Consulting Services
 

Recent research shows that 33% of executives fail in their jobs not because they are less astute in their work, but because of ineffective interpersonal skills. Coaching supports talent management and on-boarding efforts by improving the performance of key executives.

We approach leadership coaching similarly to the way a sports coach works with high-performing athletes—or athletes who are capable of high performance. Our underlying assumption is that every high performer, whether in the arts, sports, organizational or public life, seeks and takes advantage of coaching in order to develop even greater skills.

We work with the leader to select important development goals and then identify or establish a challenging opportunity linked to those goals where she or he must use specific skills and practices effectively in order to succeed.

We break down the opportunity into chunks and practice the associated skills, providing detailed feedback and/or suggestions for improvement. We then put it all together for an interactive rehearsal, using a variety of realistic responses.

Lastly, we debrief the actual experience, identifying key learning points and next steps. We may include interviews with important stakeholders to assess the leader’s skills before and after the coaching intervention.

For more information on Leadership & Executive Coaching, click here.

Whether working with new or established teams, we focus on five aspects we have identified of exceptionally high-performing teams. They include:

• Alignment of purpose
• Ability to learn and change,
• Attitude of trust
• Attention to process
• Artistry in action.

With new teams, we first emphasize alignment of purpose, engaging team members in formulating the vision, mission, values, and norms that the team wants to live by. We also spend time on ability to learn and change, developing clear communication guidelines and feedback practices, then on attention to process, agreeing on how the team will work together.

With existing teams, we may revisit or renew these aspects and often spend more time on attitude of trust, where we redefine and clarify roles and responsibilities and resolve conflicts as well as on artistry in action, where we move beyond existing practices in a creative way, encouraging greater collaboration and team accountability.

We work with the team’s leadership and often interview team members as well to identify important goals and any changes needed. We provide many “team tools” that can be used in face-to-face or virtual meetings or conversations going forward.

For more information on Team Development/New Team Startup, click here.

Our thought-leaders are available to speak on topics such as the following:

• Leadership
• Developing leadership bench strength
• Influencing
• Managing innovation
• Thinking strategically
• And more

For more information on arranging a speaking engagement, click here.

Below is one example of how Barnes & Conti is able to customize a program to make an organization’s business needs:

A multi-million member, national non-profit organization asked Barnes & Conti to help their regional and state leaders apply Strategic Thinking tools to change the culture and help regional directors be responsive to local needs and, at the same time, lead with an enterprise perspective. After thorough consultation with senior leadership, we designed a multi-step, blended learning solution that could be implemented nationally. We deployed a highly experienced team of facilitators, designers, and logistics coordinators to help our client address the challenges it was facing.

For more information on custom program development, click here.