Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Executive Team Alignment?
• What are your Sustainable Leadership Programs?
• What is executive coaching?
• How could executive coaching help our organization?
• What is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument?
• Can coaching help our poor performers?
• What is the role of expertise in executive coaching?
• What can I expect to happen during a coaching session?
• How is coaching different from training or mentoring?
• What kind of results can I expect from coaching?
• What is my return on investment?
• What is your company position on sustainability? Why is it important?
• How do we begin work with Karlin Sloan & Company?

What is Executive Team Alignment?

Executive Team Alignment is a process of high performance team consulting that helps all of the team members build stronger relationships, make better, faster decisions, and take positive actions as a unified whole. Each Executive Team Alignment process is based on the specific needs of the leadership group, and is customized to address the organization's needs.

What are your Sustainable Leadership Programs?

A sustainable organization is one that survives over time. Our sustainable leadership programs are comprised of a series of modules based on three key paradoxes of great leadership: To be smarter: stop knowing, start asking To be faster: stop racing, manage energy To be better: stop focusing on being better than, be better with In a complex global environment, the best leadership comes not from focusing on our own expertise, speed, and reputation, but from focusing on making our teams, organizations, and communities better. Sustainable leadership means peak performance that is focused on "we" not "me". Join us in envisioning the kind of world we all want to inhabit, and lead your organization in making that vision a reality.

What is executive coaching?

Executive coaching is a one-on-one personalized leadership development consulting relationship between a coach and an individual executive or manager.

Excellent coaching is the artful use of questioning, listening and observation. It requires respect and trust on the part of the coach, not just the client. Trust is communicated because the very act of questioning and listening is a demonstration of respect.

Coaching through appreciative inquiry helps individual leaders use what they’re innately good it. It helps them build on their strengths, develop flexibility and change-readiness, create awareness of shortcomings and build commitment to self-development and achievement.

One-on-one coaching is a helping relationship. It is based on the desire of the coach to assist the client in performing at his or her personal best and the willingness of the client to stretch and grow. A coach plays the role of confidante, sounding board, champion and mirror. What leader wouldn’t want someone on his side with whom to discuss creative ideas, doubts, petty irritations and the performance implications of all of those? Great coaches are, to borrow a phrase from the psychologist Alice Miller, “enlightened witnesses” to the peaks and perils of leadership.

When executive coaching by inquiry is most effective, it elicits solutions from the client. It models listening skill and working with others in a way that empowers others and holds them accountable. It motivates the client to achieve and builds self-reliance rather than dependence.

How could executive coaching help our organization?

Executive Coaching by inquiry improves communication, trust, accountability, and performance. Leaders and managers alike are invited to stretch themselves to reach goals and maximize potential. Each individual learns coaching skills during the process, then integrates these skills into interactions with clients, employees, and colleagues. Executive Coaching supports effective change by establishing a continuity of values and goals, and motivating individuals to contribute 100% to their own and their companies’ success.

What is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument?

Karlin Sloan & Company works extensively with the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument – a thinking styles assessment that has practical applications in communication, problem solving, leadership, presentation skills and strategic planning.

Can Executive Coaching help our poor performers?

Our answer to this question is a resounding “NO”. Executive Coaching is an intervention that works with individuals who are at a level of performance that meets or exceeds expectations. In the words of one of our coaching recipients:

“I’m good on my own, but I’m not looking to be good. I want to be great. I’m looking to make an impact on thousands of people – and you don’t do that by continuously putting out fires. I’ve had to take the time to think about myself as a leader. How can I use my strengths to make a bigger and better impact on my company? It’s been a life-changing experience, and I’m better for it.”

Coaching through inquiry helps individual leaders use what they’re innately good it. It helps them build on their strengths, develop flexibility and change-readiness, create awareness of shortcomings and build commitment to self-development and achievement. This is not possible unless the recipient has the basic skills and strengths necessary to set and achieve challenging goals.

