Dr. Maynard Brusman Cited for Excellence

The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) has announced two rare “Board Approved” designations for Dr. Maynard Brusman in the specialties of Executive/Leadership Coaching and Trusted Advisor to Attorneys and Law Firms. This signifies that Dr. Maynard Brusman has provided validated evidence from clients of exceptional performance in this area of consulting, has adhered to the ethics pledge of the organization, and has performed at this level for a prolonged period.

Board Approvals are rare and are held by less than five percent of the membership of SAC, and that membership is less than five percent of all practicing consultants. They are granted only after detailed client evidence is received and reviewed. “We already have as our membership the most elite consultants practicing in the world,” says SAC CEO Alan Weiss, Ph.D. “To achieve this still higher level of performance in addition to our entry requirements is quite impressive. Clients who utilize SAC members who are Board Approved in their specialty are working with the best of the best in the world.”

SAC is an international association of solo practitioners who must provide validated proof of their high performance in consulting; successfully completed client engagements; testimonials from client executives; achieve a high level of professional income over a prolonged period; have worked with a minimum of 25 clients; and who adhere to a strict code of professional ethics. The members interact as an international community to better the profession and their own techniques. Board Approvals in specialties require at least a year as a full professional member of SAC. Fewer than two per month are currently granted.

Leadership Consulting and Coaching Services to Help You Select and Develop Emotionally  Intelligent Leaders 

Working Resources talent management services offers a range of customized leadership development and executive coaching programs. We provide solutions to help companies assess, select, develop and retain emotionally intelligent people that are a great fit with your company culture. We incorporate pre-employment psychological screening, personality assessment and emotional intelligence tests, and train hiring managers in structured performance-based interviewing and selecting emotionally intelligent leaders.

Dr. Brusman is a member of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists. I/O psychologists understand both the strengths and limitations of employment tests and psychological assessments, and are uniquely qualified to help companies hire employees who outperform the competition. 

We help you develop a succession planning program and fill your leadership pipeline with emotionally intelligent leaders.Our leadership development workshops and programs develop managers and leaders with good leadership qualities using 360 degree feedback performance appraisals, Myers-Briggs personality tests and leadership coaching. We align your leadership and culture with your strategic planning process,and create a corporate culture where there is meaningful work, happy employees and full engagement.

We specialize in working with professional service organizations including law and accounting firms.We provide law firm consulting and individual lawyer coaching

Pre-employment Selection and Assessment

Selecting the right person for the job is critical to the success of any organization. A bad hire can cost your company a great deal of money and distress for everyone involved. We help companies assess and select motivated people who are fully engaged and aligned with the organization’s strategic vision.

We help you develop organization-wide competency models or success factors and job-specific competencies by providing an online High Performance Blueprint and interviewing top performers for each position. 

We provide online comprehensive pre-employment psychological screening and pre-promotion assessment and competency-based evaluations, that helps optimize the match between the person and the job. We incorporate personality assessments and emotional intelligence tests as part of the selection and assessment process.  We prepare customized written selection and development reports. We discuss the reports with those responsible for hiring, and make a recommendation as to the candidate’s suitability for the position under consideration including fit with the organizational culture.

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• Pre-employment Selection and Assessment

Flipping the Coin for Talent – How Well Are You Hiring? Article click here

»Purpose

The ability to select, motivate, develop, and retain top talent is critical for a company or law firm’s success. If you want to build an innovative organization where people love to work, you have to know how to hire and keep emotionally intelligent and learning agile people. Unfortunately, a bad hire can cost a company a great deal of money and cause undue distress and wasted time for everyone involved.

Great companies and managers select optimistic, change-resilient, and committed people whose values fit the workplace culture. Retaining fully engaged people involves creating a healthy work environment where people can use all their knowledge, creativity, and skills. Self-managed organizations create workplace cultures where people can continuously learn and make decisions.

Believe it or not, hiring the right people can be enjoyable and fun.  Managers can easily learn an innovative method of interviewing, hiring and retaining people based on a candidate’s past performance and future potential.  Research in the area of emotional intelligence and social intelligence supports the idea that building relationships and communicating effectively with others are critical workplace core competencies. The pre-employment psychological screening and personality assessment process is a great place to practice these skills.

»Purpose

Selecting the right person for the job is critical to the success of any organization. We help you assess, select, develop and retain enthusiastic and committed people who are emotionally involved and aligned with the company’s strategic planning process and vision.

