diane-blog

In our demanding world, with leaders who are too busy, the steps for leadership development success need to be organized and understood up front.

What’s needed to support both coaches and their clients is a proven, successful framework that provides important resources leaders can access between coaching sessions to support their development and learning.

My Skill Kit for Leaders IS this framework. SIGN UP FOR FREE DIALOGUE/WEBINAR AND PICK UP A FREE SAMPLE SKL UNIT!

Coaches act as accountability partners for their clients. They work to ensure that the intentions of the leaders they coach are clear and that the leaders know what the actual, practical steps are that they need to work on between coaching sessions. This requires the coach to be deeply acquainted with the responsibilities of their clients and the nature of the culture/environment in which they operate.

My Skill Kit for Leaders Program, which is based on my more than 25 years of hands-on coaching experience and includes 42 rich, resource units, provides such a framework. It’s available now for licensing by coaches to use in their own practices, or for managers and trainers who want to implement new leadership development programs or complement their organization’s existing efforts.

My Process for Executive Coaching

Here is an example of my Executive Coaching process using my Skill Kit for Leaders (SKL) program as the framework.

1. Assessment for data that proves the client’s reality. Ensure appropriate assessment of performance or behavior gaps. Have client record these with coach. (Use SKL Self-Analyzer tool and SKL Definitions List, if no 360 or other assessment or performance feedback).
2. Co-create the Development Plan. Articulate strengths and development needs in leadership competencies and behavior changes required, given the leader/candidate’s business context with assessment material and client’s input. Client projects to establish a timeline and realistic activities. (Client works with SKL Development Plan template and the SKL Definitions list, supported by coach)
3. Coach Establishes Relationship as Trusted Realistic Partner.
   Coach and client work to identify conscious and unconscious resistance to change and ensure that the coach can call this out to client when it is a barrier to fulfilling goals. (This begins with the first interview, with the use of a solid “Intake form,” and continues throughout the coaching process).
4. Coach Supports Client in Identifying Clear Practical Pictures of The Leadership Competencies Needed and What The Behaviors Look Like. Review of specific interpretation and new approaches to the skill or competency and behavior(s) needed and approaches to working on it. (Use of the SKL Definitions list and appropriate SKL Resource Unit)
5. Client Selects Practical, Useful Competency-Building Activities & Practices These Between Sessions. These new approaches need to be practiced on-the-job to grow the competency or to use strengths differently. Studying the competency or new behavior is enhanced with video clips, role plays, and reading material for recalibrating goal setting and new practices to reach development goal on any leadership competency. (Record choice of SKL activities in SKL Development Plan and SKL Evaluation Log with coach’s support.)
6. Each Session Allows for Progress Review and Evaluation Of Activities To Which Client Has Committed. Client seeks feedback and monitors progress accurately with coach’s support. (Use SKL Evaluation Log to record feedback from other stakeholders; Coach can do “Feed Forward” process to support.)
7. Coach and Client Acknowledge and Celebrate Success & Recalibrate for Next Steps.

Learn More About SKL

This program is designed for up to 15 business/leadership coaches, either external or internal, who wish to improve their coaching to achieve measurable results in leadership development with their clients.

A highly focused course, participants will work with materials from a proven leadership development program on their personal leadership goals. They will learn coaching best practices to facilitate their clients’ coaching agenda and their learning and results for behavior change and to strengthen specific leadership competencies. These competencies may have been chosen to advance their careers and achievement of business goals and initiatives, or as a result of an IDP or PIP seen as important by the organization for which they work.

Coaches will improve in contracting for deeper level behavior change and results while strengthening their insight into well-established critical leadership competencies based on the Harvard Leadership studies.

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All sessions are interactive and include instructor presentations, complimentary sample coaching resource units and tools to work with from the Skill Kit for Leaders Program. Students will be encouraged to report out on their practice homework and coaching results on a weekly basis.

The Instructor is available for more individual feedback on best practices and issues between sessions. Delivered by ZOOM video-conferencing, all participants can experience coaching and feedback during the live sessions.

The group size will be limited to 15 to provide time for real discussion and Q&A, some coaching practice and presentation. Participants will leave each session with goals and resources for practicing to facilitate results “real-time” before the next session on a specific leadership competency.

