a requirement in today’s competitive Talent Economy. Be smart. You never want to retain average employees- but you DO WANT to retain 100% of your desired employees. And leadership development workshops are the most cost-effective way for you to increase retention of your desired employees. We recommend that 70% of your promotions are internal, to encourage career ladders and talent succession. We strongly recommend that you invest in 100% of your top performers with leadership development programs AT LEAST twice/ year.
2. Investment in leadership workshops can help you develop your workplace culture
Culture can be developed, and must be developed, in response to changing market demands. Ask anyone involved in leadership development coaching, and they will tell you that culture cannot be left to chance. That would be reckless. The academics describe culture as “how organizations function.” As an example, we recently provided a leadership development workshop around ONE objective, “to create a culture of fiscal accountability using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).” Let me explain…
Culture is best described using three overlapping circles. Label each circle as: 1) underlying assumptions, 2) espoused behavior, and 3) artifacts.
1) underlying assumptions are the shared beliefs of your organization, including history of acquisitions, traits of key leaders who get promoted faster, competencies of leaders with higher reputations, or that unspoken assumption you have about a market or colleague.
2) espoused behaviors describe what we say we do, including common phrases such as “I’ll solve this” or “that’s not my problem.” Notice the difference between what we say we do, and what we actually do.
3) artifacts are tangible symbols of the culture, such as a new National office in Nashville, TN for centralized services and consistent management of others. The cultural values posted in the lobby are artifacts of how you work.
3. Investment in a leadership workshop should improve employee morale
Many studies have shown that large organizations are investing less time, money, energy and training in their employees than they did 10 years ago. Professional development discretionary budgets have plummeted from over $10,000 per person in 2008 to $4,000 per person in 2018. Today, we invest more into maintaining cars and machines than we do in our most critical variable- people. That trend is reckless. If you are investing less in your people than you did 10 years ago then you are LITERALLY in a race to the bottom of your market. Look at the fact that only 35% of today’s F500 companies have been there for more than 50 years. If you want to increase employee morale, then you need to invest in your top employees. Nothing is a more critical investment. Today. Employee morale is NOT a lagging indicator. If you want to develop agile problem solvers, then you need to invest in leadership development workshops. You can make employee morale into a leading indicator. Today.
You should not invest in a leadership workshop IF you do not care about 1) employee engagement, 2) workplace culture, or 3) employee morale. We do NOT want to talk to you. We wish you Godspeed.
We provide outcome-based leadership development workshops that guarantee your results. We deliver programs throughout the United States and Canada. We provide expert leadership coaching and executive coaching services, based in Nashville, TN or globally. We’d like to visit you ASAP.
If you are based in the Nashville, TN area then we are neighbors. See details for leadership training for your employees here. We’d like to visit you ASAP.
Do you think that you a born leader? That is a myth.
The reality is that leadership skills can be taught and developed. By definition, leaders influence the behavior of others by describing a better vision of the future. The primary skill of effective leaders is public optimism. Leaders tell great stories and share optimism.
Those leadership skills can be taught in a workshop or program. The most effective leadership workshops include training and coaching, then more training and coaching, to reinforce desired behaviors over time. Repetition works.
Leaders must adapt to change. At a recent leadership workshop one executive stated, “We need to master this content in the next 3 days because we are each the CEOs of our business. We need to create our future business.” That urgency is common.
Many of the tactics that leaders were taught 10-20 years ago are obsolete today. Management by Objectives (MBOs) and Forced Rankings are now considered manipulative, ineffective, and counterproductive. That kind of “leadership” will limit your career.
We know that rigid managers and leaders prevent innovation and problem solving. We also know that agility can be taught and developed. We can teach agile leaders and managers to promote effective outcomes, efficiency, and employee engagement.
Today, many employees demand fulfillment and purpose. They want to feel inspired and know their place in society and their contribution to the world.
We know that leaders need to practice leadership, just as physicians practice medicine and attorneys practice law. All managers and leaders struggle.
A great leadership workshop should provide:
Leadership exercises and experiential activities that encourage open communication and sharing of ideas
Profound breakthroughs in understanding how to influence others.
Lectures, digital workbooks, videos, powerpoint slides, and activities designed to model engagement
Pre-assessments and Post-assessments to discover your strengths and track the ROI of your investment
Group problem-solving tasks that encourage conflict resolution through a better understanding of human behavior and group dynamics
Customized apps with content to download and distribute your consistent messages throughout your organization
A recent client stated, “This was by far the most useful leadership development program I have experienced in over 20 years of forced participation in some kind of training. The content was easy to understand. All of the sessions were customized for our organization. All of the consultants were experts. We were fully engaged in each session. We did our work. And now I have the skills I need to lead my team in a new and useful methodology.”
All of our leadership workshops use our trademarked positive psychology AD-FIT™ process. We typically include our leadership development coaching to assess your strengths and increase your probability of achieving your outcome-based results.
The best leadership workshops should ask you to take an honest assessment of your professional leadership style and define measurable outcomes. We typically use both quantitative and qualitative assessments. We offer both virtual and direct workshops with several exciting results-oriented topics to choose from. See the list of leadership workshop topics here.
We provide services throughout the U.S and Canada. We recently delivered programs in Chicago, IL, Charlotte, NC, Louisville, KY and Washington, DC. If you are near the Nashville, TN area, an executive coach in Nashville can help you.
How to make your next proposal better than your last one.
Let’s face it, of all the skills you can bring to bear to help your clients, the limiting factor is your ability to get proposals signed. You need to make money. You want to share your genius with the world world. You need to get your proposal written and sold. You need to deliver value at each step of the sales process. Here are three great ways to write coaching proposals that sell. You can be smarter than your competitors.
