Both Business Coaching and Executive Coaching are concerned with increasing performance. The main difference is the focus and approach used.

Business Coaching tends to focus on organizational performance of small and medium sized companies. Executive Coaching tends to focus on providing CEO’s, senior managers and business owners with a personal development plan that will take them and their company to the next level.

A competent Business Coach can provide a neutral, third party perspective on existing business plans and goals. This person can serve as a trusted consultant who can assist in clearifying the current business plan with the company’s overall strategic plan.

Executive Coaching is generally a process where an outside consultant assumes the role of a trusted personal advisor who is not afraid to tell the king he has no clothes on. An Executive Coach will help the leader gain insights into specific management/leadership shortcomings. Once the shortcomings have been identified, one on one coaching leads to improved individual performance.

Dr. Jack Morrison is uniquely qualified to help a company with its business plan as well as helping individuals achieve greater success in reaching personal goals.

1. Organized Approach and Commitment- Executive coaching is like an exercise program. The more organized the approach, the more likely a client will stay committed.
2. Process Oriented and Consistency – Great executive coaching has four components: standards, monitoring, analysis and feedback.
3. Participative Feedback – Great executive coaching is not a one-way monologue; it is a two-way dialogue. Extraordinary listening skills are imperative for effective feedback.
4. Objectivity – Great executive coaches are objective with their feedback.
5. Knowledgeable  and Skilled – Great executive coaches have the techniques and skills to create a successful coaching experience.
6. Balanced and Fair – Positive feedback and “constructive” feedback must be balanced.
7.  Flexible and Tolerant – A great coach adjusts to the personality and behavior preferences of the client.
8. Patient and Tolerant – Great executive coaches understand clients will typically resist change. Thus, patience and tolerance are assets brought to the process.
9. Tough and Firm – A great executive coach knows when to be tough and kick butt. Communicating clear expectations is the key.
10. Realistic – Great executive coaches know when the process is NOT working and it is time to terminate the relationship.

The above traits were identified by CEO Online.

Having an external mediator for workplace conflict issues makes sense on a number of fronts. In-house mediators are often perceived to have biases and hidden agendas and tend not to be trusted.

A third party has the advantage of not knowing the players and, as such, has a greater chance of being seen as independent, fair and objective.  A mediator from the “outside” is more likely to develop a sense of trust with the feuding parties as an atmosphere of confidentiality can easily be established.

The credentials a mediator brings to the process are crucial. In the case of Morrison Business Consulting, its founder Dr. Jack Morrison’s unique background is an asset. He has decades of experiences from senior management positions in the business world as well as direct involvement in academia as an Associate Professor teaching MBA students. Additionally, his career includes time spent as a Director of Corporate Training and a practicing psychotherapist. Also, of interest to many clients are his years as a PGA golf professional and a PSIA professional ski instructor.

Jack’s credentials provide him with instant credibility entering any workplace conflict mediation situation.

EXECUTIVES SHOULD ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY:

• Will improved communications make us more productive?
• If we could reduce employee conflict, would that make us more productive?
• If our senior managers were more skilled at idenfitying individual behavior styles, would that make us more productive?
• If our senior managers had greater motivating skills, could that make us more productive?
• If our senior managers had greater problem-solving skills, would that makes us more productive?
• If our departments could work more effectively as teams, would we be more productive?

DiSC training will provide affimative answers to the above. The Personal Profile System (PPS) commonly refered to as the DiSC, helps individuals identify their strengths, their weaknesses, how they react under stress, and why they have certain behavioral tendencies in the workplace.

DiSC training provides answers to what motivates employees. It explains how effective and efficient teams can be formed.  And, perhaps most importantly, it identifies the RED FLAGS executives should avoid waving at employees, as they will create a counter-productive work place.

In his 1984 Doctoral Disseration, Jack Morrison proved that the DiSC measures the above dimensions of behavior. For over 25 years he has been extremely successful helping companies improve their bottom line by creating a greater awareness with executives and senior managers about why their employees, “do what they do”. The DiSC, if administered correctly, measures what it purports to measure.  In other words….it works.