They will be responsible for monitoring their own progress weekly and recording it in their personal “Evaluation Log” with these coaching and leadership competencies and be able to review their coaching experience in each session. A copy of their “Evaluation Log” will be turned in to the instructor at the end of the program.
The program works with any coaching models previously learned. Your MCC instructor has personally attended classes at coaching schools: CTI; New Ventures West, Coach U, and has taught coaching at CEC, Gestalt Institute of Cleveland’s Coaching Certificate Program, John F. Kennedy University, and is certified by Corporate Coach U.

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So many of the coaches and consultants who attend my ICF-Approved “Facilitating ‘Real-Time’ Results for Leadership Development” virtual coaching series and my free video-conference webinars have the same need, which can be phrased in many ways:

• “How do I get true commitment to the process of coaching from super busy, already-successful, adult leaders so they can identify and then meet their own development goals?”
• “How do I get these leaders to understand that they really need a coach?”
• “How do I help them find the time to do the work?”

I address the answers to these questions (and more) in both my training series (which starts September 17) and free webinar on August 7.

Building Leadership Muscles

I’ve found that the true behavior changes that leaders want to make—whether it is in working differently with one of their strengths or in gaining new skills and leadership abilities that are required in their positions—don’t stick with one-time trainings. Executive coaching needs to support these leaders with a process and program that builds their “leadership muscles” and reinforces outside-the-box thinking.

I believe the efficacy of the coaching approach to leadership development is why the coaching profession has grown by leaps and bounds and why organizations that build “coaching cultures” have achieved proven, better business results.

So what are some of the processes and methods to ensure that a coach can get commitment from a busy leader and actuate their ability for behavior change?

Here are a few highlights, that I review in my coaching series in depth (and touch upon in my free webinar):

• Ensure that the leader has a system for getting feedback, whether this has already been done in a performance review, 360 program, leadership evaluation. If not, this is something that needs to be constructed with the leader’s coach. If possible, I like to do 3-way meetings with the leader’s boss after we have established development goals and a coaching agenda. (The fundamentals for evaluating leadership skills and implementing a system for feedback are all provided for coaches in my Skill Kit for Leaders Program, which is available now for licensing.)
• Work the initial “contracting” session with the leader with depth and true partnering to establish a coaching agenda which outlines how the leader will engage in realistic goal-setting and how he or she will evaluate progress and hold him- or herself accountable (with the coach’s help, of course).
• Give the leader the practical steps and resources (as provided in my Skill Kit for Leaders Program) necessary to reinforce and support your coaching sessions and that the leader needs to envision his or her leadership role with greater clarity and achieve desired results.

Explore How You Can Use These Tools

Take the first step learning how you can use these tools to build coaching cultures in organizations of virtually any size or type by attending my free Webinar, Boost Your Coaching Effectiveness, on August 7, 2018 at 4:00 pm PT.

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This is your opportunity to . . .

• Step into the bigger game of coaching for “real-time” results with leadership development.
• Understand proven, successful, and practical steps that build coaching cultures within organizations.
• Get an overview of the power of my Skill Kit for Leaders program and my Facilitating “Real Time” Results Coach Training Series (5 ICF CCEUs) and how both can support your coaching work.

Those who attend in person will receive:

• Your choice of one complete Resource unit from my Skill Kit for Leaders Program(SKL).
• Price reduction on your personal co-branded SKL program.
• A copy of the published white paper on my program that doubled productivity for leaders at the US Department of Labor.

Register and if you can’t attend in person, you can access a recording of the session after the fact.

Registration is limited to first 25 people who sign up!

Sign Up Now

Are you, like me, feeling the deep division in our country as we approach the mid-term elections this fall?

I’ve been on the planet for 70 years now and have never felt as much polarization and division in the nation as now. What happened to dialogue, collaboration, and teaming? Do our politicians have any coaching support for bridging these very disparate points of view?

For almost 40 years, my credo has been: “Professional Guidance in Challenging Times.” Do you agree with me that this certainly one of those times?

I love coaching because I have witnessed how it can bring resolution to conflict, support improved teaming, enhance emotional intelligence, improve listening skills, and boost one’s ability to build relationships, plus much more! I invite you to check out my Skill Kit for Leaders program to see the kinds of deep resources it includes for coaches. I’m thinking that right now our politicians and leaders could benefit from coaching support on “Managing Change/Chaos,” “Thinking Creatively,” and “Aligning Vision, Mission, and Goals.” In short, they all need Leadership Coaching!