We incorporate psychological assessments and personality assessments as part of our pre-employment screening services.  We develop success factors or job-specific competencies by interviewing top performers in each position who model good leadership qualities and skills. 

We provide comprehensive pre-employment psychological screening and pre-promotion assessment and competency-based evaluations, that helps optimize the match between the person and the job. We prepare customized written selection and development reports. We discuss the reports with those responsible for hiring, and make a recommendation as to the candidate’s suitability for the position under consideration.

The first place to start when hiring someone is to do a job analysis.  Identify the critical success factors or job-specific competencies by interviewing top performers in that position. The next step is to create a job description based on a candidate’s past performance. If you want to hire great people, first define exceptional performance. Effective job descriptions define what needs to be accomplished, not the skills and experience the candidate needs to have. Research demonstrates that the ability to accomplish desired goals is a better predictor of future performance than the candidate’s level of skills and experience. Comparable past performance is a good predictor of future accomplishment.

What is a competency? 

Competencies are behaviors that distinguish effective performers from ineffective ones. Certain motives, traits, skills, and abilities are attributed to people who consistently behave in specific ways. A competency model depicts a set of desired behaviors for a particular job position or level. A competency model also implies that such behaviors are predictive of who is likely to be successful in a position or role.

Two distinct groups of competencies are assessed during any job interview.

• Job competencies are the specific skills, knowledge, and abilities required to accomplish any given task at work.

• Emotional Intelligence competencies refer to an individual’s personality or emotional makeup. They consist of habits, abilities, and skills that transfer from job to job.

Key Points for Conducting an Effective Interview

• Successful work behavior requires a mixture of job and people skills.
• “The single best predictor of future behavior is a candidate’s past behavior.”
• Stay focused and conscious. Overcome emotional reactions and remain in control. Listen 80% of the time.

      Preparation is key to a successful, effective interview:

• Do a Job Analysis. Identify critical success factors or job-specific competencies.
• Create a job description based on what work needs to be accomplished.
• Read candidate’s resume and reference letters.
• Decide how long the interview should take, generally 30-60 minutes.
• Write job-specific competency questions. Example: Tell me how you have used your computer skills to accomplish a specific business objective?
• Write Emotional Intelligence competency questions. Example: Some problems require developing a unique or different approach. Can you tell me about a time when you were able to develop such a different approach? (Inventiveness).
• Indicate problem behaviors (would cause a competent person to fail) on Job Rating Sheet.

      Example: Unable to manage conflict

• Decide if a work sample is necessary and how the skills should be demonstrated.
• Incorporate valid, reliable and job-related pre-employment tests.

        During the interview procedure:

• Ask specific job skills and education competency questions that you have prepared.
• Ask interpersonal skills competency questions. Emotional Intelligence competency questions represent approximately 70 % of any interview, supplemented by other types of questions.
• Take notes, including any potential problem behaviors.
• Note areas for personal and career development.
• Call references.
• Complete a Hiring Rating Sheet including ratings on general impression, interpersonal skills and job-specific competencies, work simulation observations, test results, references and recommendations for hire.

Hiring decision:

Each member of interviewing team shares analysis of candidate’s work-related competencies and other job-related data with the hiring manager and a final decision is made.

»Results

We help your hiring managers hire emotionally and socially intelligent leaders who are fully engaged and aligned with the company or law firm’s strategic vision.

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Competency Modeling

Developing competency models is a research-supported approach based on the primary goal of defining the critical behaviors needed for effective and superior individual and organizational performance. Simply defined, a competency is a set of related behaviors that (1) impact job performance; (2) can be measured against established standards; and (3) can be improved through training and development.

Competencies are always described as observable, measurable behaviors, but they are not simply concrete actions that are easily imitated. Instead, competencies can be manifestations of some underlying intent — driven by a person’s basic motivations, personality, attitude, values, or self-concept. It is an enduring characteristic of a person that predicts behavior across many workplace situations. For instance, a conscientious worker is organized, keeps commitments and promises; an achievement-oriented person sets challenging goals and takes calculated risks; a self-confident person is able to make sound decisions despite uncertainties.

