November 2007

When The Going Gets Tough...

How does your approach change?  How can you benefit from this insight?

Perhaps I'm easily fascinated. Or maybe I'm on to something.  Over the past two years, I've been using and studying internet enabled talent and behavior assessments for both executive coaching and candidate evaluation.  OK, I admit I tend to be more enthusiastic than most. And, my own talent assessment verifies this. That aside, I am regularly blown away by the insight we gain from these reports.  And, I have seen this insight used to generate significant improved results.  As a confirmed results oriented guy, that's what floats my boat.  Might it do the same for yours?

One of the insights that we gather is a determination of a person's behavioral style and how that person adapts his/her normal behavior to a higher pressure job environment.  In effect, we get detailed answers to two questions...

• How does this person naturally behave?

• How does this style change when the "heat is turned up" or "the bright lights go on"?

What is the value in learning these answers?

It depends.  Executives are like snowflakes.  They appear similar until you examine their uniqueness.  Here are two recent case studies where understanding the uniqueness of two successful business owners is helping them pursue greater success.

Case Study #1

I helped one very successful client to discover that he is naturally cautious and compliant and comfortably lives by the rules. Conversely when the fur flies, he becomes much more driving and aggressive. The result is that he operates with one foot on the gas and one foot on the break.  It can be a bit maddening to those around him.  With a heightened awareness for how this effects his ability to pursue and achieve his goals, changes are slowing starting to happen as he understands how and why he makes decisions in each mode.

Case Study #2

With another company President, his assessment found him to be inherently trusting, empathetic and optimistic: much more so than most everyone else he will encounter. So what's wrong with that? There is no right or wrong. We are who we are. The value comes from understanding how "who we are" is getting in the way. This business owner's "assessment ah-haa moment" came when he realized that he habitually gives away the store in even the most routine negotiations. In his case it doesn't matter if the heat is on or not.  His behavior is consistent. We discovered his blind spot for recognizing flaws in both people and prospective deals. His heightened awareness of the consequences of this has inspired some significant positive change. He now looks to both delegate and consult with the more skeptical people around him. He is gradually developing a more skeptical approach himself.  This doesn't happen overnight.  But, within a just few months, his heightened awareness has saved his business tens of thousands of dollars.

Pursuing The Next Level of Success

Our process for helping successful people become even more successful involves first helping them to crystallize their goals and then to address all their obstacles both tangible and intangible. Your obstacles to the next level of success may be the same behaviors that have brought you success in the past.

Tom Lemanski of Vista Development serves as business catalyst and executive coach in the strategic development of SMARTer, executives, managers and sales professionals.

Vista Home  | About Vista | Testimonials  | FAQ |  How We're Different  | Executive Coaching  | Contact Us  | Top

Visit our affiliated sites

Chicago Executive Coaching   |  Executive Talent Assessments |  Chicago Sales Coaching