My vision is that great coaches like you who are reading this can find a way to work with all the leaders you can and try to reach out to leaders/politicians with practical activities and ideas for healing the divide at all levels in our government—between parties, special interests, gender divisions, and different viewpoints.

While this is a big challenge, we must find a way to use our wonderful coaching profession to address it. My Skill Kit for Leaders  program includes 42 rich units you can use to provide the leaders you coach with practical practices and resources to address any of these divides, and much more.

Learn How You Can Use These Resources in Your Practice

I’ll show all who sign up for my next FREE WEBINAR, on Tuesday, August 7th, at 4:00 pm PT, how to:

• Ensure commitment and accountability for developing critical competencies in the leaders you coach.
• Give your leader/clients practical activities and easy-to use resources that they can “try out” for new behaviors with their direct reports, work-place colleagues, and all stakeholders.
• Ensure evaluation of results of your coaching!

This is your opportunity to . . .

• Step into the “Bigger Game” of Coaching for
  “Real-Time” Results with Leadership Development.
• Understand proven, successful, and practical steps that build “coaching cultures” and how this could lead to an even “bigger game” of using these tools heal the divides we see in our political culture.
• Get an overview of the power of my Skill Kit for Leaders program and how it can support your coaching work.

What do you think? Can coaches make a difference in healing a divided nation?

Let’s start wherever we are and work to hone our best practices. If you are convinced, like I am, then please join me on Tuesday, August 7th, at 4:00 pm PT for my FREE WEBINAR.

Over the years, many coaches have purchased early versions of my Skill Kit for Leaders (SKL) program. For a long time, I assumed that other coaches would know how to use these leadership competency building resources in support of their clients.

I’ve come to understand this differently over the last several years.

In running my recent “Facilitating ‘Real-Time’ Results for Leadership Development” ICF-approved virtual coach-training series and in my mentoring of other coaches working on advancing their “books of business” with organizations, I’ve learned that other coaches are hungry for the practical, “how-to” steps for implementing a systemic program that supports their clients with their development plans for improved leadership in organizations.

When I have the opportunity to show them how I use the SKL resources for this, and they “try it” for their own development, I am pleased to report that they have been delighted with the results!

So I no longer take these practices for granted! What has become second nature to me for successful results for my clients, is what what I want to review with you for your OWN  success. SIGN UP NOW!

Boost Your Coaching Effectiveness So You Can Facilitate “Real Time” Results

In this FREE Webinar, we’ll . . .

• Explore how you can really support your leader-clients with advanced coaching skills.
• Talk about ways to increase your “book of business” for coaching leaders in virtually any type of organization.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 4:00 NOON PDT

HOW:  Delivered globally via ZOOM Video Conference (all you need is a Web browser and Internet connection)

WORDS OF PRAISE (from a CEO/Coach): “I really appreciated this class. Learning more about coaching from Diane and other experienced coaches was great. The system Diane has created is solid.”

• Register and if you can’t attend in person, you can access a recording of the session after the fact.
• Attend the session live, and you will receive your choice of a Skill Kit for Leaders (SKL) resource unit to use with your clients, a great case study article on building a Coaching Culture, and a price reduction on your personal Co-Branded SKL program.

› Learn More and Register

 This program is limited to the first 25 participants.

Attend My Dynamic Free Webinar, “Boost Your Coaching Effectiveness So You Can Facilitate ‘Real Time’ Results,” Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 4:00 PT.

We’ll Review Tips & Techniques to Boost Your Coaching Effectiveness With Any Leader!

You Should Attend If . . .

• You want to improve your consulting/coaching work in every industry and type of organization.
• You want to get new ideas for coaching already high performing clients on accessing and committing to practical steps to build their leadership results.
• You want to explore what leader clients can do to best execute new behaviors to increase the capacity in their direct reports and create a more positive work culture.
• You want to clarify and increase the commitment of your client leaders.
• You want to improve your evaluation and proof of coaching success.

Those Who Attend in Person Will Receive:

• Your choice of one complete Resource unit from my Skill Kit for Leaders Program (SKL).
• Price reduction on your personal Co-Branded SKL program.
• A copy of the published white paper on my program that doubled productivity for leaders at the US Department of Labor.

Sign Up Now

Register now for this jam-packed webinar with me, Senior OD Consultant/Coach, Diane Foster, MA, MCC. Registration is limited to first 25 people who sign up! (The Webinar will be taped for any unable to attend.)

