Coaching Methodology

The Workplace Relationships approach was founded by Maggie Craddock, who realized early in her career that the best executives coaches were people who had combined a successful business track record with a compelling approach to understanding human behavior. Our key principals bring over 65 years of combined experience as business leaders to the application of this coaching process.

While many approaches to executive coaching feature tools and processes designed to help clients understand and evaluate their professional challenges, at Workplace Relationships we have an added edge - we've been there. While the coaches at Workplace Relationships are all trained in and employ the most widely respected testing tools, we also believe that there is no substitute for working with a coach who has the professional experience and personal commitment necessary to help you become aware of beliefs and behavioral patterns that may be limiting your success. At Workplace Relationships, we are committed to giving our clients the individualized and confidential support necessary to help them take their careers and organizations to the next level.

What Exactly is an Executive Coach?

The increasing rigor applied to evaluating coaching credentials stems form the growing realization that coaches need to operate from a dual problem-solving framework in order to support business leaders as they face both strategic and interpersonal challenges in today's workplace.

The Benefits of a Coach with Formal Counseling Training

The way that a professional defines and solves problems is heavily influenced by the way he or she has been trained. Coaches who come from traditional business backgrounds often have MBAs from top business schools. Thus, they have the advantage of speaking the business "language" of their clients. However, many top MBA programs still train their students to define and solve problems by using the case study method. This method involves a primarily task-oriented perspective of analyzing business challenges. Interpersonal conflicts are usually limited to anecdotal comments involving well-known members of the business community. However, in the real world of business, the emotional dynamics between people can be the central problem that is distracting employees from the more task-oriented aspect of their jobs. Thus, it is extremely helpful for coaches who come from even the most celebrated business backgrounds to also get formal counseling training so that they learn to deal with the types "people problems" that are often far too emotionally complex to fit neatly within the parameters of a traditional business plan.

The Benefits of a Coach with a Strong Business Track Record

Most mental health professionals working with emotionally troubled people are trained to diagnose pathology. What's more, they are trained to make this diagnosis based on their careful observation of the responses of the individual. This perspective may be problematic in a business environment where perfectly sane people often do things that look absolutely nuts. Most competitive work environments have a group energy that buzzes with an underlying adrenaline that is about as far from the secluded tranquility of the therapeutic hour as you can get. Executive coaches need to clarify the dynamic between the client and his or her colleagues as well as the challenges that the individual is facing. The beauty of focusing on the dynamics between people is that it frees everyone from the temptation to judge. Often the anxiety that a client grapples with may be generated as much from the environment they are working in as it is by their internal reactions to it. To be effective, coaches must be flexible enough to transcend the individual client-focused perspective of traditional psychotherapy and look at both obstacles and opportunities from a broader systemic perspective.

The Workplace Relationships Coaching Methodology

At Workplace Relationships, Inc., we bring together what we have found to be the most effective elements of systems theory, managerial experience and behavioral interventions to help our clients focus their time, energy and resources on accomplishing their objectives. Our work provides a structure for clients that supports them as they take the actions necessary to achieve lasting and meaningful change.

Our Four-Stage Coaching Methodology

When top performers want to improve their game they need to understand that there are no quick fixes. However, with careful, focused effort outstanding and sustainable progress can be achieved. The coaching process at Workplace Relationships ensures that our clients get the time and space necessary to make powerful changes that will support their careers and the organizations they serve.

STAGE I AWARENESS

The key to authentic leadership in both work and life is understanding the difference between what you truly believe will take your career to the next level and what those around you advocate that you "should" do in order to succeed. The Workplace Relationships process helps clients to make this distinction. We help our clients understand the ways that the roles they have learned to play personally, and the ways they have learned to respond to challenges in their personal lives may impact their responses under pressure on the job.

STAGE II EMOTIONAL OWNERSHIP

While strategic thinking is a must in business, we are also aware that many people lose their ability to think clearly under pressure. Our process helps clients learn to spot the ways that their habitual responses to stress can work for them and against them on the job.

STAGE III INTERACTION

Self-knowledge is vital, but you must also understand the most effective course of action in different types of professional settings in order to apply this inner wisdom to career success. The interaction stage provides the bridge between inner clarity and outer accomplishment that is necessary to help clients achieve their professional goals.

STAGE IV INTEGRATION

While communicating with others is critical in business, we also teach our clients that some of the most important conversations they have in business they will have with themselves. The more influential a leader becomes in his or her firm, the more that setting the right tone with others is a critical component of success. The Workplace Relationships approach helps our clients understand that it is the conversations they have with themselves in the workplace that can impact everything from the confidence they project to the creativity they are able to bring to bear when dealing with a challenging issue.

At Workplace Relationships, we are committed to helping our clients find the strategic fit where their talents and opportunities best serve their organization. Our work is designed to help our clients respond to today's rapidly changing work environment by setting dynamic and flexible goals. The Workplace Relationships process is designed to provide our clients with the structure, self-knowledge and strategic feedback necessary to keep them professionally vital in today's rapidly changing world.