Working Resources for Leadership - Bay Area Executive Coaching

Resources: Select Resources at Work

Fast access to pertinent resources can be an invaluable aid to your success.

Please visit the Resource Center at http://www.workingresources.com  for additional helpful resources including a vast archive of articles and self-assessment surveys.

Business Books: Books I Recommend

Learning agile leaders know the importance of getting new ideas and most importantly implementing  them as quickly as possible.

I read at least one book or e-book a week as a life-time learner and you might want to consider doing the same. I know you are very busy, but you can read a few chapters a day or listen to a CD or MP3 file on your way to work or while working out at the gym.

Visit my Resource Center at http://workingresources.com for a more comprehensive listing and brief description of books I recommend.

Emotional Intelligence: Teaming and Group EQ

Are you working in an organization where performance could be much higher because people are working more as individual contributors than members of a high performing team?

I have been coaching and consulting with the shareholders of an accountancy firm to help them develop from a group of sole proprietors working together into a cohesive team. We assessed each member of the shareholder group using the BarOn EQ-i emotional intelligence assessment and BOEI culture survey. Results indicated that the shareholders were very high on individualism but low on empathy a requisite competency for working together as a team.

We have been working on each shareholder improving his/her emotional intelligence and social intelligence focusing on developing enhanced empathy capability. The goal is to change sole proprietor behavior and "my book of business" to being accountable for getting "above above the line" and valuing each other as clients and equitably sharing credit and compensation.

Emotional Intelligence: Why it is so Important?

The world's population is growing at a rapid pace and we still haven't learned to get along. There is such intolerance for other points of view whether it be religion, politics or even how to raise your kids.

Some have even termed the problem "culture wars" where there is a clash of competing ideologies. On the positive side, a number of people have created agencies and programs to further partnership and collaboration in order to make the world a better and more peaceful place.

People and the environment cannot sustain our current approaches to working out conflict and building more respectful relationships. You might find the research on emotional intelligene and social intelligence helpful as a researched-based model to help improve our interpersonal connectivity.

Emotional Intelligence: Assessments to Measure EQ

Coaching leaders often involves the use of validated instrumented assessments that can help you assess
whether you have certain competencies.

I typically incorporate a number of assessments in my coaching work and people seem to resonate with how they measure up with others in the area of emotional intelligence.

The Bar-On EQi emotional intelligence inventory recently released a new business report written in the language of business people. It has been well received by my clients. The report includes your being able to write an EQ Action Development Plan which will help you improve your leadership capability.

Emotional Intelligence at Work: Communicating for Success

Whether you are a lawyer, accountant, doctor, banker, mailman or any other occupation it is likely that good interpersonal skills are important to your success.

In today's work world, we often work in groups or as part of a team. You need to work effectively with people who have different personalities, motivations and work habits.

When I was growing up in Chicago, we called someone who got along well with others and who was great at influencing them "street smart". Today, the terms emotional intelligence and social intelligence have popularized the importance of social community and connectivity.

Executive Coaching: Key Coaching Principles

The core of any coaching engagement is facilitating a goal-directed conversation with the intention of the coaching client getting better and improving his or her condition.

Principle number five can be particularly controversial. A number of coaching models suggest that the answer always lies within the client and that the job of the coach is largely to ask powerful questions to guide the client in discovering the answer within. For the most part, I agree with this philosophy. However, I think that sometimes you might not have the needed answer or resource and that a wise seasoned coach can provide great value by suggesting ideas, resources or perhaps even giving advice. What is most important is that the coach assess the specific situation, and that he/she uses good judgment always with the intent to serve the client’s best interest.

I respectfully ask my coaching clients if they would appreciate my suggesting ideas, resources or on occassion when appropriate offer pertinent advice. Most of my clients (especially lawyers and accountants) seem to resonate with this collaborative and interactive approach.

Executive Coaching: How to Get the Most Out of Coaching

Coaching is a partnership or collaborative process with the distinct goal of helping you improve in areas that you believe are the most important. You will likely benefit most from your coaching experience if you are fully engaged with an open mind willing to learn and grow.

It's important to have a clear focus on what the desired or successful outcome will be. Typically, working on one or two main goals helps keeps the meeting focused. An experienced  coach will ask powerful questions to help you explore areas pertinent to you working towards achieving your goals aligned with your values and purpose.

You will probably be asked by your coach to consider working on an assignment between meetings. Sometimes the coach will recommend a relevant book, article or perhaps a task that will deepen your learning. You will get great benefit by thinking of ideas for your own homework and sharing your thoughts with your coach. You and your coach will establish rules for accountability to maximize your success.

A number of my coaching clients have found taking notes during our coaching meetings incredibly helpful. We all lead busy lives and tend to forget what we have learned when we get back to that pervasive "To Do List".

Executive Coaching: Goals and Outcomes of Effective Executive Coaching

What are the goals and outcomes of effective executive coaching? Traditionally, the goals have been fairly specific and have focused on preventing executive derailment. The coaching process may address a specific behavior that is causing managerial conflict, improve specific managerial competencies, solve specific problems, or help executives address behaviors or issues that are impeding job effectiveness.

Increasingly, coaching seeks to enhance the performance of high-potential executives. The goals of executive coaching are shifting and broadening as more and more executives seek out coaching for a variety of different reasons.

Leadership Coaching: The Transformational Coaching Experience

What makes a great coaching experience, one that provides excellent and sustainable results? Coaching may sound like simple goal-setting with accountability and motivational pep talks thrown in.

The work of truly effective coaching within organizations involves much more than goal-setting. It involves unleashing the human spirit and expanding people's capacity to achieve stretch goals and bring about real change.This does not start with techniques like setting goals, motivating people and giving feedback. It starts with considering and changing the underlying context in which these occur.