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About Diane Foster

Diane Foster is an ICF Certified Master/ Mentor Coach, with an M.A. in Career Development. For more than 30 years, Diane has successfully supported hundreds of leaders in numerous industries in the areas of developing  leadership that makes a difference—for the individual and the organization.  She is a career development specialist and assessment expert, with an international reputation for achieving lasting results for her clients on the triple bottom line of people, planet, profitability.

Her strong background in coaching,  organization development, adult learning and educational psychology has led to success with business leaders around the globe in aligning development issues with strategic business goals.

Schooled in neuroscience research, and positive psychology, Diane has a fundamental deep belief in the power of human potential and enjoys supporting her business-leader clients and other coaches in finding and realizing theirs.

Her broad experience includes being adjunct faculty in OD, Leadership, Assessment, and Coaching at such institutions as University of San Francisco, UC Extension, and John F. Kennedy University. She has also been Director of ICF Training for the College of Executive Coaching and the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland’s Coaching Certificate Program.

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Read four examples of how my Skill Kit for Leaders has been used to boost performance and drive results.

US Department of Labor

Situation: The Office of Human Resources within the US Department of Labor (DOL) was experiencing classic issues of entitlement and bureaucracy with a need for better teaming, communication, emotional intelligence, and results. They also wanted to tie their leadership efforts into achieving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence

Actions: I introduced coaching through focus groups to get buy-in of DOL leaders and employees at different levels. I then implemented a 6-month pilot coaching program using the Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI) and internal 360 programs. Internal HR Reps were certified as coaches, mentored by me, and assigned to coach specific individuals with a focus on developing their leadership competencies using resources from my Skill Kit for Leaders. My mentoring and group-coaching of the DOL’s internal HR coaches worked on tougher issues such as “Managing Conflict” and the “Coaching Culture Model,” and was reinforced in two-day training, mid-point training, and final personal evaluations of their efforts with follow-up 360s.

Results:

• Productivity doubled in targeted leaders’ offices as measured by a yearly organizational assessment.
• The ECI re-run showed great gains by all participants on emotional intelligence and communication.
• Private evaluation sessions with external consultant/coach were extremely positive, with claims such as, “I did not think I could change or the organization could get better, but we definitely did!”
• The program was expanded over a number of years to other large organizations within the DOL.

Private, Employee-owned Commercial Contracting & Development Holding Corporation with Four Independent Strong Subsidiary Companies

Situation: This organization expressed a desire to build a “Coaching Culture,” continue building better teams and communication, and introduce a strong leadership competency-building program. They also wanted to be named a “Best Place to Work” for the city of Phoenix.

Actions: The organization brought in Corporate Coaching Clinic training, hiring Diane Foster & Associates as coaches of key leaders, including the CEO. The Skill Kit for Leaders program was used by all coaches for leadership competency development.

Results:

• Named one of the “Best Places to Work” in Phoenix.
• CEO awarded Special Leadership award for Phoenix.
• Front page article published in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Construction Firm Rebuilds Manager to Make Them Soft,” announced the company’s success of building the coaching program into an on-going leadership development program and a positive, work culture.
• Entire organization Honored in 2014 with a Most Admired Company Award highlighting the executive leadership.

Non-Profit Community Blood Center Providing Blood and Blood Products for Local Hospitals Throughout the United States

Situation: The Executive Director of this organization wanted to build improved leadership competencies in his team. He was convinced that he needed a program that could be cascaded down through the organization following successful implementation with his team and backed up by coaching.

Actions: The organization purchased the Skill Kit for Leaders program for the Executive Director and his direct reports. Following an introduction on the Skill Kit for Leaders process by Diane Foster and how to deploy it for self-study and self-improvement, each leader identified his or her development needs and opportunities using various Skill Kit for Leaders tools:  The Analyzer, Development Plan, Evaluation Log, and appropriate Skill Kit for Leaders resource units. Diane conducted group coaching sessions twice a month, for six months.

Results:

• The program was judged a success and rolled out to the direct reports of the company’s top leadership team (many of whom were located in other states), with Diane providing group coaching support and guidance virtually.

International Children and Family Services Non-Profit

Situation: This organization realized that it needed an internal consultant to improve coaching effectiveness and facilitate self-directed leadership development to leverage the organization’s Talent Management investment through individual coaching (15 leaders) and group coaching (25 leaders).

