The role of the academic leader is demanding. It often encompasses administrative duties, committee work, student issues, as well as pressures to maintain scholarly activities and a teaching load.  Often, faculty members assume an academic leadership position without receiving additional management or leadership training.  Being highly skilled and proficient in an educational discipline is a key attribute of a successful academic, but may not be sufficient for a strong and effective leader. This blog post and our next one will describe how two key coaching skills, active listening and powerful questions, can be used by academic leaders to effectively lead faculty and staff, while reducing their own workload.

When coaching faculty, the academic leader provides assistance, support, and encouragement to seek and find answers by building a trusting relationship, actively listening, and asking powerful questions.  As a coach, the academic leader does not have all the answers, but instead observes, brainstorms, and sets the stage for new actions and then supports faculty members and staff as they put these new ideas and actions into practice.  An effective leader believes that those they lead have the ability to address and resolve their own issues.  Using a coaching approach, an academic leader can help faculty and staff become more aware of their impact on others, take responsibility for their actions, learn from their experiences, and become more self-motivated.

Active Listening

The first step in developing a coaching approach to leadership is to be an active listener. Most people, if questioned, would attest that they are good listeners.  Leaders should challenge their own belief by asking others to evaluate their listening skills. Helpful input may be obtained by asking the following questions in the style of a 360 assessment:

• Can you honestly say you felt listened to?
• Did you feel completely understood?
• Did my response seem to grow out of my listening?
• What actual behaviors indicated to you that I was listening?
• What can I do to improve my listening?

One thing that can be done to improve listening is to focus on paying attention and to practice specific observable listening behaviors.  Paying attention is much more complex than it sounds and requires focus and patience. Key to attention is monitoring your own thought process so that you are listening to what is actually being said, rather than being preoccupied with developing your response. Staying curious enables the leader to search for meaning, rather than making assumptions and judgments about motivation and likely misinterpreting statements and intent. Probing deeper with the appropriate questions will help the leader see beyond the surface details to reveal the speaker’s underlying thinking and emotions and the impact these have on the speaker. Specific observable behaviors of good listeners are apparent in their body language, their facial expressions, and their eye contact.

Our society is now composed of an educated workforce, and people are paid to think, not just do.  This situation is most evident in higher education. University and college faculty are highly educated and, in general, become experts in their particular disciplines.  When academic leaders employ a coaching approach with faculty and staff they create a buy-in for the existing tasks or a new initiative, improve morale, increase motivation and accountability, and create a more collaborative faculty. A coaching approach results in faculty and staff being more vested in their work and the workload of the academic leader  being reduced.

Our next blog post will address another key leadership coaching skill, asking powerful questions. Once again, many people in leadership positions would rate their ability to ask questions as superior. Why then do these same leaders admit that they sometimes walk away from an interaction with a faculty or staff member without all the information they need, or having assumed the responsibility for a task that rightfully belonged to the faculty or staff member?  Asking powerful questions is effective and quite different from the way most people ask questions.

Susan M. English, OSB, EdD, PCC, is Co-Director of the Professional Coach Certification Program, Duquesne University

Janice M Sabatine, PhD, CSC, is President of Avanti Strategies, LLC and of the Pittsburgh Coaches Association; Associate Professor, Rocky Mountain University of  Health Professions; and Faculty Member, Professional Coach Certification Program, Duquesne University

Judith A. DePalma, PhD, RN, is a Professor with Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions and Consultant, Avanti Strategies, LLC

]]> http://www.pittsburghcoaches.org/blog/2012/05/active-listening-a-coaching-tool-for-academic-leaders/feed/ 0 http://www.pittsburghcoaches.org/blog/2012/05/lead-your-network-to-generate-referrals/ http://www.pittsburghcoaches.org/blog/2012/05/lead-your-network-to-generate-referrals/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 21:47:42 +0000 Pittsburgh Coaches http://www.pittsburghcoaches.org/blog/?p=691 presented by Michelle R. Donovan

Wednesday, May 9, 2012  — Grand Concourse, Station Square 

Are you getting all the referrals you can handle from your network? Are you spending time with the wrong people? Are you truly leading your relationships to generate the kind of results you want?

Most business owners aren’t satisfied with the referrals they’re getting from their network. They’re frustrated that people who know them, like them and trust them still aren’t referring to them. The good news is we can change that! This session will challenge you to think differently about your business relationships. You will learn how to surround yourself with the RIGHT referral sources. In addition, you will be given several strategies and concrete tools to use to physically teach someone how to refer clients to you. You’ll leave this session knowing which relationships are the best to focus on for referrals and how to motivate and teach them to recommend you effectively.

