by Doug Gray | May 5, 2014 | change, Coaching, digital, Employment, Leadership, Managers, money, Sales
After 7.15.14 our new address is:
3482 Stagecoach Dr, Franklin, TN 37067
704.995.6647 cell
Special Offer: Please call for a free consultation in your Nashville area office to discuss your leaders or your business.
Why did we relocate?
1. Personally: to support my wife’s career, and her recent promotion.
2. Professionally: to develop new relationships in a new geography, while continuing to provide value to clients in any geography.
Life requires adaptation to new environments. A coaching question is: How are you moving?
Here are 7 examples of new affiliations and movement in the last 13 months:
- The Brentwood, TN Rotary Club (a long time Paul Harris fellow) committed to “service above self.”
- Member of the Williamson, Inc Chamber of Commerce, in Franklin, TN
- The Association of Talent Development (ATD) board member in professional development (2015-15) and membership (2015-16); created a Special Interest Group (SIG) for Consultants and hosted monthly meetings on countless topics since January, 2015
- Member of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)
- Member of the Nashville Technology Center (NTC); accepted by Launch TN grant funding program to apply for federal grant to the NIH or USDA, using consultants Mark and Catherine Henry, with mentoring from Jim Stefansic PhD, to assess the impact of telemedicine programs in rural disparities
- Promoted the TN-HIMSS conference in October, 2015 for healthcare leaders, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Information Officers
- Created and hosted monthly meetings on “Talent Analytic Trends” at local businesses, including Rustici Software, the “best technology company in Nashville” and a global leader in SCORM and Watershed, their Learning Record System; those meetings featured leaders and new technologies that are redesigning how we measure talent, careers, and human achievement.
Quite a list for 13 months in a new town.
Back to that coaching question: How are you moving?
Call any time to discuss what is next for you, your leaders, or your business.
by Doug Gray | Jan 7, 2014 | Business, change, Coaching, Leadership, Managers, safety, strengths, Success, talent
My definition: Safety Leadership Coaching is an emerging field of professional development for yourself and others.
TIP: Scan the words in bold. Then apply them to your world. Then call me to discuss.
The phrase “emerging field” recognizes the fact that the safety business is new, since OSHA gained influence in 1970. Prior to that time, workers were measured by hands, feet or hours of productivity. The early “safety professionals” were compliance-driven people tasked with issuing fines, citations, tickets, and quotas. At some companies, “Safety Infraction Report” mandate was required by 4:00 each afternoon; and if you received 3 SIRs then it was time to find another job. Many safety employees were former police or military. The “Safety Cop” compliance requirements remain a powerful legacy today.
In the 1990s the safety industry, like most industries, was affected by global trends including humanism and diversity. Individual choice was recognized more than ever. Leadership and organizational development programs emerged as professional schools of research. In the workforce, safety leaders supported individual choice, good judgement, and reinforced desired behaviors. “Safety coaching” emerged as the dominant methodology to observe and recommend desired behaviors. The Certified Safety Professional Program, endorsed by BCSP, gained impact as a minimal standard for hiring and program implementation. Safety leadership coaching emerged as a field of professional development.
The phrase “professional development for yourself” recognizes the fact that all change starts at an individual level. As a species, humans change in response to external influences that promote our survival. If we need to learn a new skill, or relocate to the next job site, we do so. In the U.S. most people now have 5 careers on average. However, too many safety leaders only have one career. Too many people resist change. Safety leaders can embrace coaching and training; or they can ignore it. They can embrace career changes; or they can ignore them. Too many safety leaders ignore career development opportunities. Safety leadership coaching encourages people to explore choices and develop their strengths.
The phrase “professional development for others” reinforces the job description that safety leaders typically “observe and recommend” desired behaviors. They typically have broad access to all aspects of a job site or company. Consequently they have vast potential impact on all aspects such as quality, operations, sales, business development, etc. However, safety leaders do not embrace their potential impact. Too often they “stick to their own business” and “keep their heads down.” That limits their impact as leaders. Safety leadership coaching leverages the vast access and potential impact of safety leaders. Safety leadership coaching helps leaders obtain desired results.
There is an old story about the student who seeks a teacher. He travels to many lands and reads a lot, stares at a mirror, and generates lists. He is lonely, alone. One day he realizes that he learns best when he is in relationship with others.
So it is with safety coaching. Humans learn best when we are in relationship with others.
Here are some simple coaching questions:
1. Who is the wisest leader you know?
2. How can you develop better relationships with others?
3. What are you afraid of in your career?
4. Who needs you to coach them?
Send me your answers, or comment below.
BIO: Doug Gray, PCC, has coached 50+ safety leaders and learned from their expertise. He knows nothing about fall protection standards. www.action-learning.com or 704.895.7479
by Doug Gray | Jul 22, 2013 | change, digital, Employment, global, Leadership, Managers, money, Resources, Sales, Success, talent
Open your eyes! How much time do you spend with millenials? Not only do millenials consume the most products, they also expect results. They are 50% of the workforce in 2018.
To ignore millenials is to commit some form of suicide.