Coaching is for staff who are low producers.

Just the opposite. High producers is where ROI is the greatest.

Coaching is a form of counseling.

No.  Counseling is reactive. Coaching is proactive and focuses on personal performance.

Coaching means more work for less money.

No.  If a person performs at his/her best, work becomes easier and more rewarding. Of times wages are increased. 

What does that mean?

Dale Carnegie once told a story about having dinner with a good friend. During their meal, Carnegie inquired about his friend’s son John, who was in college. The friend said he thought everything was fine,  but he and his wife weren’t sure because they could not get the young man to respond to their letters. (This was in an era before email.) The conversation continued and Carnegie bet his friend he could get the son to write to him. The father gladly took the bet. Why would a college kid write to a family acquaintance when he wouldn’t write to his own parents?

Carnegie’s letter went something like this:

Dear John,

I recently had dinner with your father and I inquired about how you were doing at school. He seemed pleased to report that you were doing well and college life seemed to agree with you.

I know expenses can mount up on a campus, so I am enclosing $100 to help you out.

Good luck with the rest of the year.

Sincerely,

Dale Carnegie

(Carnegie did not put the $100 in the envelope.)

A couple of weeks later in the mail was a letter from John……….”Dear Mr. Carnegie” ……(The reader can fill in the rest.)

MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ANOTHER PERSON VALUES

The following comments come from several business leaders as they point out the soundness of investing in coaching.

• An Executive Coach serves as a strategic partner to an executive leader and his/her team.
• An Executive Coach’s skills include business acumen, leadership, organizational skills, analytic and innovative thinking.
• An Executive Coach has the ability to inspire trust and commitment to action.
• CEO coaching, in particular, is really about accelerating the natural growth curve of a person who wants to be a leader.

BENEFITS

• Over 70 executives were coached in a global communications organization in five countries.  A survey of 43 participants showed that executive coaching produced a 529% ROI.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Improved relationships with direct reports (77%)
• Improved relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
• Improved teamwork (67%)
• Improved conflict reduction (52%)
• Increased Productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
• Quality Improvement (48%)
• Organizational strength Improvement (48%)
• Better Customer Service (39%)
• Reducing customer complaints (34%)
• Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)
• Cost reduction (22%)

Dr. Jack Morrison has coached dozens of executives in the corporate world and administrators in academia.  

Contact Jack  to learn more about Executive Coaching and how it can benefit you.

Did you know that after 30 days we retain:

• 14% of what we hear
• 22% of what we see
• 30% of what we watch other do
• 83% of performing a new challenge
• 92% of what we teach each other

Isn’t it amazing that when we were in school the majority of what we were exposed to were lectures. Yet, lectures are the least effective way to teach anything. Some instructors did use audio visuals, so our retention rate jumped into the low 20”s.  Or, another way of looking at it is to say we were unable to retain about 80% of what we heard and saw.

Restaurants and other similar business traditionally use “ghost” training for new employees. Ghost training is ineffective in itself (30% retention rate), but if it is repeated over and over again and includes a series of new challenges for the employee, the retentions jumps up into the 80% range.

Look at the best in their respective businesses. Nobody does it better.

• L.L. Bean
• Nordstrom’s
• The Container Store
•  Deer Valley Ski Area
• PGA Tour’s TPC Network

Why are they the best at what they do? Closer examination will find each of the above companies/operations spend five to ten times more money and time on training. They emphasize the development of internal trainers who are asked to stretch the minds of new employees by presenting them challenges not faced before.

Training workshops conducted by Morrison Business Consulting stress the importance of incorporating the teaching/training component with every participant. We are always trying to get clients to look at new challenges as we ask individuals to reexamine the importance of being a leader who teaches.

Contact Jack Morrison to schedule a training session with your organization.

Sources for the above:

mscosching.com

metrixglobal.net

Manchester Study