We all view the world through our own eyes. It is impossible not to. The most effective leaders are those who are able to understand the human differences in their staff’s behaviors and skills and make the most of them. That means being able to understand that their staffs may not always do things the way they would do it (Why can’t they all just be more like me?) Good leaders recognize the value of diverse behaviors and skills and encourage them.

Most executives probably think they do a pretty good job of knowing the skills of their teams and using them effectively. But if that were true, why do we see so many examples where someone with a poor or average performance rating leaves an organization and is highly rated in their new job? It is easy to see examples of this in professional sports when a player is traded and their career takes off under new management and coaching.

The fact is that it takes work to be objective in assessing the skills of others. This is especially true when that skill is something that the leader is not interested in, does not understand or do well, or worse – does not think is valuable. Good leaders step back and look at the business as a total entity made up of employees, customers, and equity owners. Leading the business to outstanding success requires that all 3 elements be well served. Leaders identify the unique skills of their team members and leverage them in the areas where they are needed most. They are able to recognize when someone is making a major contribution to the success of the business even if they do not understand or especially value that person’s skill.

Excellent leaders are very good at recognizing the talents of each team member and putting them in roles that maximize their ability to apply them. There is a double benefit to this approach.

1. The most powerful asset, in this case the persons strength, is applied directly where it is needed most resulting in outstanding productivity and performance.
2. People are happier when they are doing what they like. In that vast majority of cases, the work that makes them the happiest is doing what they are good at. That is often how they got good at it! Putting people in roles that maximize use of their skills increases morale, job satisfaction, and employee retention. And that produces outstanding performance.

So, the best leaders take off the subjective glasses. They recognize that everyone works differently, has different motivations, behaviors, and skills. The do NOT FORCE THEIR OWN STANDARDS on their teams. Instead, they carefully assess each team member and, like assembling a puzzle, find the right fit in the business to maximize their contribution. Oakley Advisors executive coaches work with every single client to show them how to do theses assessments, assemble the puzzle, and lead their organizations to new performance highs.

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

Absolutely they can.  However, this is a good time to point out that there are many types of coaches working today and they have different areas of expertise.  When it comes to your professional life, executive coaches are great resources when considering a job or career change.  But there are executive coaches who specialize in career management.  They provide professional guidance in everything from resume development to interviewing techniques.  One of the best coaches in this category is Andrea Kay.

One of the main reasons people change positions is because they have become frustrated with their inability to move within their current position.  This usually involves the lack of a promotion but also can simply be a feeling of being under appreciated.  Before pursuing a new position, you need to assess why that promotion isn’t happening.  Take a look at your job appraisals and review discussions regarding career advancement that you may have had with your boss.  It is likely that you will find the answer that there is something holding you back.  There is a skill that you do not have, or a weakness in your management style that keeps you from being promoted.  Engaging an executive coach is a perfect way to address this situation.

An executive coach can help to clarify the reality of the situation, identifying the specifics of why the promotion or job change is not happening.  The coach can then help you to plot a course of action to address the issues.  The coach can show you how to promote yourself and becomes your own strongest advocate within the organization.   The coach can also help to identify when it is time to move on – to find a new ladder to climb.

There are many factors that affect why people are being held back from new opportunities.  Some are as straightforward as they do not have the skills.  Some are more complex because they are rooted in complicated office politics.  And, although many people do not like to face it, there is a point at which they simply do not have the talent to perform at a higher level.  A good executive coach can identify all of these situations.  They will help their clients change where improvement is possible and accept the reality of situations that the client may be ignoring or avoiding.  But always, they client will be in a better position as a result of working with the executive coach.  They will either have improved their skills or, at the very least, they will have gained a true insight into the reality of their own abilities and the situation in which they work.

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

Jerry Kleinhaus has an extraordinary talent to connect with people. He tells us that ever since he was a young man, he has been the confidant of many people. Perhaps one reason for this is that Jerry genuinely cares about others. He has a strong empathy for others, especially when they are suffering or are in need of a friendly ear. Jerry also has deep sense of obligation to those who entrust their confidence in him. He us driven by loyalty and maintains strict confidentially when requested of him. Jerry has leveraged these gifts over the years to help many others in both his professional and private life.

During his years at Convergys, Jerry Kleinhaus often acted as a confidential advisor to his staff, peers, and often even to those in management levels above him. He has been described as having great wisdom, compassion, and common sense. One of his closet friends once said that he guides many of his personal professional decisions by asking, “What would Jerry Kleinhaus do in this situation?”

While at Convergys, Jerry Kleinhaus was one of the founding members of the first mentorship program and was an active mentor throughout the program’s subsequent years. He often felt that his ability to connect with others and provide them with feedback and guidance were where his true calling laid. When the opportunity came for him to change careers and to formally become a certified executive coach, the step seemed like a natural one.