In order to be effective, coaching must be positioned as a perk, a reward for reaching a level of leadership that is worthy of investment by the company. Coaching does not save poor performers; it launches leaders to new heights.

What is the role of expertise in executive coaching?

Our coaches are expert in performance enhancement and leadership development. They are experienced, educated, and results-oriented. Because the coaching “industry” has yet to define clear criteria for licensing, it can be difficult to find high-quality, experienced providers of coaching services. At Karlin Sloan & Company we take pride in the results we’ve achieved, and the knowledge we have gathered both from experience in the field, and from each other. We are committed to sharing our expertise with your internal team through our coach training and appreciative inquiry programs.

What can I expect to happen during a coaching session?

Each meeting can be conducted in-person or over the phone. You can expect honest feedback, clarifying questions, support and challenge. You can also expect confidentiality. In order for coaching to work well, we provide individuals the confidential space to speak candidly about your successes, frustrations, mistakes and possibilities. You may use assessment tools such as the Herrmann Brain Dominance Assessment or a 360 assessment, or we may “shadow” you to meetings or presentations to observe your performance and give you confidential feedback.

How is coaching different from training or mentoring?

Coaching is completely personalized and you, the client, are the expert. Your coach is not a manager or a teacher, they are your peer and partner. They are expert in performance enhancement, and in the art of inquiry for better business results. Their job is to help you take the time to evaluate your own strengths and development areas, and to challenge you to improve your capacity for management and leadership.

What kind of results can I expect from coaching?

We will set clear goals at the outset, and through our work together each goal is achieved. The results are dependant on the effort put into the coaching relationship. If you’re willing, we’ve seen profound results on both individual and organizational levels. (See “Coaching On Purpose” from OD Practitioner.) We work with coaching participants to develop their ability to use the framework of “Appreciative Leadership” to their advantage.

What is my return on investment

Return on Investment:  Executive Coaching
“The return on investment for executive coaching is exponential, which is why Capital One invests so much in external coaches every year. We have seen that for each individual executive that receives coaching, that nine individuals in the organization are positively impacted.” – Ron Lawrence, VP of Human Resources, Capital One

The ROI for our executive coaching programs comes from the increased operational efficiency and reduced costs that are achieved by retaining key executive talent, eliminating costly negative behaviors, and enhancing executive productivity.
Fortune magazine recently reported the results of a poll of executives and upper level managers who had six to twelve months of coaching with a Masters or Doctoral level executive coach (Fortune 2/19/01).   

The executives were asked to give a “conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching you received”.  The survey demonstrated that the recipients valued the executive coaching at six times the cost that their company paid for the service.  In other words, a nine-month, $18,000 executive coaching program investment for a VP, was given a rating of being worth six times that, or $108,000.  

Sixty percent of the executives in the study were ages 40-49, half held positions of vice president or higher, and a third earned more than $200,000 per year.  Seventy-seven percent of the executives reported improved working relationships with their direct reports, 71% with supervisors, and 63% with peers.  The executives also cited a marked increase in job satisfaction (61%) and in organizational commitment (44%). 

How do we begin work with Karlin Sloan & Company?

Our process begins with an initial key stakeholders meeting in which we gather information about what your company needs.

We may begin our work with a pilot program, or with a formal assessment process that allows us to develop a thorough understanding of organizational strengths, challenges and needs.

Whether we are coaching a group of managers, creating a custom leadership development program, or planning an executive retreat, Karlin Sloan & Company works closely with key stakeholders at the top of the organization to define clear goals, strategies and tactics in order to create clear and measurable results.

What is your company position on sustainability? Why is it important?

A sustainable organization is one that endures over time, one that adapts and grows according to the needs of multiple stakeholders, one that can change to meet the needs of the future. We believe that sustainable organizations need powerful economic success, a positive impact on employees and communities, a commitment to replenishing environmental resources, and must contribute to a sustainable world.