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Proposals, feedback process, and why dogs are wiser than you.

THE PROCESS IS SPONSORED BY: Action-Learning.com

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.

  1. 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.

Get More Krissi:

Her book: https://www.amazon.com/Fido-Factor-Krissi-Barr/dp/0999165607

What the heck is The Process? 

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.

Thanks for being part of The Process,

Patrick E. McLean and Doug Gray

How to increase employee engagement? New science for practitioners

Recently I was asked to speak at the Human Resource conference for the State of Tennessee.  They wanted four sessions on “How to increase employee engagement.”

The content and videos are located here.

Here is the session description:

Studies continue to show that employee engagement in the workplace remains low- around the 30% range.  Low levels of employee engagement have a negative impact on achieving organizational goals, and create a workplace that does not encourage high performance.  During this session, we will answer the three key questions of employee engagement:  1) What do we know from evidence-based science?  2) How can I apply that science to increase my personal level of engagement?   3) How can I improve the engagement levels of others?  This course introduces a new model based on positive psychology practices, called the AD-FIT%TM model, that you can apply immediately.

This course provides leaders at all levels with an introduction into the science and practice of employee engagement.  Any manager or leader with a growth mindset can apply this course content to lead individual, group or organizational change in your business.  This content has been distributed to thousands of leaders in governments, private and nonprofit organizations, as well as individuals.

The content of this course is gleaned from thousands of our leadership consulting clients since 1997, and the presenter’s dissertation research on positive psychology.

The goal of this course is to introduce leaders like you to world-class techniques so that you gain competitive advantage.

Learning objectives:

  • Recognize key variables that influence employee engagement
  • Discover how to measure employee engagement
  • Identify how to increase individual employee engagement
  • Identify how to develop organizational employee engagement

Please contact us for the handout before viewing the video section of this course.

The content and videos are located here.

Action leads to learning.  What are you waiting for?

To contact Doug Gray, CEO, PCC, call 615.236.1892 or contact us here.  Today.

Why managers should manage, and coaches should coach

wrong way stop and take a uturn making a mistake turn back now bad direction graffiti on red brick wall, text and hand

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.

 

  1. Managers by definition need to maximize the productivity of others. Some hierarchy is mandatory, because the manager’s job requires writing a performance review and determining compensation. Read Peter Drucker, called the father of organizational development, on this point. The idea of maximizing productivity is as old as Diomedes. And as new as Marcus Buckingham. The role requires that managers work in private to coach others, but that skill of coaching should never replace the role of coaching. Perhaps the best model for describing the complex role of managers is Henry Mintzberg’s Managing (2011), which should be required reading for any serious managers, or any student of management theory and practice.
  1. Coaches, by definition, support others to achieve their personal and professional goals.  The agenda is defined by the client/leader, not by a coach or anyone else.  The process of coaching varies, from a competency approach defined by the International Coaching Federation  to a theoretical construct such as positive psychology (the best example is here).  In executive coaching, there is a validated need for both internal coaches who expedite the careers of HiPos, and external coaches who provide customized leadership development for senior leaders.  None of these coaches are managers.  However, managers are often tasked with coaching their direct reports. See point 1.
  1. Confusion abounds in many learning organizations, especially those that are dominated by fear. We do not need any sloppy terminology. Coaching was once an activity designed to remediate some undesirable behavior. Not any more. Coaching now is a targeted behavioral investment. For instance, I collaborate with internal leaders who provide succession planning data, performance reviews, 360 or personality assessments. As an external coach, my role is to accelerate the agenda of senior leaders. There is no better investment in top talent. Retention increases 18 months on average. For an example of the largest global provider of executive coaching, visit CoachSource. We provide scale for any-sized organization, in 45 countries, with over 1,000 expert executive coaches.   Results should define your investments, not any silly claims.

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?

 

2012 Energy Leadership Project results: Top challenges in the next 12 months

In February, 2012, we surveyed 24 energy industry leaders in the Charlotte, NC region.

Here are their responses to the question:  What are the most significant challenges facing your company in the next 12 months?

What do you think of this data?

 

1.  To see the complete survey results from the 2012 Energy Leadership Project, reply here.

2.  To be included in the 2013 Energy Leadership Project, click here.

3.  For comments or questions, call Doug at 704.895.6479.

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daddy, What are the 2 keys to success?

Recently our high school-aged daughter asked, “Daddy, you talk to people all day long about their success.  If you can make it simple, what are the two keys to success?”

If she was quizzing me, then I failed.   Perhaps because I did not expect the question, perhaps because I wanted to say something special to her.

I said something trite:  Focus on your strengths.  Persist.  Follow your passions.  Build a great team.  But sadly, like most of us, perhaps, I just  could not find the words.  Frankly, I struck out.

Then yesterday someone made it simple.  Now I can answer her…

What are the 2 keys to success?

1.  Attention, and 2.  Support.

Just as we attend to an infant and support their growth, we create gardens of success.  Every successful person talks about those who gave them attention.  Their mentors.  Their elders.  Their coaches.  Those who listened well, believed in them, supported them.    After repeated actions toward a desirable goal, those people thrived and eventually felt successful.

This morning I shared this idea with someone.  She doodled a circle, then drew an exclamation point, bold, in the center of the circle, to represent “attention,” then she gave it legs to represent “support,” then gave it an arrow to represent a future success.  That image works!

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The same pattern occurs in a coaching engagement.  When I first meet someone they may be uncertain of the process, unclear about why they are receiving the attention.    A common fear is that coaching is a process of “fixing behavioral gaps or deficiencies.”  As if we could dunk people into a “flea and tick bath” and they emerge cleaned, ready for the next challenge.  Instead, people decide if they like the attention, if they can use the support, and if they want to develop their strengths.    That choice is the key to success.

So, key coaching questions may include, “Who do you need to give more attention to?”   Or, “How can you support someone’s strengths?”

Time to go… I now have an answer for my daughter.

What are you going to do?