Executive Coaching

 

The pressures on all parts of an organization for business results are enormous. And nowhere is that pressure more intensely felt than in the leadership team. While training and development are standard tools to build performance for mid-level managers and employees, the members of the leadership team are generally left to fend for themselves.

At some point in their careers, most executives find themselves in a "high impact" management or leadership role for which technical talent, business knowledge and experience only partially prepare them. In this role, strong performance requires increasingly sophisticated and effective interpersonal management, political and communication skills ¾skills that will enable them to successfully assess and respond to the needs of their subordinates, peers, superiors, customers and organization.

 

While these executives bring with them a predominance of strengths, technical skills and natural abilities, most will have "blind spots" or development needs that may, if not identified and addressed, prove to be barriers to their success as their team playing, people management, and leadership roles become more complex and demanding.

 

Our company specializes in executive coaching that links individual effectiveness to organizational performance. We help organizations retain top talent, enable executive teams to improve leadership performance and employee productivity, support senior executives responsible for making crucial business decisions and achieving business outcomes and minimize the risks associated with leadership assimilation, leadership derailment and organizational change.

 

To obtain a copy of The Most Common Questions People Ask about Coaching,

simply send an e-mail request to lali@ekward.com.       

 

For more information, contact E. K. Ward & Associates at 716-626-1188 or please click here.

                                                                              

 

OI Partners - E.K. Ward and Associates 
January 2005 Newsletter
 
Happy New Year! 2005 is a promising year for our industry. With the economy on the upswing and the labor market making significant improvements, demand is high for qualified, senior leadership. OI Partners looks forward to helping our clients strengthen your organizations in many ways.

One way we can do that is by making sure succession planning is top of mind for our clients. According to a survey by Development Dimensions International and Chief Executive magazine, 39 percent of respondents do not have a succession plan in place for senior leadership positions. When you consider the fact that many executives will soon retire, the fragility of life or the ease with which executives, given the right opportunities, could transfer companies, it seems necessary to have such a plan in place.

This issue addresses the topic in some depth. We discuss ways to prepare future executives to take the helm, what to consider when choosing a successor and steps to take when implementing a succession plan. As an interesting addition, we have included an article on the changing nature of today's CEO: CEOs are becoming much less like "celebrities" and conducting themselves and their organizations with more integrity and quiet charisma.

We encourage you to make your company's succession plan an important consideration in 2005.

Sincerely,

Anne Mahoney Glose

OI Partners (Williamsville, NY)

Please click on the links below to read the complete articles.

FIRMS SEEK BEST WAY TO TRAIN FUTURE EXECUTIVES
NUMEROUS SURVEYS confirm that a potential business leadership shortage looms. Executive Development Associates recently surveyed 100 representatives of Global Fortune 500 companies on the topic, and an overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that lack of depth in leadership talent was a major barrier to future growth. There are many reasons for this shortage: years of downsizing, early ...

How To Choose Your No. 2
It's no small task to find someone who is content to complement you now-with the skills to take your job later. If you're only as good as the team you've assembled around you, then few decisions could be as important as who will be your No. 2. Just ask Douglas Daft, whose lack of a capable successor sullied his departure last spring from Coca-Cola.

Days of the Supercelebrity CEO Are Over
One of the few concrete means of measuring our view of leaders CEO pay implies that little has changed. It is rising at an even faster rate, and can still be hidden by complicated options schemes. What was 42 times the average worker's salary in 1980 is 531 times today. Europeans were as irate over the 6 million package offered ...

Succession plan key for entrepreneurs
Some companies have written procedures while others are more informal. NEW YORK -- As the leading edge of baby boomers moves toward retirement, many with small businesses need to start thinking about succession plans or exit strategies. Succession planning means more than deciding who to sell the company to. A plan should be written years before an owner is likely to sell, and it should also ...

Succession Planning Lags
More than one-third (39 percent) of senior executives polled in a recent survey admitted they have no succession management plan in place for senior leadership positions. This is true in spite of the fact that 88 percent of CEOs think executive talent management issues are important to their boards, and 93 percent consider succession planning moderately to highly important to the organization's ...

To learn more about OI Partners, please click here.

E. K. Ward and Associates, Inc.
Anne Mahoney Glose
VP, Principal
4455 Transit Road, Suite 3B
Williamsville, NY 14221
(716) 626-1188