Personal Coaching For Executives.When Is Executive Coaching Most Effective by Gene Griessman, Ph.D. Free article

PERSONAL COACHING FOR EXECUTIVES:
WHEN IS PERSONAL COACHING AND EXECUTIVE COACHING MOST EFFECTIVE?
By Gene Griessman, Ph.D.

"Griessman is a kind of Heloise for the harried. Three hours with him was worth three years of therapy, and a lot cheaper."
--Michael Skube, The Atlanta Journal/The Atlanta Constitution

"Gene Griessman's teaching methods are original and unique. His ability to articulate and bring to life Abraham Lincoln's principles distinguish him as an expert in his field. Our players at UCLA not only learned the valuable lessons in the fundamentals of achievement, but gained an appreciation and deeper understanding for one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln. Gene's focus on time management is particularly helpful to student-athletes. Most importantly, I am impressed with Gene's commitment to building and shaping tomorrow's leaders."
--Steve Lavin, ABC / ESPN College Basketball Analyst, former UCLA head basketball coach.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you running your work, or is your work running you?

2. Are you considering a career move, but you don't feel comfortable discussing it with your colleagues or friends?

3. Do you need to do strategic thinking about your future or the future of your organization?

5. Are there skills that you need to acquire or raise to a higher level, like making effective presentations, writing stronger letters or reports, or delegating efficiently?

6. Do you have a clear vision of who you want to be and how you want to be perceived?

7. Do you need to improve your ability to cope with stress and find inner peace?

8. Do you have the time and resources to invest in yourself?

If you already can answer Yes to these questions, you may want to contact us without reading further. Our phone number is 404-256-5927 (Leave a voice message about best times/ways to contact you.) or contact us by email by clicking here. We can set up a trial coaching experience on any topic you choose for just $100.

What Kind Of Coach Is Right For You?
Quite frankly, personal coaching may not be right for you. If you aren't willing to work hard, if you aren't ambitious, and if you don't have the time and resources to invest in yourself, you should read no further.

But if the answer to several of the questions above is yes, you are a good candidate for a personal coach.

The next question that you need to answer is, Just what kind of coach is right for you? There are all kinds of coaches, with widely differing approaches and skills. In the paragraphs below, I will share with you my own philosophy about coaching, based on research and personal experience.

My Personal Experience With Coaching
I became interested in coaches when I was actively involved in doing interviews for TV, radio, and print. I wrote an article on the famous coach John Heisman, as in the Heisman Memorial Trophy, and interviewed some of the men who actually played for him. I interviewed football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant for the TV program "Up Close." I interviewed football coach Bobby Dodd and wrote an article on Dodd that was published in THE NEW YORK TIMES. I also interviewed basketball coaches Bobby Cremins and Steve Lavin. One of my friends is the living legend, former coach and athletic director Homer C. Rice. You can read excerpts of these interviews in my books and CDs.

I have invested a lot of my own time and money in coaching, and know from personal experience what a coach can do for you.

After I decided to develop my one-man play, "Lincoln Live," I enrolled in acting classes and took short courses and hired coaches in Atlanta, where I then resided. Then I moved to LA in order to be a part of the acting community. There I continued to take classes and eventually hired an acting coach who made recommendations about my script and script interpretation and traveled with me to many performances.

What I Learned From Coaches
Out of my interviews and friendships came a profound respect for what good coaches must do in order to bring out the best in those they coach.

My acting coach took my acting to new levels. He could see strengths that needed to be developed, and weakness that I needed to correct. He gave me invaluable tips about how to communicate more effectively. He was an encourager who made me feel confident about the future and helped me deal with setbacks when everything did not go well.

The Kind Of Coach I Would Never Hire
When I began acting, I signed up for a course under a coach who had a good local reputation. She invited me to watch a coaching session prior to participating myself.

I was appalled at what I observed. She humiliated several individuals. She was so harsh, so negative, so critical that one or two individuals were brought to tears. When one individual performed, she would not find a single thing he had done to praise.

Her philosophy was to tear down everything the individual had already achieved and rebuild from the ground up.

I dropped the program, even though I had to pay a cancellation fee, and never went back.

Here's why. I feel that I already have strengths and knowledge that can be built upon. I feel good about myself. I don't want a major overhaul. What I want in a coach is someone who can build on the strengths that I already possess. I don't need to pay in order to bring a negative person into my life. I can get these kind of people for free.

If you want a coach who will destroy you in order to rebuild you, I am not the person for you. But if you want a coach who will build you up, will look for strengths that you already have, will tell you candidly what works and what doesn't but always in the framework of an encourager, then we should talk. You can contact our office by calling 404-256-5927 (Leave a voice message about best times/ways to contact you.) or contact us by email by clicking here. We can set up a trial coaching experience on any topic that you choose for just $100.

1. Business/office "Politics"
"Politics" in the broadest sense of the word is inescapable if you are an executive. Politics involves questions of power and authority--who gets what, when, and how. Politics has to do with how you are perceived, who will be willing to help you, and who might oppose you. Political understanding involves knowing not just the psychology of the individuals with whom you interact, but the sociology of the situation--who has vested interests in a particular arrangement, who stands to gain or lose from a change, etc. A politician is a kind of human engineer, and politics involves getting things done through others.

2. Existential Questions
The Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote that we typically think existentially at just a few moments in our life. When we think about death and when we think about our career can be such moments.