Most organizations consider executive coaching to be a talent management function and therefore under the umbrella of the human resources group. In general, we agree that many aspects of executive coaching do directly relate to classic HR functions and the HR department should have significant involvement in the introduction and selection of executive coaches. However, the senior management team should take a much deeper interest and active participation in executive coaching selection than they do any other HR function – with the possible exception of compensation distribution. Executive coaching goes right to the heart of organizational performance. It impacts the most valuable asset the business has – its senor management team. Leaving the selection process to HR to sort out all the executive coaching options and to make the final recommendation robs the executive team of overseeing the process and providing the keen insights that are required to set the expectations for the coach’s role, fit, and expectations.

At Oakley Advisors, we strongly recommend that the executive team be involved in very step of the executive coaching selection process, including the consideration of every single executive coach and executive coaching firm. No amount of direction given to the HR team can ensure that an exceptional, perfect fitting coach might not be overlooked by the standards or prerequisites that are often imposed by the HR departments.

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

There are 2 types of internal coaching programs that are being used more and more in corporate America.

1. The first program type is having full time certified executive coaches on staff. This approach is usually chosen by large organizations that are committed to executive coaching but, because they have so many senior managers who are eligible for coaches, find it more economic to have full time coaches on staff doing the coaching around the clock.

2. The second use of internal coaching is to teach coaching techniques to managers and allow them to become coaches to their own staffs. More and more, you will see the word “coaching” being used in the work environment. “This manager could use some coaching”, or “I’ll give them some coaching on that”. It is getting to the point that most managers fancy themselves as coaches already. And yet, few of them are trained or even aware of the formal process and tools that effective executive coaching requires.

In general, it is our opinion that nearly all and any coaching is beneficial. However, we feel there is a real downside to internal coaching. As employees, professional coaches will never be able to develop the strong objective positions that allow them to challenge their clients. In essence, they will always be serving two masters.

The same is somewhat true of training managers to coach their teams. In so many cases the “boss” is one of the primary obstacles that our clients have in overcoming their key weaknesses. While on the surface, internal coaching programs look like a bargain; they are not a very good one.

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

We have said this many times before. We are not therapists. We are business professionals who have been formally trained to assess business behaviors in others and offer methods for modifying them.

It is extremely important to not confuse executive coaching with psychological therapy. Psychologists and psychiatrists have years of professional medical and mental health training. Our clients are mentally healthy, fully functioning individuals. As a matter of fact, our coaching will serve little purpose for someone who is struggling with psychological disorders. When we recognize that such disorders are at play, we will cease the coaching sessions and recommend that the client seek professional mental health assistance.

So why is there confusion over executive coaching and therapy? Perhaps it is because some of the techniques that both use appear similar. Both involve one on one private sessions that involve the majority of the talking being done by the client and the coach or therapist offering techniques for dealing with the client’s issues. But that is where the similarity ends.

If any executive coach allows the session with their client to “cross the line” into the private life or non-business aspects of the client’s world, they have moved beyond the scope of their expertise. Oakley Advisors executive coaches take special care to stay focused on the professional business behaviors of their clients. This is the only area in which they have been extensively trained and are prepared to help the client make tangible changes.

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

In yesterday’s entry, we questioned the business value of all the extra time that executives and senior managers are devoting to their jobs. The USA Today article reports that this excessive work is becoming an additive behavior to be treated as any other addition. In this case, we might reasonably expect that, unlike other additions, there is actually an upside. That upside would be a productivity gain for our businesses, right? It is our opinion that this gain does not take place for the following reasons:

1. The vast majority of the extra work is, by its very nature, non productive. Most of it is spent in meetings, phone calls, email exchanges, and conference calls – all of which are only informational in nature. They are dominated by talk, information exchange, and a fair amount of ranting and raving. The vast majority of this “work” really does not move the business forward at all and it wastes an incredible amount of time that could be spent on productive work. Don’t believe it? Step back and analyze your own work day. How much of it was spent on calls and in meetings. Now, how much real impact did they have on the business? What tangible, measurable results (higher revenue, lower expense, and better customer satisfaction) came from them?
2. The incidence of non productive informational exchange behavior is escalating at a rapid rate. Managers copy many more people on emails and invite many more people to meetings than are needed. Why? There are 2 main reasons. First, because they can. Technology makes it easy to “cc the world”. Second, there is a growing CYA attitude. Managers are becoming more and more afraid of failure and making even the smallest perceived mistake. They feel if they include a wide circle of associates on their emails and meetings, they can spread their own accountability among all of them. This is a fallacy that we will discuss in a future entry.
3. There is a tipping point when longer hours actually become counter productive. Humans can work hard and stay productive for 40 to 45 hours on a consistent basis week after week. They can crank that up to 50 plus hours for brief periods of time. But usually productivity will begin to drop after just one or two 60 hour weeks. Trying to work more than 45 hours week after week quickly leads to a drop in productivity. The really interesting aspect of this productivity drop is that it is across all of the worked hours. EXECUTIVES ARE FOOLING THEMSLEVES IF THEY THINK THAT MORE HOURS MEANS BETTER AND MORE OUTPUT.
4. People have workaholic behaviors often see their work habit as a badge of honor. They love to talk about it, brag about it, and, yes, COMPLAIN about it. They often appear “rushed”, cancel meetings, and entertain interruptions. They fancy themselves as excellent multi taskers. But in reality, all these actions and behaviors are key examples of non productive behavior. They disrupt the productivity of both the executive and those who must work with them. They exhibit poor leadership by sending the wrong message (“Something else” on my schedule is more important than you) which shows a clear disrespect for their staff and peers who are affected by it. In short, they are damaging not only their own productivity, but that of the rest of the organization. And that is BAD BUSINESS.