Less fluff, more value. Your job is to add value and solve your client’s problems. Nothing else matters. Your model, framework, tactic or magical gifts do NOT provide value to your client. Your solution is the value. Stay focused on the results you can deliver.
2. Fewer credentials, more results. Congratulations, your certification/ degree is a huge accomplishment. But nobody understands what it means. Make sure more space is devoted to results than credentials.
3. Make it easy to understand. If your buyer has to exercise their brain to realize how good your proposal is, then you haven’t done the work required to make it great. Keep the structure simple.
The Feedback Process
EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR: Tom Stone
We all talk about feedback a lot. Most leaders think they do it well. But my opinion is that we simply don’t know how to give feedback well. The problem is our inability to give good feedback creates problems down the road.
A lack of feedback gives people unspoken approval for unacceptable behavior. This false approval encourages people to continue patterns of behavior that don’t help them or anyone else.
But it gets worse. Everyone in an organization is constantly evaluating competency. So a lack of feedback not only affects the person who needs to receive, but it also affects everybody else who knows that feedback should be given.
A leader is never out from under the microscope. Giving good feedback is one of the surest ways to encourage effective behavior and to demonstrate leadership competency. It is a skill that can be learned, and we can learn to teach it and demand it as part of our culture.
Feedback leads to learning.
The Leadership Wisdom of Dogs
EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR: Krissi Barr
The attributes, traits and characteristics that separate leaders from the rest of the pack can be clearly seen in the behavior of dogs: loyalty, perseverance, friendship, teamwork, honesty, bravery, ingenuity, playfulness, curiosity and an unflagging desire for more information.I call it the Fido Factor.
Faithful leaders earn the trust of their team and their customers by doing the right things and living up to their word.
Inspirational leaders move people to do the meaningful and the extraordinary.
Determined leaders combine perseverance with a dose of fearlessness to keep moving toward goals.
Observant leaders are committed to taking in as much information as possible in order to make the best decisions.
Our Credo: (if you like these beliefs, then you’ll love us)
1. Chaos in the marketplace for “professional coaching” can be reduced with outcome-based protocols.
2. The strengths of professional coaches (e.g., integrity, fairness, collaboration, leadership, bravery) can be leveraged to co-create the future of professional coaching.
3. Teams are stronger than individuals. Collaborative projects reduce individual risk and yield higher rewards.
4. Expert leadership coaches and authors will contribute best practices and attract more users or followers.
FACT:
There are over 50,000 “professional coaches” in a $7B global industry that lacks professionalism. Literally anyone with a business card can self-declare that they are a “professional coach.”
OPINION:
The result is chaos in the marketplace, unethical practices, and a market ripe for disruption and consolidation.
The Process is a community of expert leadership consultants and coaches. Join us.
Your Next Steps (How you can help):
1. Are you subscribed to the Process? If not, click here
2. Forward this email to ALL the leadership consultants you know.
3. Are you an expert? Yes, you are. Submit some expert content and share your genius with the world. Click here.
You may have heard about Positive Psychology. But, you may not know “What it is? Why does it matter to you? How can it help you or your team?”
Here are some quick answers and 5 riveting videos for you to share.
1. Let’s start with “What is Positive Psychology?”
In simple terms, it is the art and science of well-being. Think of you “at your best.” Maximizing your strengths. Asking, “What would make my life more meaningful” or “How can my team flourish?”
2. Why does it matter to you?
Here are some of the benefits of Positive Psychology:
Positive Psychology is a vast science with countless applications. The most inclusive model to describe well-being is called PERMA.
The PERMA Model was developed by my favorite psychologist, Martin Seligman. (We have met twice and discussed my research on positive psychology coaching.) I strongly recommend his seminal 2011 book, “Flourish”.
“PERMA” stands for the five essential elements that contribute to individual or team well-being. These are:
1. Positive Emotion (P)
For us to experience well-being, we need positive emotion in our lives. Any positive emotion such as gratitude, satisfaction, hope, curiosity, or love falls into this category. We each have subjective experiences of positive emotions.
I made a short video on Positive Emotion (P) for you. You can watch it here.
2. Engagement (E)
When we’re truly engaged in a situation, task, or project, we experience a state of flow. Time seems to stop, we lose our sense of self. We concentrate intensely on the present. We excel at challenging tasks. You can increase engagement for yourself and your team.
I made a short video on Engagement (E). You can watch it here.
3. Positive Relationships (R)
Humans are social beings and good relationships are core to our well-being. You can develop meaningful, positive relationships with others. We can measure fMRI images that describe the quality of your relationships. We can develop better relationships and accelerate behavioral or performance outcomes. (That was my dissertation research.) Curious about the details?
I made a short video on Positive Relationships (R). You can watch it here.
4. Meaning (M)
Meaning results when we serve a cause bigger than ourselves. Your meaningful outcome may be quantitative (e.g., earn $100k/year or give away 15% of earnings per year). Your meaningful outcome may be qualitative (e.g., care for your loved ones or serve humanity in some way.) We all need meaning in our lives to develop well-being.
I made a short video on Meaning (M) for you. You can watch it here.
5. Accomplishment/Achievement (A)
Many of us strive to master a skill, achieve a goal, or win some competitive event. Achievement defines us. Or not. Accomplishment is another element that contributes to our ability to flourish.
For specific details, I made a short video on Accomplishment/Achievement (A). You can watch it here.
Now that you understand the PERMA model, I hope you will use it to increase your well-being and help your teams flourish.
P.S. Let me know how you are flourishing?
P.P.S. Let me know if you like this long-form email or if you prefer the shorter ones?
Action leads to learning. What are you waiting for?
To contact Doug Gray, CEO, PCC, call 615.236.1892 or contact us here. Today.
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