Executive Coaching, Team Coaching, & Leadership Development

Leaders and their teams have a profound impact on those around them. Behaviors and practices set the tone for what’s possible and what’s not, impacting business performance and the development and engagement of others. How a leader communicates, and, a shift in a leader’s approach can significantly impact how the leader is perceived, what happens in the department, unit or organization, and what can be accomplished.

Executive coaching can be a transformative experience, expanding what’s possible for the individual and many others in the organization over time. Leadership development programs and team and group coaching are powerful tools that can make lasting impact. At times, an executive coaching program for one leader may result in dramatic shifts in the leader’s team as well. We work with you to select the best program to address your situation and what you wish to accomplish.

Executive Coaching

Executive coaching is a customized leadership development program designed to support expanded self-awareness, achieving targeted goals, and the success of the coachee and the organization. Sloane Communications clients have reported as high as a 50:1 return on the investment in executive coaching services, based on the leader’s immediate significant impact on staff development.

Executives, professionals, entrepreneurs and others work with a coach one-on-one to:

• Cultivate executive presence, greater influence and visibility; accelerate the participation, support of others

• Cultivate or transform the key relationships that drive results

• Transform or accelerate team results

• Support success in a new, complex role

• Generate a leap in effectiveness and greater overall well-being

• Develop greater ease and skill at having the challenging conversations that generate results

• Put new practices in place that open up communication, possibility and commitment

• Develop a more rewarding work situation

Sloane Communications assumes clients are already talented, accomplished and extremely capable. A coaching relationship can be a powerful experience, involving the development of new possibilities, new levels of achievement, personal growth and satisfaction. The coach supports the client in becoming more self-aware, in exploring new ways to view situations, individuals, possibilities, and in developing new approaches, plans, strategies and actions. This innovation involves learning. At times, the learning may be challenging. The coaching process is also very empowering. Clients often find they can discuss things with the coach they wouldn’t discuss with others.

The coaching process:

• The coaching process begins with identification of clear goals and measures of success.

• Often, a discovery aspect is useful to the process, to gather additional information, including barriers to success. This may include use of a 360º assessment tool, interviews with key stakeholders (peers, reports, supervisors), and “shadowing,” in which the coach accompanies the client during the workday for a period of time as an observer.

• Based on the goals, indicators and any discovery methods, the client and coach identify areas of learning and create a plan.

• These goals, measures of success, areas of learning and the plan may be shared with a supervisor or program sponsor for insights, feedback, and support and to assist in assessing progress. Coaching sessions utilize real-time situations and issues in implementing the plan.

• Depending on the engagement, the program sponsor may meet again with the coach and coachee at the midpoint to review progress, and again near the end of the engagement.

• Coaching programs may be extended, as desired.

“I've become a much more relaxed, confident speaker. Others have commented on that. I’ve learned to speak at a higher level. You helped me to understand that I had an interesting story, and point of view. To clarify what I want to get across and to shape my narrative. You helped me to see it myself, rather than telling me what to do. It was a process of self-discovery. You challenged me with questions. It helped me a great deal. I learned to think more about my audience - what they want, what they want to feel, what I want them to know. I went from overscripting myself and worrying too much about doing badly, to determining the points I wanted to make, relaxing and being myself. I've become more improvisational. My work with you really made a difference in how I am perceived as a leader. The presentation coaching sessions with Tom were also very useful.”

Ralph Rogers, Chief Academic Officer and Provost

“I had the honor and pleasure to work with Jackie to improve my leadership and communication skills. I cannot be more pleased. It has opened a door so I can more clearly know about myself. I’ve become more focused and prepared at meetings, and think about more on how to interact with my team members, managers and business partners. The mindset change has the biggest impact for me.  I have no doubt that all the valuable experience I received from this exercise will benefit my whole life and career.”

Kun Yang, Vice President, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

“We hired Jackie Sloane as an executive coach for one of our senior management employees. We quickly realized that we had an opportunity to expand the skills of the entire management team through some group training work as well. In both ventures we were very pleased with the work that Jackie did for us. As an executive coach, she quickly earned the trust and confidence of the manager. She gave him tools that he could use immediately to improve his leadership style and helped him address some of the morale and teamwork issues that were present in his staff. He improved in his ability to motivate and coach his team and he learned valuable communication and listening skills. Jackie provided several group trainings to improve communication skills and accountability amongst the management staff. These were well received. Managers felt that they learned how to be more assertive by making clearer, more specific requests and taking initiative. They learned how to listen without getting defensive and communicate their concerns or needs without generating conflict. The participants found that they were able to implement what they learned and noticed excellent results. In general, they found that this improved their ability to work together as a team and that there was more cohesion, support, and respect as a result. They also found that they could use these tools with their staff so that a sense of shared leadership emerged throughout the organization. One manager reported using the communication tools with her front-line employees to empower them to take ownership of a new product introduction. The results far exceeded expectation, with the production workers implementing a system that enabled them to reduce production time by 50% from what had been originally anticipated. I highly recommend Jackie as a coach and trainer.”

Lisa Dufour, Director of Human Resources

Leadership Development

GENERATIVE LEADERSHIP: Authenticity, Awareness, and Conversation as powerful tools

6-month group program

Effective leadership involves continuous learning, often to address challenges we have not been prepared for, and to work with those with different ways of seeing the world. The ability to engage others with different concerns and perspectives is key to individual effectiveness and building a culture that brings out the best in those around us.

This six-month group leadership development and executive coaching program offers six group experiential learning modules and two one-on-one executive coaching sessions per participant. In this highly interactive program, participants work with distinctions and models to support expanded self-awareness and the ability to shift in the moment to adapt to the various audiences they must influence. Program includes:

• Personal goal setting

• Values work and personal mission statement

• Personal assessment

• Discussion and shared understanding of effective leadership in a complex environment

• Cultivating influence and executive presence

• Learning to recognize and adapt to the communication styles of others

• Work with powerful models for having the conversations that generate outcomes critical to success, particularly those with emotional content or risk

• Holding others accountable in a generative way

• Exercises and tools to support cultivating resilience and greater ability to be present in the moment

• Techniques for engaging teams

• Strategies and work with group challenges

Customizable to include work on a particular outcome. Recommended for groups of 6 or more.

Custom Team Coaching, Teambuilding, and Group Leadership Development Programs

Accelerate what your organization is capable of with leadership development programs. We collaborate with you and your organization to develop customized group coaching, learning experiences, and training, and facilitate conversations and interventions to achieve desired outcomes.

These approaches may be used to:

• Accelerate achievement of a goal

• Cultivate greater alignment

• Improve communication, well-being, productivity, and trust

• Address concerns, questions and issues related to a change or merger

• Cultivate new skills, behaviors and practices

• Build enthusiasm, rapport, collaboration, energy

• Build a vision, mission and values

Engagements generally involve five overarching steps:

• Clarification of goals and measures of success

• Discovery and data-gathering

• Planning, based on the above

• Implementation

• Evaluate progress and determine next steps

Programs may include elements of the Generative Communication Program outlined here. 

“Your work with us has been a huge assist to the Athletics Department and the University as a whole. We are at a time of a lot of change, and it has been really helpful for the teamwork and fabric of the organization. You brought such a sense of impartiality to the discussion with my people, generating a conversation so everyone was heard around the table. You have a great way with people.

You are really good at allowing the conversation to happen, so that people express themselves, so we can surface the issues, yet shepherding the conversation so we can address them. You are really good at what you do and you get results. Your work is first class, very organized, detailed and timely. I had nothing but enjoyment working with you.”

Rick Costello, Director of Athletics, Purdue University Northwest