In this program you will:

1. Identify the best referral sources from your network

2. Apply five referral motivational strategies to your referral sources

3. Create a referral educational tool to be used with your network

Michelle R. Donovan is a best selling author and is known as “The Referability Expert” in Pittsburgh. She owns and operates Referral Institute of Western Pennsylvania, specializing in referral marketing systems and referral coaching.  She has a Masters in Adult Education and is the author of a Wall Street Journal best-selling book, The 29% Solution.  As a prolific writer, Michelle has published over 40 articles on networking and referral marketing in multiple professional publications. In addition, she has been a contributing author to two other books, World’s Worst Networker and Make Your Connections Count, both released this year AND is currently working on her newest book called Relationship Leadership: The Key to a Profitable Referral Network.  Michelle has presented at several national and local conferences, often being a crowd favorite. She is known for combining meaningful substance through real-life application to learning. The key to her success is genuinely giving from the heart and surrounding herself with exceptional people.

By Sam Wieder 

Do you wonder what it really takes to attract clients through public speaking? This complimentary teleclass series will give you the inside scoop.

Discover the 3 biggest mistakes that professionals make that sabotage their efforts to attract clients through public speaking. Learn how to identify the “hot button” you can use as a guide in developing a client-winning speech. Identify the 6 key criteria that your best prospects in any audience use to decide whether or not they want to hire you or use your services. Gain the insights you need to use public speaking to bring in new business.

Presenter Sam Wieder specializes in helping solo professionals attract clients through public speaking.  Over the past 25 years, he has coached hundreds of individuals to become more confident and dynamic speakers.  He is also a past president of the National Speakers Association, Pittsburgh chapter and co-author of the book Celebrate Marketing.  Learn more about Sam’s services at: www.CommandingConfidence.com.

Can’t make the teleclass but want to learn more about client-winning speaking?

Go to: www.SpeakandWinClients.com.

ICF Core Competencies: A Deeper Dive presented by Dr. Timothy Cline

Grand Concourse – Station Square

In this skill-based presentation Dr. Timothy Cline will review the Core Competencies of coaching. In small break out groups, participants will discuss their experiences in applying an assigned competency or subtopic, such as how best to communicate the distinction between coaching, consulting, psychotherapy and other support professionals to clients/potential clients; and by way of case example, describe three of the most powerful questions you have posed to a coaching client. In round-robin fashion, a spokesperson from each group will provide feedback to the larger group on their groups’ topic and the larger group will be given a few minutes to discuss and add their ideas and experiences.  Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of the Core Competencies and an expanded repertoire of impactful applications.

Dr. Tim Cline is Senior Director of Clinical Training and Development at the UPMC Health Plan where he has lead responsibility for coaching skills training, supervision, and clinical quality assurance for eighty plus health coaches. Dr. Cline holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a doctorate in counseling psychology. He completed a medical school-based residency and fellowship program in behavioral medicine/health psychology, and has held faculty positions in three medical schools. Dr. Cline is a graduate of Coach University, is the founding president of ICFLA, is an ICF assessor, and holds the ICF MCC credential. As president of Transformational Coaching Services, Inc. Tim has coached and mentor coached full-time for over ten years and currently maintains a small private practice here in Pittsburgh.

Register now.

How many of you like to make mistakes? No one?  Oh, why not?  Perhaps it has to do with the belief that mistakes are bad, wrong, and usually full of negative consequences.  Well, let me tell you a little story.

I recently had the opportunity to make a very big mistake.  And without going into detail, I can assure you it hurt.  I hurt myself, people involved, and even people not involved.  It also had negative consequences.  I was still in the midst of recovery from the consequences of my mistake when I realized I had a lot of choices.  Would I wait to admit my faults or admit them right away?  Was I going to use this incident to understand myself better and learn a new behavior or was I going to repeat the same pattern over and over?  Was I going to beat myself up or was I going to lovingly hold myself accountable?  Was I going to eat myself into numbness or was I going to stay conscious with my feelings of discomfort?  Well, it seemed easy to say yes to the latter part of all these choices.  However, saying it is almost always easier than doing it.

I decided I would lovingly hold myself accountable.  This mistake uncovered a pattern I was unwilling to look at before.  It was one of those gray areas I rationalized away.  But, this time, I lovingly took my somewhat scared self by the hand and started the clean-up.

Mistakes are a wonderful opportunities to learn and grow.  Because of the many negative experiences we have with mistakes – especially when we are children – we do not value mistakes.  Some of you may actually hate to make mistakes.  As adults we try to avoid them.  We try to pretend there is perfection in the world.  We try to shape our environment exactly the way we want it.  We are afraid to change our environment because it will change our patterns, circumstances and relationships.  Change is frightening.  We tell ourselves we may not be able to handle change and we may find things are more comfortable left covered.

