Program Overviews:

“Coaching with Mike” is the culmination of what I have learned about management and creating win / win situations after nearly forty years as both a labor lawyer and management professional. It also represents my continuing desire to give back to the business community for all that it has given me. The vehicles for doing this are a highly customized, professionally intimate, one-on-one or team coaching program and the occasional complex mediation service. The goal of these efforts is to develop a manager  or leadership team that will be highly effective in his or her or their role(s) irrespective of the type of business they operate within or whether employees they lead are white collar, blue collar or wear no collar at all. If we are successful, substantial benefits will flow to peers, subordinates, leadership and company.

Entry- and Middle-Level Managerial Coaching

The basic program is in three parts:

• Part 1 – Management basics.
  • We cover, discuss and practice the nuts and bolts of management. What are the key skills that differentiate a truly competent manager from other managers? How do effective teams engage, operate, lead.
• Part 2 – Innovation, manager as coach and servant leader.
  • Once the foundation is laid, we move to the “right side of the brain” to talk about how the basics may be applied in the most creative ways. It is made clear that management at the superior level is more than the rote application of a handful of competencies. Significant time is spent on developing coaching skills in the manager. The manager as coach and servant leader is the heart of the program.
• Part 3 – Stay the course.
  • Finally, we talk about the pitfalls many managers get snared by on their way up the corporate ladder. We discuss warning signs and activities that help avoid these stallers and stoppers.

During 1 on 1 coaching, three quarters of the sessions, are virtual, via telephone or Facetime®, and usually last about an hour. We read five books together and use what is contained in the various chapters as jumping off points for our discussions. Each session begins with a conversation regarding what is happening with the manager at that point in time. This almost always allows for the application of what is being learned while the manager is proceeding with the coaching. Subsequent readings allow the dialogue to drill down to the most advanced elements of management resulting in a highly sophisticated, superior manager.

Leadership Team Coaching

The basic program is also in three parts:

• Part 1 – Why the need? What does the end state look like?
  • Conversation with executive management regarding their view of the team. “Why am I being hired?”
  • Interview of the team leader. His/her concerns; how we can work best to achieve both his/her and executive management’s end state.
  • Interview of Leadership Team participants – this takes place as a “1 on 1” conversation that seeks to uncover relative strengths and development opportunities of both the individual and team.
• Part 2 – On site work with the team.
  • This is an intensive program. I usually spend two to four days a week with the Leadership Team actively working on current concerns while working through issues uncovered during the interview phase. This is where the team learns how to manage as a team. We will use a number of books and monographs to help the team understand the issues. These are discussed in a team meeting environment.
• Part 3 – Work toward the agreed end state.
  • Both team and individual objectives are set and work undertaken, including individual development initiatives. Learning takes place as a team and feedback among the group is both encouraged and taught as a skill for advancing team objectives.

  Mediation:

• This is bespoke activity, Tailored to fact specific situations. My role is to establish trust and then to bring the parties together to achieve an end state neither party thought possible that benefits both parties.