Presentations
& Articles
Reprinted
from The Holmes Report / PR KNOWLEDGE Coaching: A Role in PR for Consulting’s Latest Offering? In their new book First Among Equals, David Maister and Patrick McKenna recognize some of the major challenges facing managers and team leaders in a professional services business: “Nowhere along the way does anyone emphasize the importance of social, interpersonal and emotional skills in determining our success….They the day arrives when we make a terrifying discovery: The world is filled with people — clients, colleagues, subordinates and superiors. And dealing with them draws upon attitudes and skills no one ever taught us.” It is by no means clear that those attitudes and skills can be taught using traditional professional development programs. That’s why more and more companies — in professional services and beyond — are turning to executive coaches, and why public relations veteran George Rosenberg is reinventing himself as an executive coach focused on the PR agency business. Rosenberg, who was president of Cohn & Wolfe in the early 90s and who previously spent 17 years in executive positions at Burson-Marsteller, is joining forces with his wife, Arlene Rosenberg, to change the business model of his boutique PR firm, The Rosenberg Group, and focus on coaching and consulting services. Says Rosenberg, “In talking with a number of CEOs and senior leaders of both large and smaller firms, I believe they are now beginning to realize that even their best people need help to develop more rapidly as future leaders of the firm, to become more confident in pursuing and developing business, and to become more effective practice leaders and account group managers. “With consultants like David Maister advocating the need for exceptional management to in-crease performance and improve profitability, I believe we are going to see executive coaching become one of the key management tools at the most successful agencies.” The executive coach has been described as “part management consultant, part therapist, and part career counselor.” Business author Warren Bennis has dismissed coaching as “psychotherapy disguised as career boosting,” but he appears to be in the minority. Says John Kotter, professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, to say: “A lot of the coaching is aimed at trying to help people develop skills and actions that are different from what they grew up with.” That’s particularly important in tough times, because it’s more cost effective for companies to “fix” an executive than to replace him. Other factors in the current vogue for coaching range from demographics — the fact that many baby boomers are reaching middle age, and reflecting on the way they balance their work and personal lives — and the constancy of change, which means employees have to be ready to accept new roles and develop new skills at a moment’s notice. So a growing number of companies are making coaches available as a perk, or sending managers to coach certification courses to improve in-house coaching skills. Companies that have embraced coaching include General Electric, Sony, Johnson & Johnson, Ernst & Young, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, AT&T, EDS, Kodak, Chase Bank, Bayer, and Merrill Lynch. According to a survey by the International Coach Federation, coaches’ clients tend to be professionals with college degrees and an average income of $63,000. Senior managers typically initiate the relationship themselves, while half of middle managers have coaches appointed for them by senior management. Clients typically seek help with:
But the benefits extend to:
The survey also indicates that 98.5 percent of coaching clients said their investment in a coach was well worth the money, and 49 percent of coaching clients say they confide in their coach as much as they do to their best friend, spouse or therapist. Another study, by consulting firm Personnel Decisions, showed that executive coaching programs are twice as effective as behavior modeling, the previous flavor of the month in consulting circles. Rosenberg believes that while corporations have turned to executive coaches as catalysts to help managers develop leadership skills, professional service firms — including PR agencies — have been slow to recognize the benefits of using external coaches to mentor their star performers. “I realized I did not want to grow an agency again, that I could provide more value helping other people grow,” says Rosenberg. “I have been through a lot of change in my life. I have seen what change does and the effect it has on people. And I am convinced that smart agency principals see the need for this kind of service, particularly now.” He
will be merging his firm with Creative Transformations, founded
in 1992 by his wife, a former human resources executive and consultant,
who has focused on coaching high achieving women, particularly in
the financial services industry, working with clients including
Pitney Bowes, AT&T, Merrill Lynch and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The firm will offer services including customized workshops and
training sessions on topics such as leadership development, communications
effectiveness, stress management, and mastering change; consulting
with CEOs and agency leadership on overall firm management, positioning,
new business development, organization development, and other operation
issues; and administering assessment tools to help executives understand
areas in which they can expand their strengths. You may contact George Rosenberg at The Rosenberg Group, (212) 856-9573, or via e-mail at info@therosenberggroup.com. |