Actions: The organization purchased the Skill Kit for Leaders program for its 40 coaches/leaders. The Skill Kit for Leaders leadership competency definitions aligned well with the organization’s already-established core leadership competencies, which meant nearly seamless integration with the development plans of those in the program. Individuals used various Skill Kit for Leaders resource units for their own development and reported progress in group coaching sessions. With success, this group went on to coach a second tier of participants.

Results:

• Coaching took hold for leadership development on core competencies supported by the Skill Kit for Leaders resource units.
• The program cascaded down to encompass additional tiers of leaders.
• The program has resulted in a unified approach to building a coaching culture that is bound with consistent language about leadership competency across the organization.
• This organization was recently designated one of eight local non-profit beneficiaries to receive a $1.125 million award.

Did you know?

Gallup Research out this year shows that organizations cannot waste time fixing weaknesses. They need to push to operate from their strengths.

What happens when a person is not operating from strength? He or she is quite simply less fulfilled and less confident. In the workplace, this translates into employees who are not operating from their strengths being six times less likely to be engaged in their roles.

A person not able to use his or her strengths at work probably:

• Dreads going to work
• Has more negative than positive interactions with coworkers
• Treats customers poorly
• Tells friends he or she works for a miserable organization
• Achieves less on a daily basis
• Has fewer positive and creative moments.

GROW YOUR LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS

My experience is that many leaders simply don’t know how to take practical steps to engage their own strengths as well as the strengths of their employees in order to foster a more positive leadership and work culture.  And without coaching and leadership development efforts in place to bring practical, viable resources to these leaders, the whole organization suffers.

This is why I started developing my Skill Kit for Leaders many years ago for my own coaching practice, as well as to share with others.  I am proud to say that Skill Kit for Leaders is now in its 5th digital edition and has been used by many coaches around the globe and in organizations of every size and type.

Are you a coach looking for more practical tips, ideas, and steps to share with your client leaders to ensure they bring the best out in their work-places?

Join me this week for my FREE WEBINAR: “Boost Your Coaching Effectiveness So You Can Facilitate ‘Real Time’ Results.” I’ll review with you how I gain commitment and results with the leaders I coach using my Skill Kit for Leaders program.

Sign Up Now

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Attend My Dynamic Free Webinar, “Boost Your Coaching Effectiveness So You Can Facilitate ‘Real Time’ Results,” Thursday, June 28, 2018 at 12:00 Noon PT.

We’ll Review Tips & Techniques to Boost Your Coaching Effectiveness With Any Leader!

You Should Attend If . . .

You want to learn from my experience of working in multiple industries and types of organizations to get new ideas for:

• Supporting high-performing clients on understanding and choosing practical steps to enhance their own competencies.
• How your leader clients can best execute their leadership behaviors to increase that same capacity in their direct reports and create a more positive work culture.
• Clarifying and increasing the commitment of your client leaders.
• How to work on evaluation and proof of coaching success.

Those Who Attend in Person Will Receive:

• Your choice of one complete Resource unit from my Skill Kit for Leaders Program.
• A free PowerPoint from the Webinar.
• A copy of the published white paper on my program that doubled productivity for leaders at the US Department of Labor.

Sign Up Now

Register now for this jam-packed webinar with me, Senior OD Consultant/Coach, Diane Foster, MA, MCC. Registration is limited to first 25 people who sign up! (The Webinar will be taped for any unable to attend.)

Sign Up Now

About Diane Foster

Diane Foster is an ICF Certified Master/ Mentor Coach, with an M.A. in Career Development. For more than 30 years, Diane has successfully supported hundreds of leaders in numerous industries in the areas of developing  leadership that makes a difference—for the individual and the organization.  She is a career development specialist and assessment expert, with an international reputation for achieving lasting results for her clients on the triple bottom line of people, planet, profitability.

Her strong background in coaching,  organization development, adult learning and educational psychology has led to success with business leaders around the globe in aligning development issues with strategic business goals.

Schooled in neuroscience research, and positive psychology, Diane has a fundamental deep belief in the power of human potential and enjoys supporting her business-leader clients and other coaches in finding and realizing theirs.

Her broad experience includes being adjunct faculty in OD, Leadership, Assessment, and Coaching at such institutions as University of San Francisco, UC Extension, and John F. Kennedy University. She has also been Director of ICF Training for the College of Executive Coaching and the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland’s Coaching Certificate Program.

Sign Up Now