Visioning Pardners
State of the Executive
Senior Executives carry the burden and the blessing of
being the visionary force of the organization. The
burden is that the vision must be sharp enough to
steer the organization and exciting enough to
command personal commitment from every employee.
The blessing of being the visionary force is that you
become one of the
few people that
gets to create the
future for the
organization and
every one of it’s
stakeholders—share holders,
employees,
customers,
suppliers, and
impacted
persons—and be
responsible for it. In recent times,
the standards of being responsible for the future
requires a deeper sense of self. CEO’s no longer
mirror the ship’s captain leaning over the forward
bow in gale force winds demanding that everyone
follow. Today, senior executives need to know whom
they are and how they impact the organization,
including shareholder value, the environment, and
every employee. As reported in BusinessWeek in
November of 2002, “when CEO’s fail, and most
do...it’s because they misread the culture and the
politics. And in the process, they don’t manage
themselves or their emotions very well”.
The New York Times reported in May of 2005 that
senior executives in the
U. S. have fared better
that those in other parts
of world where
shareholders are more
active and less forgiving
about instability and dips
in stocks prices.
Moreover, it conjectured
that a shift seems to be
occurring in the U. S. as
evidenced by the recent
number of forced
departures. TheAmerican tenet that every man, woman, and child
should have the right to amend for his or her mistakes
and misdeeds, while getting paid, does not translate
into extended tenure for ill-performance in
organizations. Rather, there appears to be a shift to
making amends “somewhere else and on someone
else’s nickel”.
Part of this evolving backlash is caused by the fact that executive officers and the CEO, in particular, have little immediate feedback on their effectiveness. As reported in BusinessWeek in November of 2002, “top Execs get less feedback about their performance than anyone else. And studies show that the higher up the ladder they climb, the more likely senior Execs and CEOs are to think their performance is much better than their underlings do.”
What Supports Executive Success
Recently, executive coaching has adopted the phrase
visioning
partner to
support senior
executives. As
reported in
BusinessWeek
(11/2002),
“coaches help
fill the
information
vacuum
surrounding
most CEOs.”
Not limited by
internal politics
and able to
cross lines to
confidentially collect “what’s not being said”, the
coach becomes a valuable resource. More over, the
executive coach can be the sounding board needed to
test the visioning surrounding changes of direction
that keeps the organization heading in the “right”
direction. Time is spent on finding untested
inferences and assumptions before bringing ideas to
the table. Finally, the executive coach is able to
support the executive to remain grounded, not in
perks and grandiose self-perceptions, but in day-today
reality.
The Bottom-line of Coaching
Through comparisons of experiences before and after coaching most people establish a value for coaching. Here are a few examples as reported from various business sources:
As reported in Fortune Magazine, ..managers
described an average return of ...about six times
what the coaching had cost their companies."- A study by MetrixGlobal LLC found that coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business.
- Research on effectiveness, reported in the Manchester Review (2001, Vol. 6, No. 1) showed that companies that invested in executive coaching received an average 500%+ return on investment.
- In February, 2004, it was reported in the Washington Post that a company utilizing coaching gained $3.3 million in 2003 which resulted in a 689% return on the company's investment.
Competitive Edge
Clearly, Executive Coaching is evolving at a brisk pace. Awareness of the value of providing coaching as a learning tool for executive and leadership development is becoming common. Recent studies reported in Simply Business, February/March, 2005 have show that 94% of the individuals that earn more than $1 million per year have a personal or executive coach support their development and their visioning processes. To say the least executive coaching is being recognized as a competitive edge.
Benefits of Visioning Pardner
Clearer thinking about business and personal
goals- Immediate awareness of visioning that served the past but are not serving in the present
- Deeper awareness of choices
- Learn how to be present with your self and therefore with others in ways that increase your effectiveness
- Clarity in Self Awareness measured against reality.
Visioning Pardner Details
Visioning Pardner supports CEOs and senior executives to explore their learning edge by examining both the cutting edge and the flat-side of their personal, professional, and organizational visioning.
Forward Visioning
Visioning
Pardner supports the client by bridging the gap that can
create extended competence.
Bridging the gap focuses on what is
missing. It builds on existing skills
and thoughts by using them as pillars to discover new
competencies; often, competencies required by
recent position changes within the organization,
the environment, and/or the recent future. Creating
extended competence is forward visioning. It may be
known that present performance is more than
adequate, but future positions or dreams require a
larger skill base or an expanded mind-set or simply a
greater self awareness in order to be effective for
future challenges. Both approaches focus on
expanding the capacity of the executive and the
organization.
Dealing with “what is”
Visioning Pardner supports the
client to develop a baseline for
“what is” and explore the gut
feeling, recent changes,
and/or nagging inclination that
glaringly dictates that the
future of any executive or
organization is never a
straight-line projection from
what has been. It is in the
unexplored twists and turns
that the future is created, and
it is the exploration itself of
what has never been that
enables something new to
emerge.
Emergence
Visioning Pardner supports the recent studies that have revealed that the most successful executives repeatedly take the time to know thy self andtherefore to know thy organization. Again, it is in the exploration, the emergence process, that the idea, the solution, the plan, or the decision emerges. Visioning Pardner supports the executive by creating a container to sound new ideas and wait with the executive to hear the echoes that come back.
Sitting in “it”
Visioning Pardner
requires time to
digest instead of
the usual gulp and
run. Digestion
takes time and is
critical to gain the
value of the
process. Feeling
the pressure, the
inner tension to
take action, any
action, enhances
the creative energy
required to allow
something new,
fresh and resonant to emerge. Most executives cannot
stand the heat of waiting, sitting in the tension until
resonance emerges with the clear choice, for a
compelling picture of what already exists but has not
been created.
Courage or Desperation
Visioning Pardner tends to be highly focused and
requires a major personal and professional
commitment from the client. It requires courage
and/or desperation as the process may reveal the
tarnish under the glimmer of many past personal,
professional, and/or organizational successes. It is
the ability to examine the tarnish and discover new
ways of being that
leads to the profound
changes resulting from
becoming a Visioning
Pardner. The process
ranges from six to
twenty-four months
depending on the
desire and depth the
client seeks. The
frequency of meeting
is determined by the
exigency of the
moment.