Executive Coaching

Today, the focus in companies large and small is on improving performance, productivity and profitability. Organizations and their top executives are experiencing change like never before. This state of constant flux forces executives to re-invent themselves and how they use their skills. The cost to a business and the professional can be substantial if these business realities are left unchecked and unresolved.

Executive coaching is an intensive, personalized, one-on-one developmental tool that enhances an employee’s effectiveness. A partnership based upon confidentiality is imperative and is quickly established. The coach creates an environment for insights, learning and growth. Whether working with a senior executive, an employee who exhibits high potential or one with performance issues, an executive coach uses a wide array of skills, resources and assessment tools to help the employee reach new professional heights.

Poertner Consulting Group, LLC, coaches towards specific business results with tangible goals and measurable milestones, plus we believe in results-oriented executive coaching process, with specific action plans to accelerate success over time.

The executive coaching process is individually tailored to the needs of the executive and the organization's specific goals and objectives. But in general, some of the key areas that could be covered include:

• Building leadership capacity


• Making key decisions or designing strategies


• Prioritizing actions and projects


• Catching up and getting ahead of the business


• Coaching and developing staff


• Increasing sales substantially


• Expanding a professional practice


• Turning around a difficult situation


• Planning, budgeting and goal-setting


• Taking a project to completion


• Leading team development


• Keeping personal concerns from undermining business results


• Balancing business with personal life

The organizations that are poised to help their current executives cope with the organization's and marketplace's changes will be in a much better position to attract and keep good talent. They will also be training and building the leaders of tomorrow.

360° Feedback

Most people have "blind spots." They don't see themselves as others see them. For this reason, they often don't understand the impact their actions have on others. Although well-intentioned and hard-working, they may be the only ones who don't know they are causing problems. 360-Degree Assessment and Feedback has emerged as a powerful tool for leadership and management development.

Feedback is essential for development and for improving performance. If people don't fully appreciate their strengths, how can they use these strengths to their advantage? If they aren't sure which actions create problems for others, how will they know what to change? And if they don't understand the impact they have, why would they want to make a concentrated effort to improve?

The problem is that most people don't know how to affirm each other's strengths, and they find it uncomfortable to confront each other directly about performance and behavioral issues. They often find it easier to bring these things up to fellow team members, with the result that the individual who needs the feedback never hears it.

When an organization adopts a 360° process, employees will need an efficient, confidential and anonymous vehicle for giving feedback to each other. State-of-the-art software can simplify the process of collecting multi-source (360°) feedback for everyone in the organization.

We can focus on any one or more of these areas:

• Individual 360° feedback


• Leadership development


• Team development


• Skill assessment


• Needs assessment


• Performance management


• Evaluation of training


• Competency development


• Customer satisfaction surveys


• Employee attitude surveys


• Organizational climate surveys

Both with individuals and within groups, it’s vital to use valuable feedback information to create lasting change. Each individual summary feedback report highlights the participant’s perceived strengths and developmental needs. From there, an action plan is created to lay the groundwork for personal performance improvement. Ongoing support for development can be provided through individual coaching and training opportunities. A successful 360-degree Feedback Assessment is a strategic starting point for learning, growth and change.

Contact Poertner Consulting Group, LLC to find out more about how we can help you with your feedback needs.

Team Building

In the late 80s and 90s, Team Building has been recognized by many companies as an important factor in providing a quality service and remaining competitive. Yet the term ‘team building’ can sometimes seem rather nebulous -- people often know that they need it, but aren’t quite sure what it is.

What is team building?

A team is a group of people working towards a common goal. Team Building is the process of enabling that group of people to reach their goal. It is therefore a management issue, and the most effective form of team building is that undertaken as a form of management consultancy, rather than as pure training (though there is a role for training within a program of team building).

In its simplest terms, the stages involved in team building are:

• To clarify the team goals


• To identify those issues which inhibit the team from reaching their goals


• To address those issues, remove the inhibitors and enable the goals to be achieved

The primary skills in this process are recognizing the right issues and tackling them in an appropriate way and an appropriate order.



Team building can also take a different form depending on the size and the nature of the team. In a project environment, where team composition is continually changing, the emphasis must be on developing the skills in individuals to be effective team members. The ‘scale’ involved is one person, and the team building consultant is endeavoring to change the skills and abilities of the individual at operating within a team (or within multiple teams).

In teams where membership is static -- typically in management teams -- how the individuals within the team relate can have a big bearing on team performance. If a member leaves, or another joins, the dynamics of the team can be changed greatly. Here, the scale is small -- say, two to about twelve -- and the team building consultant endeavors to improve relationships between team members, using tools such as the MBTI and/or the MTR-I team roles.

