by Doug Gray | Aug 10, 2015 | book review, change, Coaching, Leadership, money, Personal Development, talent
(Disclosure: I am a fan of Marshall Goldsmith because he is an enthusiastic role model for countless executive coaches. When I shook his hand at an event hosted by the Center for Creative Leadership, I told him so. And when I was given four copies of this book to distribute to our largest CoachSource clients, I told them something favorable. Marshall Goldsmith has celebratory cachet as a thinker and a champion.)
I wanted to love this book, but it fell short.
Triggers can be defined as “any stimulus that defines our behavior.” That broad definition enables Goldsmith to go beyond Skinnerian behaviorism, or beyond antecedent-behavior-consequence, or Duhigg’s cue-routine-reward model. The “Circle of Engagement” model includes five steps: trigger-impulse-awareness-choice-behavior. The primary focus of the book is to “help others achieve lasting positive change.”
Structures help us define individual behavioral change. Goldsmith defines three structures: the AIWATT question, the “Six Engaging Questions” and the “Wheel of Change.”
- The AIWATT question can increase engagement. Ask yourself, “Am I willing, at this time, to make the investment required, to make a positive difference on this topic?” Am I willing at this time… is the short version.
- The six “Engaging Questions” can be useful early in a coaching engagement, and when measuring behavioral trends. The questions are: 1. Did I do my best to set clear goals? 2. Did I do my best to make progress toward my goals? 3. Did I do my best to find meaning? 4. Did I do my best to build positive relationships? 6. Did I do my best to be fully engaged?
- The Wheel of Change can be described using two axis or four spokes on a wheel. One axis is the Positive to Negative axis, which “tracks the elements that either help us or hold us back.” The second axis is the Change or Keep axis, which “tracks the elements that we determine to change or keep in the future.” This descriptive model encourages clients to explore what they may need to create, eliminate, accept or preserve in order to achieve their desired behavior change.
The remaining content includes anecdotes from Goldsmith’s broad client base. His charming, self-effacing style often made me smile. The inclusion of the Buddhist anecdote reminding us that anger is always directed at “an empty boat” is a perfect reminder to stay focused on our internal locus of control in the moment. The resounding feeling I had is that the book made me feel good, consider using some of these structures, and then wonder “Now what?”
There are no citations of published works in this book. However, an emerging body of academic research does exist. Positive psychology provides the theoretical construct that the profession of executive coaching sorely needs. There is abundant research in well-being. Seminal leaders include Richard Boyatzis’ Intentional Change Model and studies using neurobiology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow and optimal experience research, and Martin Seligman’s work in PERMA (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and purpose, and accomplishment.) These are evidence-based thought leaders, with broad following, who are not referenced by Marshall Goldsmith. That fact makes me wonder, why not?
According to the International Coaching Federation, there are now some 50,000 professional coaches in a $7 billion industry with little consistency. (Disclosure: I have been certified at the ICF-PCC level since 2006.) The Conference Board 2014 survey, from 142 companies, defines external executive coaches compensation ranging from $600-200/ hour depending upon the size of the company, developmental needs of the leader, and seniority. The average investment for 6 months and 40-45 hours is $25,000. The 2014 ICF survey states that the average salary is $214/hour. The market realities and financial value of executive coaching are significant.
My experience of countless “coaches” is that the profession sorely needs a) a scientific evidence-based backbone and b) a theoretical backbone. Without such theory, science, and applications, the profession of executive coaching is at risk.
In hindsight, I realize that I wanted Marshall Goldsmith to provide some leadership or insight into these aspects of executive coaching. Marshall Goldsmith’s book Triggers does not address any of these academic, social and market realities. Hence it fell short of what I had expected. I can imagine him chuckling and retorting, “OK, so what are you going to do that would make you happier?”
Perhaps that is the subject for a different blog.
Call me if you’d like to discuss this book?
by Doug Gray | Aug 3, 2015 | change, Coaching, Success
Thankfully, as a species and as individuals, we know that humans adapt to environmental stimuli.