Existential questions have to do with ultimate questions, with the nature of existence. Very successful business people have told me that they made important career decisions by asking existential questions. One of them told me that he took a mini-sabbatical and devoted himself to thinking forward and asking questions like: "When I am 85, what will I want to be able to say about this decision?"

A coach can facilitate how you feel about yourself and the meaning of your work.

You must have great confidence in your coach to allow him or her to enter this part of your life. I personally regard it as an awesome responsibility, a trust that I do not take lightly.

3. Skill Sets
In what ways will you be better a year from now than you are today? A really good coach will help you find your strengths and weaknesses and create a self-improvement program that will build on your strengths and possibly correct weaknesses or show you ways to avoid situations that play to your weaknesses.

Coaching Techniques
Personal coaching for executives is a mix of non-directive and directive techniques. Sometimes a skilled coach will let the individual find his/her solution to a problem without any assistance whatsoever, except to assist in analyzing the possible outcomes in terms of plusses and minuses. At other times, the skilled coach will suggest a scenario or a solution and let the individual analyze possible outcomes.

A good coach can also give you specific tips that will help you learn essential skill sets. For example, a great football coach might recommend a minor correction in the way a quarterback fingers the football that would make all the difference in the world.

I am an expert in the field of communication. I know what makes people effective communicators and I know what makes for high achievement. I have written books on the subject, some of which have sold tens of thousands of copies, and can offer guidance for individuals who are serious about this critical skill.

If you are serious about wanting a coach, and you would like to know the areas in which I have expertise, just give me us a call and we can talk about whether there's a match. You can contact our office by calling 404-256-5927 (Leave a voice message about best times/ways to contact you.) or contact us by email by clicking here.

Don't consider professional coaching unless you are willing to make a substantial investment in yourself.

Unfortunately, many executives never invest serious time or money in themselves. They will willingly invest thousands of dollars in their children's education but only a fraction of this amount in themselves.

Chances are, when you were in school, you weren't all that serious about learning. Now that you are serious, and you know more about how competitive the workplace is, doesn't it just make sense to willingly invest in yourself?

For one-on-one coaching with a coach who is known nationally or internationally, you can expect to pay from $6,000 to $20,000 per year, sometimes more. (Some corporation compensation packages include a reimbursement for professional coaching. You may be able to use this resource.)

We have a trial coaching offer for you to consider. You can schedule a trial coaching session on a topic of your choosing to see if our program is right for you for just $100. There's no obligation beyond the first session. Call us at 404-256-5927 or contact us by email by clicking here. If we happen not to be in the office, please leave a voice message, indicating the best time to reach you, and the best phone number to use.

If you're serious about moving to a new level, let us hear from you right away. I can assure you that membership in this coaching program will be strictly limited.

Besides being a personal coach, Gene Griessman is an internationally known public speaker, author, and actor. He has spoken at conventions and annual meetings and conducted seminars all over the world. As actor and playwright, he has performed his one-man play on Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre and before large audiences at the Georgia Dome and the Ice Palace. He has conducted exclusive interviews with U.S. Presidents, famous actors, sports figures, business leaders, and Nobel Laureates, including David Rockefeller, Jacques Cousteau, Sandra Day O'Connor, Ray Charles, Mary Kay Ash, Jack Nicklaus, Hank Aaron, Julie Andrews, Aaron Copland, Ronald Reagan, Gloria Steinem, Tennessee Williams, Ted Turner, and countless others.

He often appears on television and radio, and his award-winning productions have aired on WCNN and on TBS. He is a member of the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences.

His book THE ACHIEVEMENT FACTORS received the Benjamin Franklin Award. TIME TACTICS OF VERY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE was featured in Reader's Digest and translated into a number of languages. It is now in its 23rd printing. THE WORDS LINCOLN LIVED BY: 52 TIMELESS PRINCIPLES TO LIGHT YOUR PATH focuses on the achievement secrets that Lincoln used to become successful. It's in its 8th printing. Other titles include the audio book THE INSPIRATIONAL WORDS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the CD, LESSONS FROM LEGENDS, the DVD LINCOLN ON COMMUNICATION and the book 99 WAYS TO GET MORE OUT OF EVERY DAY.

Dr. Griessman has taught at the College of William and Mary, North Carolina State University, Auburn University, Tuskegee University, and Georgia Tech. He has served as Fulbright professor at the University of Islamabad in Pakistan, as consultant at the National Agrarian University of Peru, and as a visiting researcher at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

He has been listed in WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA and WHO'S WHO IN THE WORLD for many years. Griessman is a member of the Television Academy.

Gene Griessman's Lincoln performance before an audience of over 20,000 at the Georgia Dome. CLICK HERE TO ORDER

Over 200 time-saving tips from very successful people
Time Tactics Of Very Successful People.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER

"One of the very best videos/DVDs ever made. It's a classic like 'Gone With the Wind."
Brad McRea, "The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters"

"YOU'LL GET A LOT MORE DONE IN YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU F0LLOW THIS WISE MAN'S GREAT ADVICE." ----OG MANDINO, Author, THE GREATEST SALESMAN IN THE WORLD

"YOU'LL GET A LOT MORE DONE IN YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU F0LLOW THIS WISE MAN'S GREAT ADVICE."
----OG MANDINO, Author, THE GREATEST SALESMAN IN THE WORLD