Coaching & Development

 Any of us who has run an organization knows that the loneliest place is at the top. When your employees, board members, and shareholders look to you for assurance and certainty, where do you turn to express doubt and hesitation? When you are the guy or gal on whose desk the most difficult questions land, who listens to you mull over the possible answers and their consequences? When everyone around you praises your leadership and your intellect, who can you count on to tell you the sometimes-painful truth?


Those concerns are why many executives turn to coaches. The effective coach isn't necessarily steeped in the details of your business. That's your job, not his. He's there as a sounding board, to reflect back to you what he's hearing and seeing and to help you examine your situation, your options, and your behavior, in a new way.


The executive coach won't be a candidate for a job at your firm. He or she won't have longtime ties to others in your company. He will be the soul of discretion and won't dine out on stories about the help he has given executives, named or unnamed. Her ego gratification will come from your appreciation for the help she gives you in getting your job done.


He won't always make you feel good. Sometimes he will ask question you don't want to hear. She won't be your publicist, helping your craft a false image or create a buffer to shield the real you from your employees. And he or she never will want to wield power, officially or unofficially,in your organization


TIG starts the coaching process with a series of tools that help you better understand what motivates you in your job and what counter-productive behaviors you need to watch for when you're under pressure (we all have them). These tools, part of the Hogan assessments suite, are developed from an online questionnaire that you fill out in the privacy of your home or office.


Then a senior TIG coach meets with you to discuss the Hogan results and determine what other services are likely to be most helpful. These might include a so-called "360 degree survey," in which the TIG coach meets confidentially with direct reports, peers (if any), and board members (if relevant). What you get is confidential feedback about how those around you really see you. Or perhaps the services consist of regular meetings, initially in person and later over the telephone, where you can discuss the issues and questions you're grappling with in a confidential setting with someone whose interest is only making you the best leader you can be.


It's a process we also recommend you consider for top performers in your organization who find their way blocked by a personality issue. Such people appreciate the effort to help them succeed, and in most cases you'll be able to rescue a good executive who might otherwise be derailed by an issue he or she doesn't know how to deal with.