Behavior changes when we (1) modify the cues (e.g. positive or negative triggers), then
(2) we change the routine (e.g. gestalt, patterns) and
(3) we include regular rewards (e.g. self-care, executive coaching and consulting)
As an example, when you (1) place a white placement at a table, and sit down to eat no more than three times a day (cue), and (2) use a 5” diameter plate that has a smaller serving size than most American restaurants, and refuse to snack (routine), then (3) your reward will be weight loss or weight management.
Same with any behavior change.
Imagine that you are stuck in an undesirable habit, and that you “know you need” some behavior change. For instance, imagine that you desire to build resilience.
Resilience can be defined as “the capacity to adapt successfully in the presence of risk and adversity.”
As a second example, when you pause for 5 seconds before saying or doing your response (cue), using a physical trigger or new activity to anchor the new routine, such as using one hand to pull on each finger of your other hand (routine), then your reward may be guidance from your prefrontal cortex that informs you to reply in some career-enhancing manner. You adapt successfully and build more resilience. Get the idea?
Individual behavior changes faster when others reward us. Find a coach or an accountability partner. You do not need to hire an executive coach or consultant to practice behavior change.
Call Doug Gray, PCC, today at 615.905.1892.
What are you waiting for?
by Doug Gray | Aug 1, 2015 | change, Coaching, healthcare, Leadership, Managers, talent
Physicians with resilience have:
- Increased career satisfaction
- Higher personal life satisfaction
- Enhanced performance and efficacy
- Engagement with lifelong learning
- Skills that may be modeled and directly transferable to patients (e.g., CBT)
Thankfully, resilience can be taught and developed.
Resiliency can be defined as “the capacity to adapt successfully in the presence of risk and adversity.”
Take this quick self diagnosis for burnout and resiliency:
Take a moment to write down where you think you are on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high) on these two measures. Note that burnout and resiliency are directly related and inversely related. Like any coin with two sides…
A self-diagnostic question is “How do you know if you are avoiding burnout behaviors?”
An organizational-diagnostic question is to ask your team if they have noticed you being less compassionate, hopeful and caring lately?
Or if you are daring, ask your team if they have noticed you being more abrupt, judgmental, or impatient lately?
(We are often hired to assess the degree of burnout or resiliency in a practice group.)
My experience is that these bullets are 5 reasons for you to do some work. “Physician heal thyself” is axiomatic. As a species, we need to make more anabolic choices than catabolic choices.
CBT is cognitive behavioral therapy, a psychological process that recognizes choice, personal strengths, and includes reqular behavioral feedback.
I hire a dentist when I need dental work; why wouldn’t you hire a psychologist when you need to develop resilience for your self or your team?
by Doug Gray | Jul 6, 2015 | Business, change, Coaching, Leadership, Managers, strengths, Success, talent, talent assessment
How do you measure learning and development?
The Greeks believed that the “rope of one’s life” was defined by three fates, who spun the thread of life, measured it, and then cut it.
Instead, imagine that your career can be described using a 10’ long piece of rope. If you dropped the rope at your feet it would look like several messy loops. Most of us choose to believe that we have some impact on the “rope of our careers.”
Now imagine that you have a work team of 5 people. If they each had a 10’ long piece of rope and dropped those ropes at your feet, then how would you describe that messy image?
Talent management is a cyclical model frequently described with three loops: attraction, development and retention. Some of those key metrics include efficiency, effectiveness and outcomes. A tremendous resource for talent managers who want to demonstrate accountability, like any CFO or business leader, is at www.centerfortalentreporting.org
The ultimate goal of talent management should be to retain desired employees, not all employees.
There are actually 6 loops in talent management. Think of your process as 6 inter-related loops that include: talent acquisition, learning and development, leadership development, performance, total rewards, and succession planning. Here is a definition of each loop, plus some comments.
- “Learning and development” services support all of the organizational activities aimed at improving the performance of individuals and groups within the organization. The learning and development process includes addressing gaps in skills, knowledge and competencies, and then building the strategic talent capabilities of the organization through a systematic focus on competence required to meet business objectives. Aspects of learning and development may include job profiles, competency mapping, knowledge management, behaviors, skills, ability tracking, learning content, training, coaching and assessments.
Despite the trend toward digital content delivery, adoption of digital content remains below 20% in most industries. Make certain that you are using short, sensational videos, interactive quizzes, and social followers or gamification to promote goals of instructional designers. The bottom line? Be careful if investing in digital solutions and expecting high user adoption rates.
The 70:20:10 model for learning and development is a guideline or frame of reference that is now used to both 1) promote learning and 2) restrict learning. Let us assume that learning results from 70% on-the-job or self-directed learning, 20% from managerial or client feedback, and 10% from courses and reading. Then what does that mean in your organization?
- Do you expect to foster innovation internally, by engaging employees or actively managing their professional development plans?
- Do you restrict that manager who spends more than 20% of her time and energy on that direct report that has high potential, but lacks procedural knowledge of customer delivery?
- Do you invest in external coaching and consulting for your top 20% producers, as a development tool to increase retention some 14 months on average?
We do not need any insight from the Greek fates to measure the impact of learning and development on the “rope of our careers.”
We do need to foster learning communities in order to increase engagement, retain desired employees, and serve our clients and customers.
If you need help measuring the impact of learning and development for individuals or organizations, then contact us today.
by Doug Gray | Jul 4, 2015 | change, Coaching, Leadership, Managers, talent, talent assessment
The 6 Loops in Talent Management Lifecycle
The Greeks maintained that the “rope of one’s life” was defined by three fates, who spun the thread of life, measured it, and then cut it.
Now imagine that your career can be described using a 10’ long piece of rope. If you dropped the rope at your feet it would look like several messy loops. Most of us choose to believe that we have some impact on the “rope of our careers.”
Now further imagine that you have a work team of 5 people. If they each had a 10’ long piece of rope and dropped those ropes at your feet, then how would you describe that messy image?
Talent management is a cyclical model frequently described with three loops: attraction, development and retention. Business leaders glibly talk about the “hire to retire” or “cradle to grave” sequence, although there is little evidence remaining of that model in the U.S. economy. Instead, the process is shortened to a “hire to fire” process. Some of those key metrics include efficiency, effectiveness and outcomes. A tremendous resource for talent managers who want to demonstrate accountability, like any CFO or business leader, is at www.centerfortalentreporting.org
The ultimate goal of talent management should be to retain desired employees, not all employees. (That would be a spurious, and expensive goal. There are plenty of good reasons to fire employees or not invest in them. And there are plenty of measures of accountability.)
There are actually 6 loops in talent management.
Think of your process as 6 inter-related loops that include: talent acquisition, learning and development, leadership development, performance, total rewards, and succession planning. Here is a definition of each, plus some comments.
- “Talent acquisition” is a strategic approach to identifying, attracting, and onboarding talent to efficiently and effectively meet dynamic business needs. Aspects of talent acquisition typically include sourcing, candidate pools, assessment, employer brand, recruiting, selection, diversity planning, critical role identification, onboarding, and talent mobility.
Sadly, 60% of HR expenses focus on talent acquisition, instead of developing and retaining desired employees. Note that the remaining 5 buckets in the talent management lifecycle focus on developing and retaining desired employees.
My question: Why would your business line leaders, CHRO or CFO focus only on talent acquisition?
You may choose to believe in those three Greek fates who define the “rope of your life.”
Contact us today if you want to improve the “rope of your career” with assessments or talent management consulting.
by Doug Gray | Jun 24, 2015 | Business, change, Coaching, Leadership, Managers, money, physicians, Success, talent, talent assessment
There is chaos in the executive coaching and leadership consulting industry.
The top 6 reasons for that chaos include 1) low barrier to entry by anyone who chooses to call himself an “executive coach,” 2) low accountability for the coaching process, 3) unclear business agreements and ROI, 4) proliferation of “certification programs” (often by self-congratulating organizations and/or universities that respond to perceived market opportunities), 5) digital overwhelm of choices at low cost and variable quality, and 6) clients or buying agents in organizations who fear taking action. My opinion is that the chaos in the coaching industry can be reduced.
So here is my effort to reduce the chaos, by providing fee ranges and best practices. Please forward this page to your colleagues.
