Is It Time To Hire an Executive Coach?

People turn to executive coaches for a variety of reasons. Sure, if you're in a jam, an executive coach can help, but they're not only for crisis situations. Now, more than ever, people are hiring executive coaches to help increase their competitive edge.

While mentors and bosses can help, they're not always as objective as you need them to be and you may not be comfortable opening up to them. Also they are not usually able to dedicate a significant amount of time to your situation.

Whatever your reason for considering a coach, they can add value in a number of ways.




Raise Your Game - Whether you want to position yourself for promotion, increase your industry knowledge or be more effective in your job, an executive coach can help you get there. Increasing your competitive edge is key to long-term career success. Whomever you hire should be able to teach you best practices in the areas that are most important to you (e.g., negotiations, leadership, execution, etc.).

Putting Out a Fire - When you have a flat tire you need to fix it right away not 20 miles down the road. If you're on a performance plan with a short time frame, a coach can be a tremendous asset. The coach should develop an action plan to aggressively address each of the areas you need to improve. Measurement is critical, so make sure you hire a coach who will hold you accountable.

Transitioning To Something New - Perhaps you've reach that point in your career when you know you need to do something different but are not sure what. A good executive coach can help identify those things which you enjoy and are good at. S/he can then help you leverage those into a new, more fulfilling career. Once you have identified what it is you want to do, you and your coach should create a career plan with specific actions to move you in that direction.

Increase Job Satisfaction - We can all be happier in our current jobs. An executive coach can help you identify those components of your job which you enjoy most and help you focus more on those areas. Similarly, you can take the areas you don't like and work with your coach to reframe them.

Improve Your Relationships - Most people work in an environment where they are dependant on others to get their jobs done. Given this, having good working relationships can make you more productive. An executive coach can help you strengthen those important relationships, identifying opportunities for you to bond with co-workers in genuine and productive ways.


Hiring an executive coach is a smart thing to do. Not only will they help you raise your performance level, they can give you invaluable perspective on your situation. Executive coaches counsel hundreds of people in a myriad of industries and that perspective can yield significant benefits.

Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

The Real Career Killers

We all hear talk about things that can kill your career. A missed opportunity? Bad presentation in an important meeting? Lost customer? While these things won't help your career, they certainly don't define your overall career path. So, what are the things that can deal a devastating blow to your career?



Here are the real career killers:

Mixed Results - A track record of hits and misses when delivering on goals will hurt your career. Companies are looking for consistent performers - individuals who they can count on to repeatedly meet expectations. Some people make the mistake of thinking once they've met a few goals they're not under the gun to continue contributing at that level. In order to advance your career you have to constantly prove yourself. Consistent performers get promoted; others are perceived as a risk. This applies to positions throughout the organization, entry level to CEO.

Not Developing Your Team - If you really want to be selfish about your career take care of the people who work for you. The only way you can move up is by training and developing the people who report to you and, importantly, identifying and grooming your successor. Don't get so wrapped up in the day-to-day tactical issues that you fail to spend time training your team. By developing your team you are strengthening the organization and its competitive advantage.

Not Accepting Responsibility for Failures - The mark of a true leader is being able to stand up and hold yourself accountable when something doesn't go according to plan. The buck has to stop with the person in charge and if you're that person step up to the plate. No one gets to the top without their share of failures. Taking responsibility demonstrates integrity which is highly valued. You'll be viewed as someone the organization can trust because you're honest enough to own-up.

Taking Too Much Credit - Some people think that giving others credit reduces the impact of their contributions. The opposite is true. The more you credit others the more it positively reflects on you. Real leaders know how to motivate their teams. The best way to motivate someone on your team is to give them recognition for what they have done.

Failure to Learn from Mistakes - A CEO once told us that his management style was to create an environment that eliminated fear. He wanted people to feel free to take risks, but said, "You had better learn from your mistakes". We all make mistakes. The key questions to ask yourself are "What did I learn? What could I have done differently? How can I prevent it from happening again?" This learning will serve you in the future and give your boss confidence that you have the self-awareness and insight to grow from the experience.


It's critical, especially in these times, to avoid doing things can derail your career. Keep tracking how well you're measuring up in these important areas, otherwise your career will stall.

Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

What Recruiters Look For

In this time of restructuring, downsizing and double-digit unemployment, it's more important than ever to be ready when a recruiter calls. Being ready means telling a concise and compelling story that demonstrates how your background matches to what the company needs.

Stories should have a beginning, middle and end. Don't highlight something that you started but couldn't finish because you left the company or the project was halted. The most effective stories set up the business problem, discuss the solution and detail the results.



