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Who is Doug Gray, PCC?

Doug Gray

Doug Gray, PCC, is a Leadership Consultant and Executive Coach.

 

Coaching and Consulting Experience

Since 1997, Doug has partnered with hundreds of executive leaders in the Healthcare, Energy, Manufacturing, IT, Construction and Financial industries.  He is quick to say that he has “just enough expertise to support leaders, without too much complicating industry-specific knowledge.”  His clients agree.  Doug typically uses customized assessments to assess organizational and individual strengths.  A popular speaker and facilitator, Doug loves to facilitate experiential leadership training programs and strategic planning retreats.  His recent speaking topics include “How to Apply Positive Psychology to your Business” and “How to Increase Employee Engagement.”

 

Doug knows how to manage and lead teams.   Doug brings a unique background as an educator, administrator, and non-profit director to his clients. That background enables him to help leaders who are passionate and need his direct, supportive expertise.   He is regarded as an expert facilitator using Action Learning methodology.  And he will bring strategic focus, humor, and proven expertise to maximize your consulting investment.

 

A representative list of leadership coaching engagements and clients include:

  • CFO and 20 leaders in finance and accounting, Fortune 500 energy construction company, who needed to embrace a redesign without losing productivity
  • team of EVPs tasked with redesigning the IT needs of their F100 healthcare company
  • MD struggling with burnout who needed confidential consulting (e.g. anonymity from his employer and insurer)
  • CEO in a technology company recently promoted to replace the founder
  • President and 18 members of executive leadership team, Fortune 500 energy construction company, who needed to demonstrate alignment within 6 months
  • SVP and site managers at a nuclear power construction site who needed to increase alignment with business partners and avoid negative media
  • SVP in functional but de-centralized group who needed to assimilate 20 leaders, using action learning methodology in direct meetings, coaching, and SharePoint to drive accountability
  • Small business owner of a franchise who needed to fire an employee after 11 years of good service
  • SVP, global bank, who needed to reorganize a division
  • VP, global bank, seeking career opportunities
  • newly hired VP who needed to develop radical transformation of a functional group that required external coaching and team building leadership training using a customized app
  • Newly promoted director who lacked interpersonal skills to manage 33 people
  • Founder of an IT company who was not able to develop new business

Business/Organizational Leadership Experience

Doug has been a successful business owner since 1997; he knows the challenges and “what works.”  He co-developed the Leadership Development Institute at the University of Maryland, College Park and taught there for 7 years, and he is a former adjunct faculty member at several colleges including NC State University.  He directed a non-profit agency in Washington, D.C. for 9 years and grew it 900% while managing 120 people.  As a former world-class athlete, Doug knows that the rigor of change requires regular support from experienced consultants, plus a dash of humor.

 

Education and Training

Doug’s graduate research at Dartmouth College included development of an assessment to determine risk tolerance and risk aversion.  That theme of mitigating risk in business and leadership has prevailed in his continued learning from clients and colleagues in the safety, consulting, executive assessment, and leadership development industries.  He is certified in the Hogan suite, DISC, several 360’s, several EI assessments, and 5 coaching certification programs.  Since 2000, Doug has been a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation.  A perpetual learner, he is a doctoral candidate at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Organizational Leadership.  His research interests include the effect of positive psychology on business leaders, managers, and executive coaches.

 

Publications and Appearances

Doug loves to share his expertise as a speaker, facilitator and a writer.  As a keynote speaker, he has addressed annual meetings, executive retreats, and nonprofit leaders.  As a facilitator, he has partnered with clients to design experientially memorable leadership training solutions that range from boot camps to strategic off-sites to contests using customized mobile apps.  As an author, he has frequently been published in journals ranging from the American Society of Safety Engineer’s Professional Safety to Financial Advisor to webinars and hundreds of guest blogs.

 

He is a published author of articles on leadership development, physician burnout, healthcare, analytics, safety and productivity.  Doug has published two books:  Passionate Action; 5 Steps to Creating Extraordinary Success in Life and Work (2007), and Adventure Coaching; A Guidebook for Action-Based Success in Life and Work (2006) that can be purchased here and here.

 

Consulting Value Proposition

“Developing smarter leaders.  Faster.”

Doug will not waste any of your time or resources.  He expects you to achieve great results.  And he always guarantees exceptional value.

Call him now at 704.995.6647  or contact us here or schedule your initial consultation here.

 

For biographies on other Action Learning Associates, Inc leadership consultants and executive coaches, contact us here or review the list of our partners here.  We also provide scaled solutions for any-sized organization, anywhere in the world.

