With the rapidly changing demands of today’s workplace, coaching provides leaders with customized support for responding to challenging situations and for professional and personal development. A key underlying premise of Potentials’ coaching is that people are whole, resourceful and capable of learning, developing and growing to be and perform their best. Coaching helps people to tap into their internal assets and intrinsic motivation for growth and wholeness.

A coaching relationship is a dynamic partnership designed to support individuals in taking action toward their visions and goals. Through a process of powerful questioning and dialogue, individuals increase their awareness to create a more purposeful, fulfilling and productive career and life. Clients receive valuable structure, feedback, and support from an experienced coach who is dedicated to supporting them in achieving their goals.

Potentials co-designs the coaching relationship with clients to meet their unique needs.

The value of working with a coach quickly becomes evident for leaders and their organizations. Coaching provides:

1. A personal vision alive with possibilities
2. A plan for personal and professional growth
3. Review and guidance regarding the accomplishment of goals
4. A sounding board for specific business and leadership challenges
5. Models, skills, and techniques for effective leadership and communication
6. Assistance in identifying and developing strengths
7. An efficient and customized alternative to formal training programs
8. Often a qualitative 360 process provides new insights and supports people in being open to a new relationship

Potentials coaches are highly experienced professionals with recognized coaching credentials.

We generally conduct qualitative interviews with colleagues and identify areas of opportunity. We seek to influence colleagues to be open to change when necessary. We focus on enhancing awareness and supporting behavioral change when needed.

In addition to coaching, we bring proven models and tools when useful. We work with each client to design a process that works best for the individual.

Leadership Team Coaching

We often coach leadership teams both collectively and with individual leaders outside of regular meetings. This process has proven to be highly beneficial to organizations. The coach understands the organization, the team, colleagues and the goals. The coach has the opportunity to observe leaders as they interact with colleagues and can support all to achieve organization and personal leadership goals.  Potentials has been using this model for several decades with marked results.  We know how to give concrete feedback in a supportive and non-judgmental way. Our years of experience with a wide range of global organizations and leadership teams allows us to share what has worked best for others and we also are committed to creating what will be most useful for each team.  We have experienced all kinds of situations from downturns in the business and economy, rapid growth and pressure from boards, challenges between leadership team members, change of direction and departure of key team members.

Coaching Examples

1. The president of an organization referred a CFO for coaching.  While brilliant, the CFO did not realize that his abrasive and sarcastic style was not working in the organization.  He became aware of the impact of his approach and learned new skills of working with peers and staff.  Within six months, he became known as a leader in the organization. He found he was getting more done at work and created a satisfying life outside of the office. He had almost lost his family due to his style. He became clear about his values and personal goals and became a leader who mentored others in and outside the organization.
2. A leader who took over a team in another country required coaching to work through cultural differences and develop the team’s vision and direction.
3. A female leader wanted to shift her style from micromanaging to encouraging independent thinking and innovation.  She changed the environment of the organization and saw marked improvement in results.
4. An executive learned how to manage her emotions, became more emotionally intelligent and took on increasingly more senior positions in a short time.  Her leadership stance allowed her to make significant changes in the organization culture.
5. A male executive needed to improve his reputation among peers and others based on past assumptions.  He gained the reputation as a team player and as a leader in reducing polarization.
6. A partner of a consulting firm enhanced his leadership presence and became more confident and effective with potential and new clients as well as peers and staff.  He felt more effective and was more satisfied. He became recognized as a leader of the firm and supported the firm through a significant organization change.
7. A leader of a business unit that was being sold reflected on her strengths, value and skills and created a clear picture of what she wanted going forward.  She developed a clear set of criteria and explored options and developed a proposal for her organization and created an exciting opportunity that benefited her and the organization. Years later she reports that the coaching work supported her in progressing rapidly in her career.
8. A senior executive developed more effective communication with his staff, greater satisfaction with his team and greater retention of key executives.  The executive learned how to have productive conversations and understand how to work across divisions, countries and cultures.
9. A marketing professional developed more confidence and created more efficient processes to excel in her work and received recognition from clients and leadership.
10. A sales person from the field was able to develop effective working relationships with home office peers; with productive dialogue millions of dollars were saved after reducing redundancy.
11. A client addressed conflict with peers and more productive and satisfying relationships with peers were formed. The client formed agreements about accountability that supported the organization’s goals.
12. A new leader to an organization was able to make a smooth transition to a company with a different culture.  The leader grew in confidence and learned how to effectively manage stress.
13. A director of a division increased his confidence and dramatically tripled results in one year; he received a promotion and significant bonus.
14. A sales manager developed strategies to increase sales and find time for a desired creative endeavor outside of the job thus creating more work/life balance.
15. A professional learned how to shift his style to work more effectively with peers and received a promotion for his leadership ability.
16. An executive learned how to manage his anger in the workplace and other relationships, resulting in greater satisfaction and effectiveness

“What lies behinds us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes