Are You Ready to Embrace the Possibilities?

Coaching comes in many forms but the goal is to help you become the very best version of yourself as a leader, executive, and whole person. Executive coaching is like a blend of therapy, strategic discussion, and athletic training.

The focus is on your advancement as you define it, a definition that usually evolves over time. It is important to find a coach with experience working within your industry and the vision to help you realize your evolving personal goals.

What does Executive Coaching aim to accomplish?

Coaches facilitate a process of change or development which enables individuals and organizations to realize their potential.

If you're considering coaching, here are several key benefits:

• Better Performance - greater productivity, career advancement, business results

• New insights - about yourself, how you're perceived, where you can improve
• Accelerated action - advancing faster and with greater precision
• A safe place to dialogue- talk through challenges and gain perspective
• Greater Awareness -of perspectives, beliefs, and attitudes that may be limiting your success
• Support and encouragement - it feels less lonely at the top
• Feedback that others won’t share
• Help with improving specific skills - communication, delegation, conflict management, team building, persuasion, etc

Effective coaching requires someone to have a desire to learn and grow.

If you're the type of person who wants to grow and improve, and is willing to trust someone to support you, I highly recommend working with a coach.

Ready to get started?

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The first few weeks and months of an executive’s tenure are critical. Getting it right can dramatically accelerate the transformation of a new recruit or promotion into a fully functioning business leader. But getting it wrong can be very costly.

In fact, recent studies indicate that 30-50% of newly hired leaders fail and leave within 18 months. Failure to establish key relationships and failure to align with company culture are indicated as leading factors that derail new executives early in their leadership roles.

Organizations that spend thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in efforts to recruit key talent, recognize the critical importance of ensuring cultural fit as part of the hiring process. But often, the rigor, focus and attention given to the recruiting process don’t seem to carry forward to a solid commitment to assimilate and positively onboard new executives.

Executive onboarding is far too important to leave to chance. The stakes are high for the individuals and the corporations involved. The impact on revenues, employee morale and the company’s corporate image when an executive fails in a newly-assigned role are felt by the organization long after the executive has departed.

Onboarding, not orientation.

Onboarding is not the same as orientation. Consider whether your organization’s internal process achieves the following:

• Identifies executives’ strengths and developmental areas, and ensures they have the key competencies for success
• Brings role clarity
• Accelerates integration with organizational culture, strategy, and leadership team
• Maps key relationships
• Delivers critically timed feedback from key stakeholders
• Offers counsel on goal identification
• Provides early warning indicators and hazard avoidance

The Solution for Success

Our Onboarding services pick up where the executive search process ends, and help organizations integrate new executives in a more structured and effective way. Focusing on the early stages of an executive’s tenure, we reduce the time it takes for new executives to start making a meaningful impact, and maximize the leader's personal engagement with the organization and culture. We believe in customizing our program to our clients needs and work with new hires and internal promotions.

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After 21 + years in the career development business, I have seen the unique skill sets required for effective healthcare leaders. One key I have discovered is that effective leaders are continuous learners who never stop growing and developing their skills and talents.

I have found important learning traits that effective leaders require:

• New levels of perception and insight into the realities of the world and also into themselves
• Extraordinary levels of motivation to go through the inevitable pain of learning and change
• The emotional strength to manage their own and others' anxiety as learning and change become more and more a way of life
• New skills in analyzing and changing cultural assumptions
• The willingness and ability to involve others and elicit their participation
• The ability to learn the assumptions of a whole new organizational culture

An essential part of effective leadership and growth is networking. Wiederhold & Associates has developed the most in-depth premium network of senior healthcare professionals in the country. The Premium Active Network program was developed for individuals who see the value of networking, gaining visibility in the industry and building mutually beneficial relationships.

At Wiederhold & Associates, we are a leading provider of career development, transition services and executive coaching to the healthcare industry. We help individuals and organizations with the tools and resources to develop and sustain exceptional leadership performance. Through networking and coaching, we are always focused on relationship building with a personal touch.

Throughout the year, I will be sending periodic communications through email and social media that will keep you informed of topics on leadership effectiveness and managing your career for a lifetime.

Here’s to your success!

Jim

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A recent survey of over 1,700 executive managers, including the C-suite but excluding CEOs, found an extensive relationship between the CEO’s reputation and that of the company itself. Of the executives surveyed, 87% said that a positive reputation for the CEO was important in attracting investors, 83% said it was important in garnering positive media attention, and 77% said it was key to attracting employees.

The survey was conducted by KRC Research in partnership with the PR firm Weber Shandwick. KRC performs quantitative and qualitative research, and this survey included an analysis of responses gathered across companies with annual revenues of at least $500 million.

Survey respondents indicated that they attributed 45% of the company’s reputation to be based on the CEO. Fifty percent of the respondents said this link between the CEO’s reputation and that of the company will increase in the coming years. Other data collected include the following:

>> 58% of senior management said the CEOs reputation was responsible for keeping them at the company.

>> 50% of executives indicated the reputation of the CEO impacted their decision to accept a position with the company.

>> 44% said that senior management personnel (other than the CEO) had a great deal of influence on the company’s reputation.

Respondents noted that “it is important for CEOs to partake in external relationship-building and shine spotlights on their companies.” When asked which activities are most important in this regard, 76% indicated speaking at industry or trade conferences, 71% said it was important to be accessible to the news media, and 68% indicated the importance of being visible on the company’s website.

