FAQ’s
What is your approach to leadership development?
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Real success depends on leaders who are skilled at effectively changing behavior and enrolling employees in the vision of the organization. Through my years of executive leadership, I have developed a winning strategy that helps an organization translate what it takes to inspire positive behavior change within its workforce. If inspiration and ownership are fostered among the team members, and the team is coached and encouraged by an effective leader, strong results will follow. I am also able to recognize barriers to success that might prevent an otherwise good leader from doing his or her job.
How do you determine with which clients you work?
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Just as organizations are selective in who they hire to lead their organizations and drive their strategic imperatives, I must exercise the same deliberate approach in how I find the best candidates for my services. It starts with a strong commitment to improve, coupled with the right fit and chemistry with the organization and its culture. In my many years as a leader and a trainer of leaders, I have learned that while it is imperative to determine which skills and areas of expertise best support an organization’s needs, success is predicated on a commitment to excellence and a working environment that reflects trust at its core. My commitment is to join your team and act as a pivotal player in its success. That decision must be mutual and brokered through trust, knowledge, expectations and understanding.
Sometimes organizations need transformation, and other times they need stabilization. What’s the difference, and how can you help?
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Understanding the gap that exists between the desired “end state” in a business versus its “current state” is the beginning of determining the best way to bridge that gap. Stabilizing a current working environment – or envisioning a full-scale transformation of a work group – are tactics to consider based on a defined objective. My experience has equipped me with the skills needed to determine, define and clearly articulate the “end state” desired by a business and devise a plan and appropriate tactics to arrive there from its current environment. Sometimes an organization doesn’t have clarity on what the “end state” is, but knows that things are not working in its “current state.” I can help define the path more clearly.
What is the “Golden Thread?”
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The “Golden Thread” is the goal alignment that runs throughout the entire company from the executives to the frontline employees. Every organization should have a clear vision and defined business goals. The most effective organizations have defined these goals very clearly from the executive suite down to front-line employees. At each level, every person should have measurable goals that contribute and are tied to the success of the organization. Everyone within the organization should know, by tangible measurement, how and why what they do contributes to the company’s success.
What perspective can an outsider bring to an organization?
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An outsider has the unique ability to see things with a fresh and unbiased perspective. Their view is unobstructed by historical norms, institutional bias or challenges and barriers emanating from company culture. A fresh perspective can bring new ideas and focus, which represent the value of the short-term management services I offer.
What are the traits of a good leader?
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A good leader inspires. A good leader listens. A good leader understands that the power to perform and the very best ideas generated are the output of a high-performing team. Most importantly, a good leader can inspire employees to change their behavior so that their contributions best support the goals of an organization.
What distinguishes your offerings from traditional team-building?
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The core emphasis in my leadership development is the relationship between the leaders and their employees—in the context of their specific business goals. Rather than relying on exercises and scenarios, the work I offer is done around the execution of the business strategy and deployment of tactics to deliver desired business results. The objective is to create a high-performing team that effectively and consistently delivers business results long after I am gone.
Do you build strategic plans?
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I am often engaged in the sharpening of a company’s existing strategic focus and helping the leadership team ensure that focus is well understood by all employees. However, I can also help an organization’s leaders engage in a strategic planning exercise to develop an entirely new strategic plan if it is needed, by collaborating with partners for whom developing a new strategy is their specialty. Through this exercise, the leadership team builds a plan together, owns it and enrolls the rest of the organization in it. I can be instrumental in helping the leadership team to accomplish this, particularly as it relates to the enrollment of employees in the plan.
What kind of organizations are your specialties?
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Many of my clients are companies – or divisions of companies – that have a large number of people that must be led in order to deliver on their company goals. A few examples of this are sales teams, operations support groups, call center organizations and supply chain organizations. However I have also worked effectively with smaller organizations.
Do you distinguish between “executive” and “operations” leadership?
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I am an executive with a strong operational focus. My services, which include leadership development, interim management and turning around problem operating units, all take place at an executive level while addressing day-to-day operational management challenges. While my services are applied at the executive level, it also often requires a sharpening or the development of a strategic focus for the organization. I help leaders within organizations to deliver against the strategy they have defined.