Click here to schedule a session to see if coaching is a good fit for you or give us a ring: 1.800.526.6038

Click here for more information on the Stress Slayer Program

After 27 years in business I know how imperative it is to consistently fine tune your offerings for what is relevant for your clients, you and your business. Working as an Executive Coach the needs landscape is constantly changing. Through listening to the needs of our clients we change what we offer in our suite of services accordingly.  One area that is a constant and is consistently on the rise in the world is stress in life and business.

Stress is like an odorless gas. It seeps in and slowly begins to asphyxiate us. Before we know it the symptoms of stress show up in our relationships, work quality, and our physical body. We treat these symptoms in a variety of ways from medicine, to escapism and everything in between.  These treatments however do not take care of stress itself as the core issue.

My colleagues Drayton Boylston, Jenna Forster, and Greg Styles and I at the Executive Coaching University have committed to taking on this stress epidemic. Each of us has our specialties in coaching clientele ranging from high level executives, business owners, women in business, high performance athletes, engaging the millennial workforce and serving fellow coaches. The brain trust at ECU is constantly seeking ways to serve the highest number of people, for the greater good of all, in areas that have the most impact in behavioral change, for the best results in life and business.

Consider these facts:

• 85% of ALL illness is stress related
• Depression is projected to be the #2 killer by 2020
• Managers and executives are 40 times more likely to suffer from heart issues
• 75% of people wish they had another job
• 80% of people NEVER use their greatest gifts at work
• Stress related illnesses are costing organizations over $350 billion a year

 

By attacking the root of this stress issue we are helping our clients find:

• Peace and relaxation
• They are enjoying life and work again
• They are feeling healthier and more motivated
• Their relationships are stronger with family, friends and co-workers
• They have discovered “Me Time” in each day
• Our business leaders are seeing an increase in moral, productivity, and profits

 

Over the next few months we will be offering a one day Oregon Stress Slayer Workshop and a Colorado Stress Slayer Workshop to kick off our dedication to increasing the happiness level in our clients, by reducing stress in our lives and businesses through mindfulness. We want to lessen this common link of stress and replace it with higher quality of living for you! Keep watch for other offerings as we continue to serve the greatest number for the greatest good through coaching. Take the time to invest in yourself and join us to help reduce your stress. It may just save your life!

 

To register for the workshops in Salem, Oregon or Denver, Colorado click the links above. For more information about other locations and dates or to bring us into your organization or city please contact us here: 1.800.251.1696 or email us.

I am often confronted with the question “Why are you sending these blogs to me?  I’m not an executive!” from those non-business executives to whom I forward ECU blogs.  After all, we are the “Executive Coaching University”, so all our material is targeted only to those seen as business executives, right?  Wrong!

In my mind the term “executive” is more adjective than noun – it describes how someone approaches her life rather than who she is and is synonymous with “peak performer”…someone who desires to live life at the highest level possible.

An executive/peak performer:

• Executes – high level performers execute.  They engage the “Ready, Fire, Aim” process of prepare, take action, adjust action that creates greater amounts of positive energy and results, rather than the conventional “Ready, Aim, Fire”…recognizing the majority of people get stuck at “Aim” and never take the action needed.  Ever seen a mom or dad juggle one or more toddlers?  That’s as high performance execution as you will see in any boardroom or courtroom!

An executive/peak performer:

• Is inside-out focused – high level performers understand that our external environment mirrors our internal developmental level.  In other words, high level performers focus on themselves and drive towards their personal “A-game” rather than continuously looking outside of themselves for responsibility, accountability, and solutions.  Think of the slogan “An Army of One” – each individual piece striving to be at their peak, coalescing into a high performing group entity.

An executive/peak performer:

• Is gritty – high level performers seek out opportunities to cultivate grit, that mix of determination, passion, and perseverance that allows us to drive through obstacles.

An executive/peak performer:

• Is neuroscience savvy – high level performers understand how the brain and body work to create the results desired.  Without that knowledge we abdicate our creative power to the unconscious, habit and live our lives on auto pilot.

An executive/peak performer:

• Constantly seeks to self-improve – the high level performer understands that human beings are biologically designed for constant growth and change, yet psychologically drive towards homeostasis and comfort.  Therefore, high level performers continuously look for opportunities for growth and recognize the motivation for that growth must initially come from within.  They push themselves to “reach” as often as possible.

An executive/peak performer:

• Is anchored by values and integrity – the high level performer knows what they value and utilize those values as foundation for their decision making and actions.  Integrity is a cornerstone of the high performers psyche – they embody the saying “Always do the right thing, even if nobody else is looking.”

High level performers wear many different hats and hold many different roles within our society.  Yet, they share the characteristics outlined above. 

If you are reading this you are an executive regardless your official “title”! 

Welcome executive – now pass it on to your brother and sister high performers!

Find out more about Greg here.

 

Are you an executive/peak performer? Please tell us why below. 



This program will help you become an even better peak performer!

     Coaching In The Workplace



© 2014 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

It is with great pride that we announce our latest coaching program- Coaching in the Workplace™.

Click here to get more details.