You can learn more by downloading the full 20-page report at: http://www.webershandwick.com/uploads/news/files/ceo-reputation-premium-executive-summary.pdf

I'd like to share a valuable article with you titled “Healthcare Executives in Job Transition.” The author, Dr. Laura Canter, is a Licensed Performance Psychologist. She has worked with professional and elite amateur athletes in a variety of sports, including in the NFL, MLB, tennis and other fields. After completing her graduate studies at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, Laura switched her focus to concentrate on the mental aspects of performance, sharing her philosophy with business executives, high performance athletes and other top performers. In the article, she addresses key questions such as:

1) What do executives in transition need to work on to be successful?

2) What seems to be the most common challenge going into a transition period?

3) What characteristics mark the difference between those who seem to be most successful in transition versus those who seem to struggle with the journey?

People going through transition always seem to struggle with Controllable vs. Uncontrollables, and Dr. Canter has important advice to share with you on how to approach these factors. Key takeaways from the article include:

1) How to understand and be clear about what you can control and what you cannot control.

2) Internal motivation is critical – you have to discover what inspires you. What do you like about your job? Why do you do it?

3) With every job transition, there are “Seven Elements of Excellence,” which will help guide you throughout your transition.

After you read this informative article, please share it with others who may benefit. The article, “Healthcare Executives in Job Transition,” is available by copying the link below into your web browser:
http://www.wiederholdassoc.com/document-downloads/healthcare-executives-in-job-transition

In 2013, I will celebrate 20 years of being an entrepreneur. In 1993 when we started our focus was on the recruiting side, but over the years our business has become strictly focused on transition. It was initially only external transition, but now involves internal transition as well as executive coaching. A very wise person once said to me, “since you know so much about why people separate or fail in their careers/jobs, why don't you take that information and also use it to help people stay gainfully employed?” We listened and that's when we started the executive coaching part of the program.

In those years, as I worked with executives and senior managers it became apparent to me why in most cases people separate from their organizations. And when I say separation, I am focusing on individuals that have been on some level asked to leave or left through mutual agreement. Those reasons have little to do with performance and understanding the task at hand or having the technical skills to execute their jobs, but around what I would label “soft skills”. Soft skills would include things such as communication, listening, emotional intelligence, messaging, relationship building, and conflict resolution. In most cases as we tracked back their last 60 to 90 days of employment, it became apparent that, first, this was no surprise and second, it had more to do with key relationships and politics.

My job is all about talking with people and the majority of them, despite rising high in the organization, are very much focused on task. I by no means, am saying that that is not important, but it is only half the equation. The other half is the soft skills. And then the next question becomes: why do we not pay attention? Here are some of my observations over the years; this is by no means a comprehensive list:

• Do not see it as important
• Are not comfortable with the soft skills
• They are difficult to measure
• They are the first thing to be neglected in a stressful situation

My point is this: life is about balance and one must strike a balance between achievement and mastering the soft skills. If people would do that, they would be in much greater control of their own destiny career-wise. It's time to start paying attention or continue to repeat the past.

I am not naïve enough to suggest that every process is perfect, but I am convinced that well-thought-out ones, when followed, produce outstanding results on a consistent basis. My question and challenge to you today is why do we ignore them and attempt to circumvent them only to ensure our own failure? I see this so much in career transition where I am focused. In my mind, I see three possible reasons. First one: I have not used this process before so I'm not convinced completely that really works. Second one: I am impatient and I want the results yesterday. Third one: I know everything and I can ignore or change this process and be more successful. Now keeping this in mind let me relate it to a real situation I'm currently involved in.

I am currently in Denver, Colorado, actually about 50 miles southwest of Denver Colorado at about 9000 feet. I am here training for a half marathon on May 19th in Denver. I have some wonderful friends that allow me to stay with them during this two-week period. This is my second year. Let me share with you what I experienced the first year. First, I accepted the fact that I'm not an expert in this area and I needed to seek out experts. Why did I need to seek out experts? I did because most of my running takes place in Houston and in Atlanta. The cities are at approximately 34 feet above sea level and 900 feet above sea level respectively. As you all know, Denver is the mile high city that puts it at approximately 5280 feet. This fact alone created much concern and apprehension on my part. So after talking with many experts I developed a process that would help me adjust and perform at this level respectably. I had never executed this process but I knew I had to stick to it. I had to be patient and have faith in it. Believe me, that was a challenge on many days. When I say many days I felt like I was coughing up a lung, most you would understand that. I didn't feel the process was working for me, but I said I'm going to stick with it because people who knew better said it would work. And in the end, when I ran the event, it was one of the best runs of my life. As I mentioned, I am now back in Colorado and using the same exact process. The major difference this year is that I know the process works. Last year, I had to do it on faith and by accepting my experts’ expertise. Having experienced the process with success also added to my confidence.

What is my point? We cannot be experts in everything, accept that, and find an expert to help you build the process. Now once you are done with the experts, create the process. Then comes the tough part. Adhere to the process without circumventing it or changing it and no matter how impatient you become or concerned over your progress, stick with it. Stay focused on incremental gains not huge ones. Accept that you will have minor setbacks and you will have your bad days but in the end you will have a successful journey. Proven processes are tools for success. Stick with them and you will improve your chances for both significant and consistent success greatly. When you become the expert in that area, then you can make those changes to the process, but not before.