The Action + Learning + Service = Success Formula

I have recently developed this 3-part formula for success.  Let me know what you think.

Draw an equilateral triangle.  Label each corner “Action”, “Learning”, and “Service.”  Place a dot in the center.

1.  Actions define successful businesses.  Founders and anyone cited in a history book have one trait in common:  an obsessive focus on action.  Score yourself 1 (low) to 10 (high) on the question “How action oriented am I?”  If you are unsure, focus on actual results, rather than intentions.

2.  Learning leads to failure, and failures lead to success.  I track “Learnings” in digital folders and update them regularly.  I regularly attend conferences and take on projects so that I can fail, faster.  Yesterday I had lunch with a consultant who repeated the same points I heard him make 12 months ago.  He is not learning much.  I cut the lunch short and moved on.  Score yourself 1 (low) to 10 (high) on the question, “How much am I learning?”  Learning is a messy process.  If you are not tracking your learning, you are probably repeating ineffective old patterns.

3.  Service is a measure of your relationship with others.  Humans are social animals.  We yearn for relationships.  We exist to serve others- clients, loved ones, communities, goals…  The most impact-ful businesses track user engagement.  The best nonprofits, like Rotary, reward service above self.  Score yourself 1 (low) to 10 (high) on the question, “How well am I serving others?”  If you are unsure, ask your clients or loved ones.  Or solicit more clients.

Now place your scores on the triangle you created.  Use the dot to represent 1 (low) and let the corners represent 10 (high.)

What do you notice when you study your self-assessment triangle?

Where do you need to invest energy and resources?

Who can help you develop ?

You may know that action learning is a methodology, using cross functional teams of 4-8 people to solve a key problem. They are tasked with breakthrough, and with a short deadline such as 6 months. They require executive sponsorship and some resources. But the action learning process is a small investment with proven ROI.

In Europe and Australia, the Action Learning methodology is thriving. In the U.S. there is less adoption. One reason for that lagging adoption may be the fact that the business environment does not encourage accountability between cross functional teams. Yet.

We provide individual and team accountability.

How are you planning to share this Action + Learning + Service = Success Formula with others?

Please call me with your stories!

Here is a sample image to get you started:   ALServiceFormula

My articles published in Horsesmouth.com for financial advisors

FYI in 2007 I submitted the following articles to Horsesmouth.com, a digital library designed to accelerate business development for financial advisors.

You can apply any of these articles to your business or service.

1.  10 Tips for Distinctive Client Service   Distinctive client service separates you from everyone else who talks about professionalism but doesn’t deliver on it. Take action with these 10 tips from a recognized, distinctive financial professional.

2.  4 Principles of Selling in the Trust Business  Selling defines success. Nothing else is more important in your business. So what is this notion of the trust business?

3.  How to Act With Courage   Excellence springs from courage, but not everyone chooses to be brave. These advisors share how and why they acted with courage, and how it benefited their business. Consider their insights into the nature of courage, and start using it to build your business, too.

4.  5 Keys to Solid Cold-Calling Performance   If your prospecting strategy requires you to consistently make outbound calls, you must pay attention to these five vital elements of a strong cold-calling practice.

5.  Customer Delight: 8 Tips for Creating It   This top producer creates more than customer satisfaction. He creates customer delight. You can too, with these eight tips.

 

Call me at 704.895.6479 to discuss HOW you can apply these great ides to your business!

What is Action Learning?

Action Learning is a behavioral change process model that works 1) for groups and 2) for individuals.

 

For groups, Action Learning occurs when stakeholders use real problems to acquire learning and implement system-wide solutions.

For individuals, Action Learning is a behavioral coaching methodology that applies the same 4 steps.  

 

The Action Learning change process model includes four steps:

1) decide what breakthrough requires you to invest resources,

2) act with a talented, cross-functional team and executive endorsement,

3) reflect on steps achieved, and

4) connect or expand the results across business or functional lines, to new markets or clients.

We have facilitated organizational Action Learning change using both virtual and direct processes:

 

1. Technology processes: SharePoint, Action Item task lists, virtual teams, e-coaching and e-consulting, digital consulting and short implementation teams.

2: Direct meeting processes: assessments, facilitation in a series of workshops, coaching and consulting, project initiatives, leadership off-site retreats, strategic reorganization

For a summary of consulting fees and investment levels for organizations click here, and for individuals click here.  