A larger scale operates between teams where the teams do not relate well. These are called ‘team islands’, and it is the relationship between the teams that becomes the focus for the consultant.

The largest scale is that of organizational team building. With the exception of the senior management team, the ability of individuals to make an impact on the corporate culture is very limited. One of the key aims of the team building consultant is to change the behaviors and attitudes prevalent in the organization, which are almost independent of who actually works there -- new recruits who are ‘different’ often start behaving in accord with existing culture.

Summary

• A team is a group of people working towards a common goal


• Team building is a process of enabling the team to achieve that goal


• The stages involved in team building including clarifying the goal, identifying the inhibitors and removing them


• The nature of the team building varies in terms of scale and what you are trying to achieve

Poertner Consulting Group, LLC provides a full range of services in the arena of building effective teams:

• The basics of team building


• How to build a team


• Develop your skills for building your team


• Team roles and team building


• Building informal work groups

- Leadership of informal work groups
- Informal group cohesiveness
- Informal group norm, unspoken rules


• Being an effective team member

- How to manage team egos
- Being a valuable team member


• Effectiveness of teams

- High performance teams

Contact Poertner Consulting Group, LLC to work with you and your team to enhance your team’s effectiveness. Poertner can provide you with one-on-one consulting or coaching, or facilitate team building sessions with you and your team.

Board Development

Many corporations and non-profit organizations fail to maximize the potential contributions their boards can make to advancing their missions. This results in frustrated board members as well as managers. It does not have to be this way. Successful organizations are those that have learned how to mobilize a board, how to define its role productively and how to produce results everyone can point to with pride.

A big part of the problem is a lack of clarity and agreement on the roles of the board. Poertner Consulting Group, LLC has helped dozens of for profit and non-profit clients to better define their board/staff roles and relationships with great results. Whatever the issue -- from a low performing board, to a power struggle between the board and CEO or executive director -- we can help to clarify the situation and move the organization to problem resolution.

We will use a structured board development process to help your board become one of your organization’s greatest assets. We can also provide consultation and facilitation services for executives and board members experiencing conflicts, misunderstandings or other roadblocks that can hamper the organization’s ability to advance its mission.

Our services include:

• Board and Board/Management Retreats


• Board Training Programs

- Key elements of an effective meeting
- Board evaluation
- Board orientation
- Role of governance
- Teamwork

• Resolution of Board Conflicts


• Executive Coaching in Board Management and Development


• Defining What the Board Needs from New Members -- and Where to Find Them

Is your board supporting your organization and its mission? Strengthening your community?

Contact Poertner Consulting Group, LLC. We customize a board development program that meets your needs. Whether you are experiencing board malaise, conflict among members or rethinking your board’s needs, Poertner can help.

Leadership Case Studies

Leadership team strengthened through charter development

Client was a mid-sized manufacturing firm that had grown rapidly on the heels of becoming an ESOP organization. Renowned within the ESOP world for its highly successful employee-centered practices, the CEO was eager to help the leadership team become more self-sufficient and less dependent on him and his role. Shirley met with the leadership team to help them develop a team charter which clarified their team mission, their shared values, how they would work together, how they would know they were being successful as a team and how they would make decisions and resolve conflict. The team solidified in their commitment to each other and the organization, and the company grew rapidly.

Coaching to facilitate successful succession

Client was a large family-owned business and the father wanted to prepare for eventual succession. His eldest son, to whom he wanted to pass the reins of leadership, was not demonstrating all of the competencies and skills that he felt were important to ensure the ongoing success of the enterprise. Shirley customized a competency modeling process to identify the competencies critical for the organization's success. Through a Web-based assessment and feedback process, she gathered feedback for the eldest son from his brothers, his direct reports, clients with whom he interacted and his father. The resulting report identified what his respondents saw as his greatest strengths and those competencies where he was not as strong. Shirley then served as executive coach for the eldest son, focusing on leadership style, organizational skills and strategic thinking.

Enhancing team skills

Client was an IT team within a large department of state government. The team was respected by its clients for its knowledge and experience, but clients complained profusely about the lack of interpersonal skills and customer-orientation among the team members. The department head hired Shirley to work with the team to enhance their communication and customer relationship skills. Shirley conducted an organizational assessment through one-on-one interviews to uncover the key issues needing to be addressed. She provided the feedback to the team and helped them understand the depth of their customers’ dissatisfaction. The team came to accept the feedback, and most importantly, to determine to change their customers’ perceptions. Shirley worked with them to develop a team mission, vision and values. She helped them develop goals and prioritize strategies. Within six months, the feedback from customers was significantly improved and the team continued to identify methods for ongoing improvement.