Our goal has always been to help spread the amazing benefits of coaching in the workplace. This program takes tools and resources used by thousands of people in 36 countries, and packages them for use in any organization. This course represents many years of work perfecting tools that truly can help transform an organization.

This program is for executives, HR professionals, managers, and coaches. It is designed as a self study course that you can take on your schedule.

If your organization has any issues with turnover, absenteeism, employee engagement, or any other Human Capital related challenges, then this course is for you.

According to Gallop (and other leading survey firms) here are the workplace realities…which coaching, and this program specifically, can help with:

• 75% of people wished they had a different job.
• 51% of “A” workers are actively looking for a different job.
• Worker productivity is only at 33%.
• Lack of engagement costs U.S. businesses over $385 BILLION a year!
• 80% of people NEVER use their greatest gifts at work.

Coaching can address all of these issues…in fact; it may well be the ONLY thing that can cure these workplace “ills.”

If you don’t have a coaching strategy in your organization, we can guarantee you one thing—these statistics will not go down…

Coaching is the “cure.” Isn’t it time you used coaching to focus on your most important asset…your people?

Click here to enroll or to get more details.

Due to the amazing demand for the complimentary public service training we do each month, we have created a YouTube Channel where you can access all of the previous training webinars dating back to 2012. These are all complimentary. Please subscribe to our channel so that you will be notified automatically when we post new videos. Enjoy!

Here's the link to our special YouTube Channel:  


You can register for the webinars here.

*************************************************************************

Please join Gary Henson and me as we take on the biggest issues in the coaching industry. This is a free public service program we offer each month. It is lively, provocative, and packed with helpful information!

BIG NEWS TODAY!

 

We just received word that our flagship Executive Coaching Training Program (CMEC) was approved by the International Coach Federation! We can now award 15 CCEUs (credit hours) toward coaching certifications with the ICF. This is a wonderful compliment to our SHRM certifications.

This is such a beautiful reflection on our entire team. Congratulations to all of you!

Many thanks to all of you for your support over the years. We are so blessed…

You can find details here:

http://www.executivecoachinguniversity.com/

Warmly,

Drayton

Founder and CEO

www.RescueInstitute.org

www.ExecutiveCoachingUniversity.com

All of your employees are happy and productive, right?  Thought so…

According to Gallop (and other leading survey firms) here is the reality:

1. 75% of people wished they had a different job.
2. 51% of “A” workers are actively looking for a different job.
3. Worker productivity is only at 33%.
4. Lack of engagement costs U.S. businesses over $385 BILLION a year!
5. 80% of people NEVER use their greatest gifts at work.

What do you think of these smelling salts?!

Coaching can address all of these issues…in fact; it may well be the ONLY thing that can cure these workplace “ills.”

If you don’t have a coaching strategy in your organization, I can guarantee you one thing—these statistics will not go down…

Coaching is the “cure.” Isn’t it time you used coaching to focus on your most important asset…your people?

 

A. Drayton Boylston

Founder and CEO

Executive Coaching University



© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

 

Are Leading or just Managing?

• More than two million workers say their bosses are so overworked they don’t really have time to manage their staff properly.
• 75% of people wished they had another job.
• 80% of people never use their greatest gifts at work.

Pretty sad facts.  

Guess what? They more than likely apply to your organization too.

And...

If you manage people, you own this!

What’s happening within our workforce to make these statistics a reality? 

In the United States employee engagement only averages 30%. That's it.  

Why?

It comes down to poor leadership. 

We have spent so much energy creating “good managers” that we have become disengaged with what it means to be a good leader.

Managing comes from a need to produce an outcome, which of course, is important. However, when we can move to a place of leading those around us the organizational momentum transforms.  More than anything employees want to make a contribution. Once they feel that they are, they stay...and they stay engaged. Which boosts your bottom line.

• Leading is about developing the soft skills that are required to inspire and motivate people.

• Managing is about possessing the technical skills required in order to get a job done.

If you have the management skills without the leadership skills your career will plateau at some point. That is a fact.

The soft skills that good leaders possess are going to be in high demand as the battle for top talent continues to increase. Are you ready?

 

Click here to find out more about Jenna.

Want to learn how to become a better leader? Click here for details.

Coaching In The Workplace - Training for Executives, Managers, and HR Professionals



© 2014 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

I was meeting the other day with a new corporate client.  This young woman was an up and coming executive within the health care industry.  We had just begun our work together, with this being our second meeting.

While our time together progressed, my client must have glanced towards, or checked in some way, her “smart phone” three or four times over the course of our first fifteen minutes.

I commented on her split attention and asked her to turn off the phone and just be focused on our time together for the next forty five minutes – fully focused upon our work.  The look on her face would have lead someone not knowing my request, to think I had asked her to do something exceptionally distasteful…maybe even illegal!

Through our discussion around my request it became quite clear that she had NEVER turned off her phone – it was always on.  This meant she was always connected, always available, always “on.”

She explained that this level of being available and connected was the status quo at her corporation and essentially had been the status quo since she was at University.  “What if I miss something really important?” she asked. “I’m not productive if I’m not juggling a number of issues, projects, or conversations at once!” she stated.