I encourage you to foster a new attitude toward mistakes.  Allow yourself to learn from your mistakes.  Play with mistakes.  Make little mistakes and see how you feel when you make them.  Perfection is only in our imagination. The world is constantly changing and so are you.  Let go of old ways and allow the light to shine into the parts of yourself about which you feel less proud.  It is only when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable that we will heal.

Global Executive Coach and President of Clear Intentions International, Barbara Schwarck uses Neuro Emotional Coaching™ to engage her clients in the process of working with their own consciousness to experience greater performance, profound change and deep personal satisfaction.  She is the author of From Intuition to Entrepreneurship: A Women’s Guide to Following Her Dream.  If you are an executive or thought leader who wants to make a difference, go to www.clearintentions.net

Register now.

Are you creating the business or the life that you really want? Maybe you’re not totally clear about what you want, or you know what you want but feel like you lack the knowledge and resources you need, and you don’t know where to find them. Or maybe you don’t even know what you need to know.

Discover how to break free from this web of uncertainty by tapping into the knowledge and insights of others. Our March lunch and learn features a highly interactive program with PCA member Sam Weider of Commanding Confidence that shows you how to harness the power of a mastermind group to gain the clarity, resources, and support you need to achieve. Bring your most challenging or exciting goal and get the help you need to make it happen.

You will discover how to:

• Free yourself from the uncertainty that holds you back.
• Turn a vague wish into a clear, compelling goal.
• Find creative solutions for overcoming obstacles to your success.
• Clarify what you need to achieve what you want.
• Uncover ideas and resources to help propel you toward your goal.
• Identify the next steps you can take to move into action.
• Use a mastermind group as a launch pad for your success.

This program is designed to show you how to overcome your challenges and accelerate your progress toward your goals with the support of a mastermind group. If you’re a coach, consultant, committee chairperson, or leader in any organization, you will also experience a model you can use to get people to work together to generate breakthrough ideas and results.

Sam Wieder works with professionals who want to speak with impact and make things happen. A certified NLP trainer and success coach, he helps his clients unleash their ability to be more confident, productive and successful. Leading numerous mastermind and coaching groups over the past decade, he has helped independent professionals team up to build new momentum toward personal goals, and has led specific mastermind coaching groups focused on one-to-one marketing, networking, and attracting clients through public speaking. He is co-author of the book Celebrate Marketing and a past president of the National Speakers Association, Pittsburgh chapter.

Cost:
Pre-registration (by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb 6, 2012)
Members: $30
Non-members: $40

After 5:00 p.m. Monday:
Members: $40
Non-members: $40

Register now.

For example, Posti gives examples of behavioral interviewing questions along with advice about how to answer them.  A behavioral style interview question sounds like this:

Have you ever worked as part of a team? Tell me about a time when you were on a team and one of the members wasn’t carrying his or her weight.  What did you do about it?

Posti recommends preparing for such questions by rehearsing STAR statements. Here’s her explanation:

“STAR Statements are Situations or Tasks you faced sometime in your past, where you took some kind of Action, which led to some kind of Result.”

To prepare for behavioral interviewing questions, get out a tablet and write examples of situations you have faced in your work life, or even in your personal life. Posti says, “These could include situations where you saved the company money, increased productivity, won back a customer, solved a thorny problem, learned to work with an impossible person, created a better way to something, assumed additional responsibilities, or took charge of something no one else wanted to touch.” Having prepared in this way, you’ll be better able to make an impression as you respond to behavioral interviewing questions.

If you or someone you know is involved in a job search, don’t miss this book! It’s a succinct, practical gem.

To learn more, visit Bonnie Budzowski at www.incrediblemessages.com and Chris Posti at  www.postiinc.com.  

Grand Concourse – Station Square – Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Regardless of what you do, you are in the business of marketing and selling. You can be the very best at what you do, but if you don’t know how to attract prospects and invite someone to become your customer or client you won’t succeed.

Join us on Wednesday, February 8 for our monthly Lunch & Learn to gain a better understanding of how people make buying decisions and how you can save time and gain new clients using a powerful process that starts with a meaningful conversation. Our speaker, Larry Lewis, will provide a step-by-step road map that any business, regardless of size, can use to create powerful systems for generating leads and turning those leads into new client relationships.

Larry Lewis is the founder and president of Client Builder Sales & Marketing LLC, a company that provides practical, hands-on sales and marketing training to businesses and independent professionals. He has been a sales trainer for the past 15 years and has authored many articles for Dynamic Business, Smart Business News, Master Salesmanship, Sales Jazz and Staff Digest. He recently published his first book entitled Client Builder Selling.

By Karen Litzinger, Litzinger Career Consulting

Whether you call them resolutions, goals, or intentions, the beginning of the year is a good time to reflect on the past and look toward the future.  It’s a new year with exciting possibilities even in a difficult economy.  As a matter of fact a difficult economy is part of the reason to always be thinking about possibilities.  It reminds us we need to take active steps in our career … more than just hanging on!  Think proactive, not reactive!

