Executive Coaching:
Helping Executives See Themselves as
Others See Them

Executive Coaching helps executives and managers maximize their direct contribution to the business success of their organizations. In this positive, one-on-one -- and, where appropriate, team-based -- process, Strickland consultants provide an objective, results-oriented perspective that uncovers opportunities for individual improvement in a wide variety of personal and professional areas.





What is executive coaching?
  • Executive coaching by The Strickland Group professionals aims to inspire in each and every executive and manager personal responsibility for, and direct involvement in, the business success of an organization.

  • We believe that only by encouraging and instilling this sort of individual commitment and participation will companies thrive in the ever more competitive environment the 21st century is sure to bring.

  • For that reason, we view executive coaching as a positive, one-on-one process aimed at fostering growth. As practiced by The Strickland Group, coaching is a way of providing executives with an objective, third-party perspective that quickly results in opportunities for constructive change.

  • Coaching is a recognition that companies can benefit from assistance in addressing complex career issues related to valued employees, and a structure through which they can provide executives and managers the chance to develop skills in consultation with a professional guide.

  • We would appreciate the opportunity to put our expertise to work for you.
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What specific management issues do executive coaching address?

Maximizing Performance in a Current Position

 For executives, this means determining and utilizing the leadership skills to help reach organizational and personal goals.

For high potentials, it means identifying top performers and creating an early - warning system to spot career - development needs.

For individual contributors, it means assessing how to best leverage the skills and personality traits of high - performance executives within the organization.


 Working with Others

 Executive coaches help build productive working relationships with managers, peers and subordinates -- especially for the executive who can benefit by learning to accept constructive criticism.

Taking Charge of a Job Transition within the Organization

Coaching clarifies objectives and reduces learning-curve time when an individual makes a lateral move, receives a promotion, or new assignment due to reorganization or change in business strategy.

Coaching addresses these and other complex career challenges while demonstrating a company's commitment to its valued employees.

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What results can clients expect from The Strickland Group coaching?

Our experience indicates that impressive, results-oriented professional development occurs when an individual receives "real time" feedback from his or her working environment and bases personal growth and development on continuing input.

By providing one-on-one advice and counsel, an executive coach helps:

  • Enhance the productivity of top performers and key executives.

  • Recognize and reward valued employees.

  • Flag management problems before they become business problems.

  • Build productive relationships between an individual and his / her subordinates and peers.

  • Afford an objective, expert perspective.

  • Create a comfortable forum for discussion.

  • Synchronize personal and organizational goals.

The results can include a greater sense of accountability; increased awareness of the impact of individual style; increased productivity; enhanced communication skills; improved morale for individuals and colleagues; appreciation on the part of executives of their company's commitment and support.

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What are the types of executive coaching?

  1. Leadership-Management Coaching.
    Developmental coaching toward preparation for transition to the chief executive team or other top management position.
  2. Leadership-Assessment Coaching.
    Recommended for helping senior executives assess management and leadership skills for anticipated future positions.
  3. "High Potentials" Coaching.
    Developmental coaching recommended for increasing the productivity of top performers and key executives.
  4. Career-Issues Coaching.
    One-on-one coaching recommended for helping an executive to clarify where he or she "best fits" within an industry or organization, and determining his or her most appropriate career path.
  5. Behavioral/Interpersonal Coaching.
    Developmental coaching recommended for identifying and resolving management issues before they become business issues.
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What is coaching's bottom-line impact?

A bottom-line economic fact is that coaching is a cost-effective solution to management development. Many complex management challenges are solvable through the techniques used in coaching, to the satisfaction of executives, management, and subordinates alike.

The success of your business depends on the success of your people. This translates into increased productivity and decreased costs for your company. Successful coaching results in optimal use of talent, a lower employee turnover rate, and a higher employee retention rate.

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In what instances is coaching appropriate?

The scenarios prompting a company to consider executive coaching are as varied as the individuals within a company.
  • A top-performing line executive, when promoted to a higher position, may need to develop new competencies in -- for example -- delegating authority.