Here are 6 steps for you and your company:
1. Mobile web-based experiences are a $10 billion dollar industry, with over 7 billion phones. We now have nearly 4x more mobile browsers than the number of desk-based browsers. Follow the numbers. Follow the money.
2. We can provide emotionally-provocative experiences that combine digital and physical activities. Here are several examples. When you go to the zoo you can now rent a GoPro or Segway to make your experience unique. When you go to a park you can use your mobile device to geocache. You can have a “Yelp Night” and move from restaurant to bar in any unfamiliar city. When you go to a conference you can tweet about and score the presenters, in real time. However, at most amusement parks and concerts we are not doing anything about the visitors who are standing in a line (bored) or tweeting or Face-booking their friends to “stay away” from your business or event. As a more costly example, we are not doing anything about low compliance with incentive reward programs. In fact, industrial organizational researchers tell us that some 35% of the US workforce is not engaged in their jobs. We sorely lack emotionally-provocative experiences that combine digital and physical activities.
3. In response to these market needs, I have developed a mobile web-based app that can guarantee engagement for any clients. This app enables clients to have a pre-visit and post-visit experience that integrates their event with any content. The event becomes a process. For instance, if a client wants to assign pre-visit training or reading content, the app can assess their engagement. Using a leader board and social media, they can increase accountability. They can market and promote the company. They can include video and photo uploads. They can earn points by doing more activities. They can return to the venue. The app can be delivered in hours, under any name. And it can be scaled for any sized organization.
4. Large corporate clients expect global delivery capacity. Every successful Free Agent has a network of alliance partners. The myth of the solo-preneur as a lone wolf is dead. For instance, the largest provider of leadership development coaches is www.coachsource.com, founded by Brian Underhill and Marshall Goldsmith. Marshall is described as the #1 leadership consultant in the U.S., according to Harvard Business Review. I am the southeast engagement manager, and represent 1,200 leadership coaches in 60 countries. We can provide expert leadership coaching to any clients. A bold claim, but a well validated claim. We can deliver the value of global leadership coaching to your current clients. And we can design programs that include a cycle of regular visits to any location with reinforcements from the very best leadership coaches. Those individual and group agendas typically yield a 500% ROI.
Digital and Global solutions not only satisfy millenials. They lead to results. They are required solutions.
If you are a solo-preneur, develop strong alliance with the smartest partners that you can find. Today.
If you are a business leader, call Doug at 615.236.9845 If I cannot help you I will find someone who can. Today.
Comments?
by Doug Gray | Apr 22, 2013 | change, Coaching, Employment, money, Personal Development, Sales
Perhaps you have seen this chart from Q4, 2012? This data amazed me.
The red line indicates corporate earnings, which are at an all time high.
The blue line indicates individual wage earnings, which are at an all time low.
The gap between these lines is one indication of low engagement by most workers.
IMHO we need more professional development of key talent. Companies have the cash assets. Individuals have the need.
What does this gap suggest about the need for professional development at your company?
What does this gap suggest about the proliferation of outsourced specialized roles, such as external coaching and consulting? (Some 40% of the American workforce…)
I need your help. I am part of that 40%.
Since 1997, I have guaranteed results with coaching and consulting clients.
Please give me a call and let me know how you are doing. 704.895.6479. Thanks.
by Doug Gray | Nov 13, 2012 | Business, change, Coaching, exercise, Leadership, Managers, safety, strengths
Reason #9. Rock climbing.
I love to lead climb.
In my 20s I spent several months rock climbing the best cliffs in the United States. For 3 months I lived in a car with several friends, and we travelled to Boulder, CO and Devils Tower, WY. We ate granola. And macaroni and cheese. While studying guidebooks. Or talking with lanky climbers from all over the world.
Boulder Canyon and Eldorado Canyons were meccas for serious climbers. As a lead climber, my partner and I started on the bottom and climbed all day, until we summited on a ledge. Then we rappelled back down, or hiked down. Every afternoon the thunderstorms terrified us. Every climb had terrifying sections. At Devils Tower we did overhanging aid climbs that required swinging traverses. Just like James Bond on the Eiger in Switzerland. We learned to mitigate risks.
When moving on vertical rock, you have 4 potential points of contact. If two feet and one hand are enough, then you can move the other hand. Climbers learn to distribute weight evenly. To select resting places. To control energy exertion. To keep your hands below your heart to reduce fatigue. To ignore fear.
After days or weeks, your hands develop callouses. After many first ascents, your confidence increases. So you try something harder.
And then you fall.
My most terrifying fall was about 40′ late one afternoon. I had felt invincible. Then the crack thinned out. I could not find any placement. My legs shook. I could not climb back down. And my last piece of protection (climbing hardware) was about 20′ below me. Because I had felt so confident… I had climbed higher than I should have.
I recall pausing. There was a choice. And I chose to fall. I still recall that instant, some 30+ years later.
So I tumbled 20′ to the climbing hardware, then another 20′ below that, until my partner saved my life. We were hundreds of feet above the canyon floor.
That instant of choice reminds me that we can choose to be safe, or not.
Just like adults on a job site. Or adults sorting through career choices. Or adults considering a risky move.
What are some reasons why you care about safety?
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