Managing partners for professional services firm engaged A S Consulting for a coaching assignment with the firm’s administrator. Initial assessments indicated areas for development included Leadership, Strategic View, and Drive for Results. Concern existed as administrator’s awareness of deficits did not exist. After discussions with the coach, administrator developed a customized development plan to address the three items above with the goal of increasing the scores (for managing partners and staff) by 20% within six months. Coach and sponsor agreed and signed off on plan.
At six months, administrator exceeded goals with both staff and managing partners. With staff, administrator exceeded 50% increase for 8 of 11 dimensions measured.
Dimension
Staff
Managing Partners
(Score range: 1 - 6)
Score Change
6 month change
Score change
6 month change
Leadership
3.31 -> 5.01
+53.9%
3.55 -> 4.56
+28.6%
Strategic View
2.93 -> 4.70
+60.5%
3.00 -> 4.50
+50.0%
Drive for Results
3.33 -> 5.05
+51.4%
3.58 -> 4.79
+33.7%
EXECUTIVE COACHING Managing Partner in international accounting firm engaged A S Consulting to work with the Partner identified to succeed Managing Partner. Critical components of engagement were to increase engagement and trust other partners and direct reports, increase relationships/trust with clients, and decrease stress/anxiety when encountering stressful situations.
After discussions with the coach, partner developed a customized development plan to address the three items above with the goals of increasing 360 assessment results indicating engagement and trust with partners and direct reports, increasing number of deep relationships with clients, and decrease stress/anxiety levels. Coach and Managing Partner agreed and signed off on plan. Partner met with coach every week and worked on action plans and other assignments related to goals.
At six months, partner achieved goals in all three areas, citing keys to success were related to listening and communication skills where the emphasis was on listening to others from their perspective, considering the perspective of the audience when communicating verbally or in writing, and treating people as people versus objects (all related to servant leadership principles).
EXECUTIVE COACHING Managing partners for professional services firm engaged A S Consulting to evaluate the status of the firm. Several months prior to engagement, an event occurred between the partners which was a source of distrust. Additionally, the team experienced symptoms of lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and fear of conflict. The team was advised of the results of the assessment and given recommendations for addressing the above issues (team building), as well as the creation of a firm Mission, Vision, and Core Values.
The team met twice (4.5 and 5.5 hours) to participate in a customized conflict resolution intervention, and additional two times for Mission, Vision, Core Values creation.
After first meeting, managing partners were open to making commitment to engage with each other. Additionally, they committed to open communication with each other, as well as accountability.
After the second meeting, the partners made the commitment, shared their upsets, resolved their differences, and were able to work together as a team to develop the Mission, Vision, and Core Values (in subsequent meetings).
During the second meeting, two partners acknowledged that they planned to leave the partnership, but the outcomes from the meetings changed their minds. All partners indicated their belief that the firm would have dissolved if it were not for the intervention.
EXECUTIVE COACHING
The coachee was fairly new to the organization and was eager to learn and impress leadership. During department outings or business meetings the coachee would make inappropriate comments without realizing the miscue. Leadership was concerned for the coachee and the affects on the firm from the negative interaction. Leadership believed that without effective coaching, the coachee would struggle to remain employed with the organization. Additionally, the coachee was needing to improve networking/business relationship skill sets.
The coachee was assessed to commitment to the areas needing improvement was obtained. After the coachee developed a personal development plan with objective and measurable outcomes, a baseline was established for the negative behaviors. Through weekly meetings, the coachee was guided through the missed opportunities for changed behavior and celebrated the successes.
After six months of coaching, the coachee surpassed the original 80% positive interactions goal and has consistently achieved positive interactions well above the goal. The coachee has also increased their ability with networking and business relationships by meeting the monthly success measures established initially.
NETWORKING/JOB TRANSITION COACHING
A senior operations executive of an international food company accepted early retirement and wanted to continue working. Since he had a long tenure at his company, he had not searched for a job in many years. The executive was concerned he would not represent himself well and did not fully understand how networking would help him find a new role.
Through assessments, a profile was developed for the type of role which would meet the executive's desires and needs. The executive was guided through the process for revising his resume to pertinent facts for his desired job and coached around the nuances of networking for a new role.
Within the executive's timetable initially established, the executive was able to land a role with an international consulting firm providing efficiency of operations services to defense clients.
FACILITATION
A large national hospital corporation was in need of defining the medication process using best practices and integrating the process across the United States to the different types of hospitals within their system. Leadership worried about how to develop a consistent model because of the size of the project and that the multidisciplinary team (physicians, administrators, nurses, pharmacist, and technology professionals) might have difficulty in working together due to hierarchial and "turff" differences between the constituents.
Using neutral facilitation skills, co-facilitated offsite, multiple meeting process with the goals of identifying a best practice process and action plans with measurable outcomes.
The multidisciplinary team was able to come to consensus on identifying the best practice process, develop timelines for the action plans, and outcome measures for implementation. Participants rated facilitator highly on ability to bring clarity and simplicity to the complex, and use of humor to make the long process more fun.
A S Consulting P.O. Box 16582 | Fort Worth, Texas 76162 214-641-6286 P.O. Box 1841 | Addison, Texas 75001