Getting the work done in fewer hours, possibly even 40 hours a week, and having the business still deliver optimum performance is possible! In fact, we think that an executive team that works effectively for 40 hours will outperform a team that works a 60 hour week that is riddled with non productive behavior. Oakley Advisors executive coaches can show the way to shorter, more productive work weeks. Executives and managers will be happier and the business will perform better. We cannot think of a better winning combination than that.

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

A feature article in today’s issue of USA Today reports on the growing epidemic of workaholics in the American workplace. It’s true. Americans are working longer and longer hours. For the last 15 years, it has been common to see blackberries and cell phones in airports and hotels making them de facto extensions of the work place. Over that same time period, work has encroached more and more on everyday home and recreational life. Blackberry and cell phone work usage is now ubiquitous, showing up at all times of the day and all days of the week. Blackberry alerts and cell phone calls take place everywhere – in restaurants, on golf courses, in shopping malls, at sporting events, and, of course, as a requirement for driving a car.

Work has invaded every aspect of our personal lives including church services and family dinners. There is essentially no respect for individual personal time. Unfortunately, many executives and managers have enabled this phenomenon by doing the calling and responding to callers.

What have we gained from all this extra “work”? Not much. Aren’t our businesses thriving from all this extra effort? Statistically you could make a case that they are. GNP and American business productivity have steadily grown over the past 2 decades. But most of this growth has come from operational and process improvements. There is little evidence that the longer hours that many employees feel pressured to work are contributing to a meaningful advancement of the business. What we are doing is destroying our personal relationships and sometimes even our physical and mental health. In a future entry, we will discuss what really happens to these extra hours and why they are such a poor bargain for American businesses.

If you find yourself in an environment of escalating demands on your time from work, take heart. There is help for getting the balance between your work and personal life back under control. Oakley Advisors executive coaches provide our clients with powerful tools and techniques that help them restore balance to their lives. With our coaching, clients find they are able to manage their time better and systematically segment work to become much more effective. We give them tools to help them recognize and remove what we refer to as “non productive behavior”, both in themselves and their staffs. The result is a better separation between work and personal life. Our clients experience increased productivity in the time that they spend at work, are happier with their jobs, and are more motivated to perform when they are at work. That better performance directly translates into a true productivity gain for the business.

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

Quite simply the answer is, no. Everyone wants to be popular and well liked. We even want to be liked by those whom we dislike. Many executives and senior managers think they need to have the personal liking of their employees in order for the employees to follow the executive’s lead. They do not. Employees do not have to like an executive to follow them and to give them their best performance. But they do have to respect them, be motivated by them, and share and understand their vision. All of these elements are different from “liking”. In fact, some great leaders were not necessarily well liked by their teams at all – George Patton and Jack Welch come to mind.

Oakley Advisors executive coaches show their clients the difference between being liked and being respected as a leader. They help executives develop their innate leadership qualities and address weaknesses in leadership behavior. One of these weaknesses is assuming that they must develop a friendship relationship in order to lead their teams to top performance. To paraphrase Harry Truman, “If you want a friend in business, get a dog.”

Jerry Kleinhaus

Oakley Advisors
Certified Executive Coaching
Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is the home to some extremely well managed companies including Proctor and Gamble, Kroger, Federated, American Financial, Western Southern Life Insurance, and General Electric. All of these companies are known for steady growth and performance, consistent return to shareholders, and stable employee bases.

We coach executives and senior managers at many of these companies. Surprisingly, we often find a deep sense of dissatisfaction among their managers and a clear absence of many fundamental management skills. We do NOT believe that these conditions are unknown to the executive teams of these companies. To the contrary, that is why they are making investments in talent management and executive coaches. But the fact that they are considered among the best run corporations in the world, and still struggle with these key talent management issues demonstrates the critical need for proactive talent management and executive coaching.