  • Looking to the future, a company may wish to ensure the success of a "high potential" executive as he or she moves up the corporate ladder, by aligning his or her vision and commitment with that of the company.

  • A corporate restructuring may result in a temporary decrease in productivity on the part of a key executive with an otherwise positive track record.
Attempting to address these and other career-management issues internally through routine performance reviews may not succeed. An executive can simply lack the know-how or self-awareness to address development needs alone. Expert executive coaching by The Strickland Group precipitates a positive course of action resulting in personally and professionally satisfying career development.

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Who benefits from executive coaching -- and how do Strickland Group coaches work?

Any key executive can benefit from coaching; the only prerequisite is receptivity to change.

At The Strickland Group, a detailed work plan is created for an executive based on an initial assessment of his or her goals and the organization's objectives. A multi-phased approach is then applied to match the needs of the situation and may include:
  • Supervisor, peer, and subordinate evaluations

  • Assessment documents, questionnaires, and structured interviews

  • State-of-the-art professional development assessment

  • Insight development, recognition of structures needed for productivity, and effective conflict resolution

  • Progress reviews on a timely basis

  • Ongoing coaching as needed

  • Career/life inventory and evaluation

  • 360-Degree Feedback
The Strickland Group coaches assist senior executives in facing re-engineering initiatives; help manage the transition of middle-level managers as they move into higher executive positions; coordinate "team building skills" for executive teams; and help newly hired executives cope with new corporate cultures.

As an integral part of their business strategy, many of Strickland's clients utilize executive coaching in anticipation of organizational change or simply to broaden the career horizons of their top performers.

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Why The Strickland Group -- and why now?

We are in a period of enormous change -- in society, in the American business culture, and among individuals whose values are shifting. The kinds of changes that organizations and executives are experiencing now are more challenging than those that dominated business during the last 50 years.

There are few appropriate development vehicles available for top executives to cope with these changes. That's where The Strickland Group comes in. Our unique combination of customized service, total flexibility, strict business orientation, and focus on performance has consistently led to results that have exceeded the expectations of our clients.

We can do the same for you.

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Overcoming unproductive corporate -- and personal -- myths.

There are numerous misconceptions that keep executive coaching from being sought out as a means of positive change, based largely on a lack of factual information. Here are just a few:
  1. "In the end, people can't change. They are the way they are -- that's that."

  2. "This person has a deep-seated problem, and it can't be resolved."

  3. "The issue has gone on too long to be addressed -- there's no way you're going to change things now."

  4. "Forget it -- people don't really want to see themselves as others see them."

  5. "Executive coaching won't have any direct impact on the bottom line."

  6. "If people really have motivation and drive, they can alter their behavior on their own."
The Strickland Group takes pride in routinely disproving these misconceptions.

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Leadership in Transition: An Opportune Time for Coaching.

When an executive is promoted, transferred, or given new responsibilities within an organization, it can be an ideal time to assess, or reassess, leadership skills and styles. Executive coaching can play an important role in helping to shape and hone an executive's talents and abilities around new sets of skills.

During a period of change or succession-planning, the kind of self-evaluation inherent in executive coaching can be particularly useful, and positioned as a positive step in tackling new responsibilities with maximum effectiveness. At The Strickland Group, this type of coaching is known as MLP: Maximizing Leadership Potential.

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New-Hire Integration: Aiding the Transition Process.

Corporate culture varies from organization to organization. When an executive joins a company, or is transferred or assigned to a new division, he or she is suddenly thrust into a new, and frequently alien, work environment. The subtleties of new business surroundings; new set of business goals, expectations and objectives; differing business styles; and unspoken codes of behavior must all be coped with.

Coaching -- with an eye toward helping an executive understand, feel comfortable with, and "fit into" a new hierarchy, corporate structure, or style of management -- can be exceedingly valuable at this important transition time. And "fitting in" can be the first and most important step in maximizing an executive's leadership potential and overall productivity.

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