Karen’s suggested 2012 Career Resolutions:

1. Evaluate your career fit in terms of interests, skills, values and personality. Don’t wait until you’re miserable and desperate!
2. Explore what is out there in terms of jobs and industries, evaluating the job market in addition to career fit.
3. Update your resume.  That will make the path easier for when you actually do need it.
4. Organize your work contacts, performance appraisals, and results of projects and keep copies at home.  You never know when you might get a pink slip and need to leave immediately.
5. Develop a “free agent” mentality, thinking of your career as a series of projects to do and skills to learn since job security is a thing of the past.
6. Take a class or develop a new skill.  Anything may be helpful, but think about what your goals are and what is being asked for in the market.
7. Reach out to some networking contacts you haven’t been in touch with for a while.  Thank people who have helped you in the past.
8. Seek active involvement in a professional association, whether a leadership role or strategic committee involvement.
9. Engage in social media, definitely LinkedIn, and possibly Facebook, Twitter or a blog.  Be careful about what you post.
10. Read trade and professional journals and consider writing a submission.
11. Take care of yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually in whatever fashion has meaning to you.
12. Ask yourself what role you want your career to play in your life and what you want out of life.

It’s an ambitious list, and I’m not sure I will personally get through them all.  Even if you think about these items and take action on half of them, you’ll be ahead of the game.   Go with what you most want to do rather than simply what you think you “should” do.  Admittedly, career planning and the job search may contain some items a person may not want to do, but are simply good practices.

©2012, Karen Litzinger.  Karen has been a career counselor and job search coach for over 20 years.  She also conducts business etiquette training for organizations and is President of the National Speakers Association Pittsburgh.  For more information on these services, you may contact Karen at www.KarensCareerCoaching.com or 412-242-5342.  Karen is also the author of the award-winning CD, Heal Your Heart: Coping with the Loss of a Pet available at www.HealFromPetLoss.com.  Permission is granted to share this article only in its entirety including by-line and end notes.

Are coaches required to be certified?

That’s a good question, and one that will surely generate a lot of discussion. The straightforward answer is “No, there is presently no requirement that a person be certified to practice as a coach.” However, there is an expectation that this may change. As the coaching profession continues to mature and expand throughout the world, and as clients become more knowledgeable and demanding of the results they expect from a coach, there will likely be more regulation of the profession.

Is certification important to me as a client?

Among the important factors you will probably wish to consider when hiring a coach are:

°       What is the coach’s background, including education and training, coaching and other professional experience, and certifications?

°       How well does the coach’s specialty area match my needs and goals?

°       Is this a person with whom I can form an effective and rewarding partnership?

Knowing that your coach is certified by a respected credentialing agency is a good way to ensure that your coach has been trained in the skills necessary to provide insightful coaching, continues to learn and develop coaching skills, is endorsed by fellow coaches, and follows a code of ethics.

What types of certifications are available for coaches?

There are varied types of certifications available for coaches.  Probably the most widely known coach certification is through the International Coach Federation (ICF).  The ICF has  three levels of credentials available based on number of coaching hours – 100 hours for the first level (Associate Certified Coach), 750 hours for the second level (Professional Certified Coach), and 2,500 hours for the highest level (Master Certified Coach).  All ICF certified coach levels require substantial coach-specific training and continuing education hours every three years in order to continue development of coaching knowledge and skills.  For more details on the different ICF certification levels, visit http://www.coachfederation.org/getcredentialed/

A Board Certified Coach (BCC) credential has recently become available from the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE).  Similar to the ICF certification, CCE credentialing provides a means to certify that a coach has receieved proper training, coaching experience, and continuing education. For more details on the BCC credential, visit http://www.cce-global.org/BCC

Both the ICF and CCE coach certifications require adherence to a code of ethics and endorsement by experienced coaches.

Other certifications are available through different training organizations and for specific coaching specialties. A meaningful credential will include high-quality coach-specific training, significant coaching experience, validation of coaching skills by experienced coaches, and adherence to a code of ethics.

Brenda DeCroo spent over 20 years in corporate finance helping companies all over the world measure and improve their financial results.  Now, as a Profit Coach, Brenda works with entrepreneurs and business owners who want to master their finances, increase profits, and focus on what matters most.   A graduate of the Duquesne University Professional Coaching Certification program, Brenda is passionate about working with motivated clients to achieve success and abundance in all aspects of their life. Brenda lives in Sarver, Pennsylvania, loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, travel, cruise, stay fit, and enjoy life.  Brenda has been an active member of a women’s spirituality group for ten years.  To learn more, visit www.brendadecroocoaching.com

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