Next month is the fourth anniversary of my work as an Executive Coach. While I stumbled into this field, I have found it to be the single most effective intervention for improving an individual's skills, performance and results (and in many cases, the skills, performance and results of the group that reports to them.) In this edition, I describe "Ten Lessons Learned In More Than 500 Executive Coaching Sessions." These are my opinions and observations of what I feel makes for an effective and ineffective executive. If you would like to read a related article on Executive Coaching, go to my website: www.thecoughlincompany.com and then to the section titled "Articles On Effectiveness." In that section is an article titled, "The Myths And Realities of Executive Coaching." Well, here are some of my lessons learned and are offered in no particular order:

Ten Lessons Learned On Executive Effectiveness
From More Than 500 Executive Coaching Sessions

1. Stop Talking And Start Listening
   Executives spend 50% or more of their time communicating to other people. If they do all of the talking, they wipe out the other person's enthusiasm and buy-in. I have seen many executives talk to their subordinates as though they thought the subordinates were not intelligent enough to think for themselves. They never asked a question, or if they did then they wouldn't listen to the answers. This robs organizations of energy and ideas and breakthroughs and innovations. My advice: ask one provocative question, give the other person a moment to gather their thoughts and then really listen to what they have to say.

2. Do What You Want Others To Do
   If you want front-line employees several levels below you to show up on time for their job, then do the same thing regarding meetings. Executives cancel meetings at the last minute, show up thirty minutes late or arrive completely unprepared. If a person on the front-line dealing with the customer were to do this, they would be fired. Executives must role model the behaviors they want displayed throughout the organization. This lack of congruity happens so repeatedly that it amazes me. Executives tell subordinates in a sarcastic or demeaning manner how important it is for them to treat their customers with respect. The disconnect between the words and actions creates a lack of credibility for these executives.

3. Stay The Course
   The "flavor of the month" mentality is alive and well in corporate America. Decisions are based on a monthly P&L or a Quarterly Financial Statement rather than on a well-defined strategy for adding more value to customers. Great companies stay the course in terms of making sure that their mission, strategies, standards, objectives, goals, tactics and allocation of resources are in alignment and remain in alignment over an extended period of time. Wal-Mart's and Southwest Airlines's commitment to low cost is a great example of this. Staying the course is the responsibility of the executive. Constantly changing the nature and direction of a business group generates a tremendous amount of wasted time, talent, energy and money. There is no way to determine exactly the waste in accounting terms, but it is real nonetheless.

4. Take Care Of The Details
   Here's a fairly typical pattern in my Executive Coaching sessions. I ask, "What is your highest priority outcome for this month?" The other person tells me. I then ask, "What are the two to three things that you will do this month that will have the greatest positive impact on making progress toward achieving this outcome?" They think and then they tell me. I then ask, "Are you going to do these things?" Usually they say yes. Within two months I can almost always tell who is an effective executive and who is not. The effective executive does what he or she thinks will have the greatest positive impact on achieving their highest priority outcome. The ineffective executive constantly tells me how busy they became, how several crises popped up and how they just didn't get to it.

5. Return Phone Calls
   I could have selected e-mails, voicemails, letters, etc. The effective executive gets back to people, almost always the same day. The ineffective executive lets things pile up. If you want a self-assessment, recall the number of people including staff members, peers, customers or superiors (telemarketers don't count) who contacted you in the last month. Then ask yourself how many of those you responded to within 24 hours. FYI: your response could be something like, "I don't have the time to read a 12 page e-mail attachment. If you want me to read this, then give me the one page overview."

6. Do What You Say You Are Going To Do
   Here's another perplexing problem. A well-paid and well-respected executive who constantly says they will do certain things and then continuously doesn't do them. These individuals slow up the process of getting things done. Many people are waiting for this executive to make a decision so that they can carry out their duties. Here's a suggestion: whenever you make a commitment to someone, write it down. Give all commitments on one sheet of paper. When you make the commitment, provide a specific deadline. Write the deadline down. If circumstances beyond your control keep you from meeting your deadline, then communicate to the other members that you won't meet the original deadline and let them know what to expect.

7. Follow Talk With Actions
   In virtually every meeting, someone stands and makes a bold statement whether it is about the importance of following up on customer complaints, delivering faster service, improving the quality of the product or improving the effectiveness of the meeting. Most times, nothing happens. The same things are being complained about at the next meeting. If you really want to be an effective executive, then turn statements into actions. If you stand and say that customer complaints must be followed up on, then go to the person who collected the complaints, ask for 20-30 of the complaints with names and phone numbers and call the customers yourself. Show that you are willing to do some of the grunt work necessary to get things done.

8. Narrow Your Focus And Define Your Boundaries
   This is the biggie. This is the number one issue that I have seen in more than 500 individual Executive Coaching sessions. The vast majority of executives try to do too much and consequently they do not achieve their desired level of impact in any area. I encourage you to answer these questions:
   • What are the highest priority outcomes for our customers?
   • Of these, which one can I have the greatest positive impact on improving?
   • What can I do to improve our performance in this area?

   Then stay focused on improving that area. Don't waste an inordinate amount of time focusing on some internal issue. Keep the focus on the customer. If internal turnover is hurting the value the organization provides to customers, then internal turnover must be addressed as a step toward improving customer service. In this way, the issue of attracting and retaining talented employees becomes the priority business outcome. By doing this you will have an incredible impact on customer service. If that's the case, then narrow your boundaries to this topic and stay focused on it. Rather than trying to do eight things at once, only do two or three things, but do them extremely well.

9. Self-Esteem Is Critical At All Levels
   Self-esteem is the single most overlooked aspect of employee effectiveness. When self-esteem is low, performance weakens or remains weak in a multitude of ways. Self-esteem is the value a person sees within himself or herself. The greater an individual's self-esteem, the more value they see within them, and consequently the more value they have to offer to other people. Abraham Maslow once wrote, "Self-esteem rests on a feeling of personal dignity, the feeling that you are in control of your life and your destiny." Therefore, it is critical for an executive to both maintain their own level of personal dignity in every situation and do their best to maintain the personal dignity of everyone else in the room. When an executive attempts to reduce personal dignity through swearing, screaming or making demeaning statements, they have greatly reduced the effectiveness of the organization.

10. Have A Life
    Work must remain one aspect of a person's life, but not their entire life. Some weeks can be unusually loaded with travel, but it is critical that each quarter contains a balance of personal, family, friend, community and career time. When an executive tells me they work 60-80 hours a week as a rule, I know that this person is not maximizing their potential as an effective executive. This is a person who relies on tactics and activities to generate a reasonable level of results. John Wooden, the former basketball coach at UCLA, wrote, "When a basketball player is out of balance on the basketball court, he or she is out of control and they are not as effective. The same is true in a person's life. When a person is out of balance, they are out of control and they become less effective." When a person's work constitutes 70% of their waking hours, then they have lost control of their life. It is out of balance. Their personal dignity is lowered which lowers their self-esteem which lowers the value they see within themselves which lowers the value they have to offer to other people. Consequently, they end up working ludicrous hours just to deliver the same value they could have generated in far fewer hours if they had maintained a greater level of personal dignity. It takes courage to work on personal dignity, but the payoff is extraordinary.

QUESTION FOR TOP PERFORMERS

Think of fifteen to twenty people that you have interacted with over the past month whether they are bosses, peers, mentors, subordinates, customers or whatever. What lessons have you learned from them? How could you apply these lessons to achieve better results next month?

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE OF THE MONTH

Peter Drucker's book, The Essential Drucker, is absolutely incredible. It is his best 25 chapters on management. Essentially, I encourage you to read it.

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