This multitasking misconception arises quite often, especially with high performers who see their success as driven by the ability to do many tasks at the same time.

Yet, there is a downside to always being “on.”  Consider:

• “Attention Deficit Trait,” a new condition rampant in the business world, which mimics Attention Deficit Disorder and results from extreme multitasking behavior.
• Researchers at the University of California found it took workers on average, 25 minutes to recover focus and attention after interruptions such as phone calls or answering email.
• Dr. Rene Marois of Vanderbilt University found evidence of a “response selection bottleneck” that occurs in the brain when it is forced to respond to multiple tasks.  This results in diminished productivity.
• In a 2008, a piece within the New York Times by Jonathan B. Spira, an analyst with the business research firm Basex, “estimated that extreme multitasking – information overload – costs the U.S. economy $ 650 billion a year in lost productivity.”  And that was in 2008!

Is it possible that any of the above might contribute to the 33% worker productivity rate in the U.S? 33%!!!

There are also other, more personal costs.  This particular client was referred to me due to increasing conflicts between her staff and those in her chain of command – she had become “hard to work with” and was close to losing the job she so valued.

Additionally, her marriage was on the verge of divorce and she had been diagnosed with digestive/intestinal issues primarily caused by stress.

Coincidence?  Not likely!

Sound familiar?  Chances are if you are reading this then you have experienced, or know someone close to you who has experienced, a very similar chain of events.

Take time to focus within the moment, express gratitude, and disconnect at least once daily.  You will find you are actually more productive, healthier, and happier.  Then lead all those around you to do the same!

 

Greg Styles

Director of Special Projects

Executive Coaching University

© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

What skills does it take? How is it done? What would a “Coaching Culture” look like? What kind of manager can make the transition?

The question is often asked - “Could our Managers/Leaders become good Coaches?” The answer is - Maybe.

Here’s the reality - Most managers in corporate America are good technicians at what they do. They typically have deficiencies in the “soft skills” area.

Here is where a big distinction needs to be made:

There is a HUGE difference between Leaders and Managers. The difference is that Leaders have mastered the soft/people skills necessary to inspire people to work up to their full potential. Managers often have solid technical skills but don’t inspire others to work toward a collective goal. A symptom of a typical manager is that their people are often in need of a “task with consequences” approach to their work vs. leaders who inspire self motivation for the good of the cause.

Here are the skills that Coaching takes:

1. Desire - a true desire to help others succeed.

2. Awareness - a trust in ones’ intuitive “gut.”
 
3. Focus - on the individual and their challenges vs. a need to “solve” things for others.

4. Listening - a sincere desire to truly hear what others are saying.

A Coaching culture is typified by these attributes:

1. Respect - you would see interactions that respect the word of the individual.

2. Worth - individuals within these cultures feel valued and appreciated.

3. Real Communication - not your typical “force fed” communication. You would see fully duplexed communication throughout the ranks.

4. Stability and progress - these cultures display more stability and retain their best people better than others. That leads to greater personal and business success.


Corporate Leaders that can make the transition to Coach are those that truly believe in investing in the individual - in time and money. It takes a sincere desire and belief that investments made in people pay off for the company.

Does this resonate with you?

Take good care,



Drayton Boylston

Founder and CEO - Executive Coaching University

http://www.ExecutiveCoachingUniversity.com

© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

by Drayton Boylston

There is much confusion about what Coaching is- and isn’t. Many consulting firms have simply gone through their marketing materials and changed the word “consulting” to “coaching.” For many in the business world, that sums up what they perceive Coaching to be, a new word for consulting.

Nothing could be farther from the truth!

.. Coaching IS NOT about giving advice or consulting. It is not about mentoring. It is not about “helping” others by providing solutions to problems.

.. It IS about working intensely with people, utilizing provocative and powerful questions, to enable people to find answers themselves. At its essence, Coaching is about equipping people with the tools to discern the real issues at work and then to employ the right actions to best deal with the realities that they face.

.. Coaching is not therapy. Coaching should not go anywhere near what is considered the domain of therapists and psychologists. If it does, it’s not coaching. Coaching is not about the past- it is about the present- and the future. Good Coaches know when they are getting near the areas where others need to be called in- and do so.

.. While some Coaching can appear to be ethereal and too “out there” for companies, that is a much different type of Coaching (Life Coaching). There is a distinct form of Executive Coaching that is used in the corporate environment. It is directly tied to personal improvement and increased productivity that in turn pays off handsomely for the organization.

.. Coaching does not “fix” people. It is rare that Coaching can be deployed to “fix” those that deem to be in need of a quick change by their manager.

.. Coaching can have dramatic short term impact. But the reality is that it will take from 6-12 months of quality Coaching to make sustainable changes. Those that tell you that it can be done quicker are not well informed.

.. Coaching is about individual planning, goal setting, and achievement. It’s also about personal discovery and enlightenment. It is about realizing one’s full potential.

With all that being said, Coaching is about so many things that would benefit every company. Coaching helps create stronger and more productive people that are more valuable to the organization!

Be well,

Drayton Boylston
Founder and CEO - Rescue Institute, Executive Coaching University

http://www.executivecoachinguniversity.com

© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.