 

Our Services typically include:

Assessments  (e.g. individual, group, organizational, strategic)

        Qualitative or Quantitative 360 assessments

        Organizational Culture Assessments

        Leadership competency assessments

Leadership consulting and behavioral coaching (e.g. individual, team or group levels)

Strategic planning and organizational redesign

Videography

Shadow Coaching

Facilitation, training, retreats or workshops

 

The result is that the Action Learning process helps individuals and groups become true learning organizations.

What are you waiting for?

Download this list of services and investment levels now:

Please contact us or call immediately at 704.995.6647 or schedule your initial consultation here.

What is leadership?

This could be a long discussion.  But I’d rather keep it short.

 

Leadership is influence.  Nothing more, nothing less.

 

The word “influence” implies results.  The influence may be slight or even negative.  The influence could be momentous.  The influence could be focused on relationships, such as the number of new people you meet each month, or the value you provide to others.  The influence could be focused on results, such as the number of new sales per quarter, or gross revenue per year, or goal attainment percentage.

 

If you need an academic definition of leadership, here is a current favorite:  Leadership is defined as the process of influencing others, and facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives (Yukl, 2013).

 

Too many people confuse the words “leader” and “manager.”   So perhaps another definition is helpful.   Here is a distinction based on Marcus Buckingham’s research of the Gallup Poll data, plus interviews with thousands of people.

 

Leaders: by definition, rally others behind a vision of a better future.  The core skills of leaders are optimism and public.  Think of your self, or your favorite leader, on a stage, leaning forward, describing a better future.   They have influence.  Or not.  The capacity of leaders is infinite, based on research in positive psychology.

 

Managers: by definition, maximize the productivity of others.  The core skills of managers are coaching and private.  Think of your self when you need to make sure that others produce a result, such as increase a sale or host a remarkable executive retreat.  Note that the skills you use are different than the skills you use as a leader.  You will coach Shawn differently than you will coach Ellen.  No one likes to be managed. And no one boasts about being a manager.  But when I ask an audience “How many of you are managers?” over 60% will raise their hands.  Virtually all managers are now “working managers” tasked with both maximizing productivity and getting the work done.

 

However, everyone wants to be a better leader.

 

A key coaching question is:  What influence are you having on others?

Call Doug at 704.995.6647 today if you want to have a greater influence on your self or your team.

Or schedule your initial consultation here.

 

What are you waiting for?

Download this list of services and investment levels now:

How can I lead my self?

Many people ask me this question.  So you are not alone.  In fact, self-leadership is an ancient subject turned into a multi-billion dollar industry.  It is MUCH harder to lead my self than it is to lead others.  And it requires daily deliberate practice for me to lead my self.

 

My purpose in life is to teach others how to be better leaders.  I know what works.  Hopefully the following two steps will be useful to you.

 

There are two ways to lead your self:

1.  self awareness

2.  self care

 

Self awareness requires core skills such as openness, self appraisal, clarity, self esteem.  There is a massive amount of research in psychology and organizational development on the subject of self awareness.  There are countless religions and faiths and daily practices on the subject of self awareness.  Amid these conflicting and spurious theories there is a need for clarity.  We use assessments to provide data.  There are over 15,000 validated assessments.  We can provide assessments for any individual behavior or competency imaginable.  Evidence-based consulting is mandatory in any profession, from law to healthcare to psychology.

 

A key coaching question is “What assessments do I need to increase my self awareness?’

Self care requires core skills such as expression, sustainability, resourcefulness, action.  Consider the fact that humans now have more digital information available than EVER in the history of mankind.  We now KNOW what we should do.  However, we do not always DO what we should do.  Imagine a grandmotherly person.  She towers over you with an apron and shakes a wooden spoon… as she tells you what you should do.  That image of a wise, older person may help you.

A key coaching question is “How can I take care of myself today?”

 

One more point.  There is a myth that leadership is a personal act.  By definition, the word “leadership” means influence at two levels:  on my self and others.  The goal of self leadership is not to attain some mystical state in isolation on a mountain.  Humans are defined by relationships.  No one develops as a leader when living in isolation.  And too many people spend hours alone, writing in journals, or focusing on their weaknesses.  When Maslow described self actualization it was not thought to be a resting place.  The goal is to improve the quality of relationships with others.  Leadership is both a personal act and a team act.  We adopt evidence-based research in positive psychology because it works.  We want YOU to flourish.

 

The goal of self leadership is to have a greater relationships with my self and others.

 

We all need a coach at times.  Call me at 704.995.6647 or subscribe now or schedule your initial consultation here.

 

What are you waiting for?

Download this list of services and investment levels now: