We enable successful Leaders to get even better!
Are you successful as a Leader because of your behavior or in spite of it? Our Stakeholder Centered Coaching® for Executives delivers guaranteed and measurable leadership growth. This is made possible by a unique approach developed by Marshall Goldsmith (#1 Leadership Thinker and Executive Coach).
In a nutshell, we only get paid after our clients get better! “Better” is not defined by us or by our individual clients. “Better” means measurable positive change in pre-selected leadership behaviors as determined by pre-selected key stakeholders.
Our experienced team has been trained, certified and authorized by Marshall Goldsmith – Stakeholder Centered Coaching to lead this process with Leaders.
Leadership growth and improving effectiveness take place at work while interacting with stakeholders!
Most successful leaders / managers today have a good intellectual understanding of the various management tools & skills required to lead an organization successfully. Therefore the major leadership challenges for managers and executives today is NOT understanding the practice of leadership, BUT practicing their understanding of leadership. For successful organizational leaders to become more effective, leadership change needs to be positive, sustained, recognized and acknowledged by their stakeholders (and others).
Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching is a real time on the job process that is highly effective and time efficient. Accelerating leadership growth and effectiveness is about changing behaviors and creating new processes & habits while interacting with others (stakeholders) on the job. The process is also available for Executive TEAMS – read more about it here!
Awareness and acceptance are not enough!
Coaching frequently focuses on assessing leadership effectiveness and action planning which results in a strong emphasis on awareness and acceptance. As a result the leader intellectually understands where leadership change would be desirable and how leadership change would lead to higher effectiveness. Though this step is critical at the outset of the coaching process as it defines the ‘intent of the leader to change’, it often times results in a long list of good action intentions that might not see the light of day.
Action and acknowledgement are key!
Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching takes the leadership change process further, outside the leader’s office, and into their work environment with the stakeholders. Stakeholders can provide important and insightful suggestions for behavioral change that would help leaders to become more effective on the job. The Stakeholder Centered Coaching process includes a strong emphasis on action implementation and follow-through to make change stick, thus creating more effective leadership behaviors and habits. Leadership growth has only real value though implementing change that is sustained, recognized and acknowledged by stakeholders in the workplace. Perception is reality.
Stakeholder Centered Coaching guarantees measurable leadership growth
The efficacy of Marshall’s Stakeholder Centered Coaching approach has been clearly demonstrated:
- A comprehensive study among 11,000 business leaders on 4 continents concluded that 95% of leaders who applied the Stakeholder Centered Coaching process measurably improved their leadership effectiveness. This study is described ‘Leadership is a contact sport’.
- Numerous great top executives, leadership thought leaders and HR development professionals have firsthand experience in working with Marshall Goldsmith and applying his Stakeholder Centered Coaching process for themselves and their organizations.
- Stakeholder Centered Coaching does not require any ‘extra valuable time’ from busy business executives as the coaching and leadership change process is integrated in their leadership role on the job.
The Stakeholder Centered Coaching program includes a ‘No Growth, No Pay’ success guarantee. Our commitment is to support leaders to become more effective in their organization, which is demonstrated in our coaching service fee structure where up to 100% of the coaching fees (for the yearlong programs) are subject to measurable growth in leadership effectiveness of the leaders as assessed by stakeholders.
Stakeholder Centered Coaching focuses on follow-through to measure Leadership Growth
Whereas executive development and coaching programs generally focus heavily on (intellectual) learning and little on follow-through and measuring tangible results, Stakeholder Centered Coaching has turned this on its ear with a strong emphasis on implementation and follow-through to measure growth in leadership effectiveness. In the end the only thing that counts is leadership growth i.e. improved leadership (behavior) effectiveness on the job as perceived by stakeholders.
As Marshall puts it: “Leadership Change and Coaching are simple but not easy!”. Stakeholder Centered Coaching developed by Marshall Goldsmith, Frank Wagner, Chris Coffey and Will Linssen is a highly effective and time efficient process that works as follows:
A. Determine 1-2 Leadership Growth Areas Important to the Leader and the Organization
In consultation with the coach, the leader selects 1-2 specific behaviors that are important for their leadership growth (e.g. influencing or delegation). Usually multi-rater leadership assessments (1800 – 3600) and behavioral interviews are used to determine the aforementioned focus.
B. Leading Change Involving Stakeholders (Monthly)
The leader selects a handful of stakeholders mostly their manager(s), direct reports and peers. Throughout the coaching program the leader involves these stakeholders on a monthly basis in the leadership growth process. This creates accountability for the leader to implement the change, as well as accountability for the stakeholders to support and to take part in the change process, which mostly impacts and benefits the leader’s team as a whole.
B1. Involve Stakeholders to Capture Feedforward Suggestions
On a monthly basis the leader asks stakeholders to provide a few practical feedforward suggestions as it relates to their leadership growth focus.
B2. Monthly Action Planning
The leader thinks through the feedforward suggestions from the stakeholders and drafts a monthly action plan. This plan includes the issues the leader is committed to execute during the next month. After the coaching session the leader responds to the stakeholders informing them about their action plan.
B3. Change behavior and perception through execution on the job
Throughout the month, the leader implements their action plan and demonstrates to the stakeholders through their actions that they are working to make change visible and become a more effective leader in the two selected leadership growth areas. Implementing change and following up with stakeholders also alters the stakeholders’ perceptions of the leader over time.
C. Perception is Reality: Measure Leadership Growth based on Stakeholders’ Perception
The coach checks in with the stakeholders approximately every quarter via a short internet based survey, to measure the stakeholders’ perceptions on how they see the leader’s effectiveness has been changing in the two leadership growth areas. This Leadership Growth Progress Review (LGPR) is reported back to the leader (and the sponsor) so that they can gauge how their leadership change efforts have been perceived by the stakeholders. This survey also plays a key role in guaranteeing and measuring leadership growth for the leader and the organization.