Aside from how you communicate your accomplishments, you have to have the goods. Here's what recruiters are looking for:

Results - We are always drilling down to find out what a candidate has accomplished in each role. Did you move the needle and deliver results? Just as importantly, how did you deliver those results, because the process of how you get things done is just as critical as the results themselves. We come across people who have accomplished great things but have alienated people in the process. Very few organizations want those types. When we interview candidates, we're looking for the specifics about the results they delivered: What was your goal? What were the market conditions? What plan did you put in place and what obstacles did you overcome to get there? And why are those results noteworthy?

Leadership - Companies hire for a specific position, but they are always looking for people who have the potential to advance within the company. Every search assignment we have requires leadership and management skills. Leadership is about creating a vision and management is about how you implement that vision and utilize the people and resources you have. Successful leaders know how to articulate a vision that is both meaningful and inspiring to the people they work with. If you don't demonstrate effective leadership, your career is going to stall.

Career Progression - We ask candidates to explain how each role demonstrates growth in responsibilities. Are you managing a bigger piece of the business than before? If you moved from one international assignment to another, does the new position reflect more responsibility or greater challenges? It's important to always be monitoring your career path to see if you are increasing your responsibilities and tracking towards your ultimate goal.

Broad Experience - The more assignments you have and the more diverse those assignments are, the more valuable you are to a potential employer. You never know when the experience you gained in a particular role can be used to help you solve a problem in a future position. Companies want to know if you have the ability to do more for the organization, beyond your functional area. We had a VP of Marketing interviewing at a Fortune 500 company and the CEO asked him, "Can I move you into supply chain, if I need to?".

International - Companies are more and more focused on growing their international business. There are valuable skills you pick up from an international assignment. One is how you deal with varying resources from country to country? How do you work within various cultures? Companies are always looking for "plug - and - play". If they want international and you have it - it's easier to sell your candidacy.


You never know when that call from a recruiter will come in. Start developing and practicing stories around your experience now. The more details you can provide and the more excited you are about what you accomplished, the more likely you'll get to that all important meeting with the hiring manager.


Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

Don't Fall Asleep on the Job When You're Working from Home

Working from home has many benefits: you don't have to commute, you don't have to "suit up" and you don't have co-worker "Joe" chewing the fat about things you couldn't care less about.

There are many distractions at the office which is why people say they get more done working from home. At least that's what they tell their bosses. The truth is that working from home has its own set of distractions.




Here are things you can do to be more productive working from home:

Have Your Own Work Space - This should be separate from the main living area of the house and exclusively for your work use. If family are home have a "closed door policy", otherwise it may be tempting for them to want to talk with you - after all you're just on the other side of that door. Help them understand that you're on the clock. If at all possible, work from the quietest space in the house.

Get in a "Work Mindset" - Yes, physically you're at home, but mentally you're at work. Resist the temptation to step over the threshold from your work life to your home life. No watching your TiVo programs at lunchtime. TV during work hours can take you out of a work mindset. Also, steer clear of the 200 pound gorilla in the kitchen commonly known as the refrigerator. For some reason, being home causes people to snack throughout the day (you just finished a report and celebrate with leftover pizza). Mirror at home how you eat at work. And don't go through your personal mail until the end of the day. There could be a major distraction in the pile, especially if "O" Magazine has arrived.

Take Minimum Breaks - At work, you're more conscious of the passage of time because you get the visual cues of people going off to lunch and coming out of meetings. At home you don't get those, which can throw off your internal clock. There's less happening around you which may trick your brain into thinking that it's time for another break. So, keep the breaks to an absolute minimum.

Plan Your Day - This is especially important when you're working from home. It's key to plan your activities and assign specific times around them. That will keep you focused and on track. This goes for lunch too. Give yourself 30 minutes for lunch, after all, the food is close by and you shouldn't have to stand in line to get your sandwich.

No Housework, No Errands - Don't throw a load of laundry in thinking that you are multi-tasking. You're really not - you're doing laundry. When the buzzer goes off, it will pull you away from your project and the same thing will happen an hour later when the buzzer for the dryer goes off. As far as errands go, you may be very efficient doing errands when working from the office, but that doesn't usually apply when you're working from home. At the office, you have to be efficient because people notice if you're gone for an extended period of time - that's why you get so much done. Without that pressure at home, you're apt to take a 15 minute errand and turn it into a mini shopping spree.


Working from home is a great benefit. Leverage it for all the good it can bring you while avoiding those time killing pitfalls that can affect your productivity.

Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

The Beauty of a Well Run Meeting

It’s a typical day and someone’s called another meeting you have to attend. That racks up 10 so far this week. How are you supposed to do your work if you’re constantly in meetings? The most common complaints about meetings are that they are too long, not always productive and often a complete waste of time.

While you can’t control how others run their meetings, you certainly can do something about yours!




Here are some ways to make your meetings run better:

Have An Agenda – Your meeting should have a clear goal. What’s the purpose of the meeting and what outcome do you want? Organize the meeting with the various topics to be discussed and what the desired outcome is. It should be clear when a decision is expected, as opposed to providing a status on the project. Each topic should have an allotted time (e.g., 10 minutes) and you should lead with the most important things, like what decisions need to be made. People are freshest at the start of the meeting and you’ll want to take advantage of this.

Invite The Right People – More things tend to get done at smaller meetings. Only have the people necessary to achieve your desired outcome. Make sure the people included have the knowledge to discuss the issues and the appropriate authority to make agreements. You might want to structure the meetings so that decision makers can leave when they’re done. There’s no need to invite an entire department when one person can represent the group.

Discuss Issues Beforehand – Share the agenda and the issues with the key people beforehand. The more they know about what will be discussed and what decisions need to be made, the more productive the meeting will be. Make sure everyone knows what information they need to bring. By having a brief conversation with them prior to the meeting you’ll know what issues might be raised. The more you know in advance, the better prepared you’ll be.

Decide How You’ll Manage – Will you make an opening statement that reiterates the purpose and objective of the meeting? Will you summarize along the way (recommended) or at the end? Who will take the notes? How will you keep people on track and draw the meeting to an end? All these should be decided beforehand so that you are managing the meeting and its not managing you.

Keep Them Engaged – We’ve all sat through seemingly endless meetings, where someone droned on and on. To the extent that you can, engage people so they are actively participating. After all this is not a lecture, it’s a meeting. If you notice someone is particularly quiet, ask for their input. Every voice should count or why else would they be in the room? In the spirit of being inclusive, you’ll want to create an atmosphere in which people feel free to express their views. Not only will this keep the energy level high, there will be more solutions offered.

Meetings are a necessary part of business and the most effective ones are those in which the best planning was done prior to the meeting. The planning that you do upfront is a compliment to the people in the meeting, because it shows you care about their time. Just like you, they have lots on their plate, so help them get back to their work soon.

Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

Outplacement is Like an Orange: Squeeze It for All it's Worth

Thousands of people got laid off last year and were offered outplacement. In case you don’t know what outplacement is, it's a firm that specializes in assisting recently laid off people with their job search. Outplacement is a great resource and unfortunately not everybody takes advantage of it. We come across people all the time who were given the opportunity to work with an outplacement firm like DBM, Lee Hecht Harrison or Right Management and never utilized it. It’s mind boggling to think that people had access to terrific resources for FREE (since their former employer paid for it) and then never used them.

Some of the reasons we’ve heard from people who didn’t avail themselves of this valuable service were, “I didn’t think I’d need it”, or “I knew someone who had a bad experience with it”. If it was the latter, it could be that person didn’t go into it with a good attitude.

Outplacement is a great benefit, and if you’re lucky enough to be offered it, by all means use it.

Here are some of the goodies you’ll get:





Access to Coaches – Outplacement firms will usually assign you an individual consultant to help you work through the issues you’ll face in your job search. These coaches have industry experience and are well credentialed so they are in a great position to offer guidance. They can also help you with mock interviews, clarifying goals and help you with your career transition. Coaches become coaches because they enjoy helping people and get genuine satisfaction out of seeing people succeed in their job search. They have a vested interest in seeing you land your next great job, and are a great partner to have in your corner.

Tools & Research – The bigger firms usually have cutting edge resources like: databases that have extensive company and executive information; analyst and market research reports that provide industry trends; training programs to elevate your skills and personal assessment tests to give you further insights. In addition, you’ll get help with resume development and a marketing plan. All of this is at your disposal. Use it!

Job & Resume Postings – These firms have access to a multitude of job openings in a variety of industries and can notify you of jobs appropriate for you. In addition, they have their own job sites that allow you to post your resume. As recruiters, we can attest to the fact that these sites help people find jobs!

A Place to Work– Some people find it really valuable to have a place outside the house to work on their job search. Outplacement firms have office space, computers, printers and telephones to help you stay focused and efficient. They also bring in speakers to help you with networking and shed light on current industry trends.

If you do find yourself laid off and offered outplacement, squeeze every ounce of value out of it. As wonderful as outplacement is, it does not go on in perpetuity. It can range anywhere from three months to a year and we all know how quickly that time flies by.


Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success