1. Individual Coaching or Consulting Services. Fees range from $3,000- $50,000 for 6 months. Individual coaching may be defined as a customized leadership development process that enables leaders to practice new skills or behavioral outcomes. Individual consulting may be a more directive style, where we provide expertise based on world-class examples or evidence-based recommendations to accelerate your leadership development. The average executive coaching engagement is $25,000 for 6 months, about 40 hours. The average small business coaching engagement is $6,000 for 6 months, about 18 hours. Typically, an individual coaching process includes an intake, meeting with key stakeholders, written action plan with behavioral outcomes, clear measures of success/ KPIs, quantitative and qualitative assessments, satisfaction survey, and demonstrated behavioral outcomes at completion. Be wary of anyone who offers a term of engagement shorter than 6 months, because behavioral change takes time. Be wary of anyone who provides an hourly rate, because that is a transactional approach and it may be unethical (Do I really need to extend this coaching engagement if we have not met the desired outcomes within 6 months?) Be wary of additional fees for assessments, a sample intake, books, materials, or excessive travel… Only select coaches who provide tremendous value and exceed that promise. Only select coaches who guarantee results for their services. Only select coaches with many testimonials demonstrating clear behavioral outcomes. Still confused? Then call us for details or schedule a complimentary, confidential session here.
2. Team Coaching or Group Coaching. Fees range from $1,000 per person to $4,000 per person for 6 months. There is a trend toward providing coaching services that bundle clients together by team (e.g. the IT department in Houston) or by group (e.g. all district managers or all newly promoted supervisors.) Many coaches bundle these services for one reason– because the coaches then make more money. We all need to make money. However, that is not a compelling reason to bundle valuable services into a commoditized market such as “online team-coaching modules…” We do not recommend these online modules because there is no evidence that the results are significant. There is conflicting data on the significance of team coaching engagements. These programs must be customized for specific organizational needs, they must have executive sponsorship, and they must have milestones for phases of success. Yes, we can provide team coaching programs for any organization. Contact us for details or referrals.
3. Organizational Coaching or Consulting Services. Fees range from $15,000- $100,000 per person for 6 months. Fees vary by role of the leader (c-suite or a HiPo), geography (Asia or North America), and client expectations. There is massive value to any organization if you can be guaranteed access to pre-qualified coaches in New York as well as Mexico City or Paris. We are affiliated with CoachSource, the largest global provider of executive coaches, in over 1,000 in 45+ countries. These service providers can provide breadth for any initiative in any geography, thereby increasing the likelihood of your organizational alignment or new program implementation. If you are interested in a scaled solution for a specific industry or business need, then you need to select an organizational coaching service provider. We have selected and managed hundreds of executive coaches at multiple F500 global organizations since 2005. Contact us for details.
4. Organizational Assessment Services. Fees range from $500- $28,000 per person. Assessments range from an individual validated tool such as the Hogan Suite or DISC (there are over 15,000 validated assessments) to multi-rater, multi modal assessments with high predictive validity. We can provide virtually any individual or organizational assessment. Assessments are essential to leadership development. Just as you would never go to a physician until the nurse provides your vitals, we recommend using validated assessment tools to measure behavioral changes over time. We often provide assessments by themselves for your new hires or a newly promoted leaders. We always include assessments in coaching solutions, as part of the process. Contact me for details or referrals.
Since 1997, we have seen tremendous changes in the business and leadership coaching services industry. As a timely example, minutes ago I received a cold call from a “leader” in the sales coaching software industry. I quickly learned that he knew less about the industry than he should, and I excused myself from the call. You can avoid the chaos.
If you are interested in seeing trend survey reports from the coaching industry, or from our research on the relationship of positive psychology on business leaders and executive coaching, please contact us.
Now you have some pricing numbers and best practices. So what is your next step?
- You have to vet coaches. Call 3-4 of the best. Read their testimonials. Make sure that they are working on their own professional development. I have hired sales coaches at times. And business coaches at other times. The terms were clean. Their value was tremendous. I currently work with 2 of the best coaches in North America. (Perhaps I need more help than most people.) Make sure the consultants that you select focus on value, and guarantee their work.
- Take a small step: Contact us. Or call 704.995.6647. Or schedule your initial consultation here.
There is no reason to be fearful amid the chaos.
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