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• Competency Modeling

Competency Modeling: Linking Core Competencies to Your Business Strategy Article click here

»Purpose

Competency models help you Identify the key skills, knowledge, personal characteristics, and behaviors that make a master performer successful at a given job, and then develop a set of competencies for each position. Competency models are used as a human resource tool for selection, training and development, appraisal, and succession planning. They are a means of ensuring that employee behavior is aligned with the achievement of strategic planning goals.

»Purpose

Competency models are widely used today by many successful organizations. However—in order for this approach to work for your organization, you have to align your competency model with your business strategy or objectives. In order to do this, you must take the time to determine which major themes of behavior or competencies — e.g., innovation, customer engagement, action orientation — need to be demonstrated across your organization in order for your business strategic planning process to work.

Every organization will have its own ‘competency model’ that includes the critical behaviors necessary for success in that culture. Working Resources will help you define a core set of leadership qualities and organizational competencies necessary to drive a company’s strategic planning. We believe maximum alignment and value can be realized by focusing most participants at this overall, strategic level.

Competency models link your business strategy to a set of critical competencies. It becomes a blueprint against all organizational practices. Thus it assures that how you hire, set and track goals, assess performance, develop your employees, and identify your organization’s future leaders are aligned with your overall organization’s vision and strategy.

Here are examples of the business processes that can be competency-based and strategically aligned if you use this approach:

• Structured interviewing to improve selection and placement decisions for both internal and external candidates.
• Personality assessment surveys and emotional intelligence tests for identifying candidates with higher likelihood of success in your organization.
• Succession planning by assessing competencies to identify and develop future leaders.
• Talent mapping to assess the current workforce for gaps in critical competencies needed for organizational (and individual) success.
• Training and leadership development program investments targeted on addressing the strategic gaps.
• Effective team work, team communication skills, team building exercises and performance processes.
• Performance management processes including performance appraisal and performance feedback and leadership coaching.
• 360-degree feedback assessment for leadership development planning.

When a Competency-Based Approach or a particular competency model is used in multiple applications within an organization, they can serve as a unifying framework for all your organizational practices.

Competency models can be defined at different levels — from organization-wide models to single-job models and at various levels in between. At one extreme are "one size fits all" or organizational competency models — where a single set of core competencies is strategically defined as expected of all organizational members. At the other end of the spectrum are systems of competency models where each model applies to one or a handful of positions. In the middle is a hybrid approach that tries to incorporate the best aspects of the one-size-fits-all approach and more customized approaches. There are costs and benefits to each approach — however the best approach depends on the strategic goals of the organization and applications for which competency models will be used.

The advantage of using an organizational level model is that it provides a common language of success across all applications, easily assures that all workforce performance management practices will be tied to this shared competency model, and that everything clearly aligns to the organization’s vision and strategy. The limitation to this model is that there may be certain competencies at the functional level that may not be shared at the organizational level — e.g., sales can have critical competencies—interpersonal effectiveness, customer engagement — that may not be evident in the overall organization’s business strategy or vision. The way to address this limitation is to use the organization level competency model as the base requirement, then fine-tune competency models for each major function as warranted. This retains the strategic alignment and shared vision of what good performance looks like while allowing the different functional disciplines to add the richness they need to make effective decisions.

While using single-job competency models will get you the best fit between competencies and job requirements, the time and resources needed to develop these highly-customized models for a wide-range of jobs can be quite excessive and cannot help but undermine the alignment with the strategy and vision of the organization as a whole.

»Purpose

Competency models support the integration of various workforce performance management activities — selection, training, performance management, career development — because all are derived from a common competency model. It serves two complementary objectives: it is directed to the accomplishment of the organization’s goals; and to the individual’s leadership development. Implementing this strategically driven initiative helps organizations reach their goals by getting the right people in the right jobs that possess the right competencies; and creates a more committed workforce by providing leadership developmental opportunities aligned with these goals.

To highlight the major benefits using practical terms — using  competency models has (1) selection benefits — by defining one candidate as more effective and superior than another thus creating a better fit; (2) provides performance benefits — by clarifying and raising the bar on what is expected; and (3) provides leadership developmental benefits — by setting individual goals that employees can strive to reach that are aligned with the business strategy. Given that you can make the basic assumption that people generally have the desire to do well in their jobs, and be a part of a successful, reputable organization — using this approach will work for you and to your organization’s advantage.

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Emotionally Intelligent Team Building

When Daniel Goleman wrote his landmark books on emotional intelligence (Emotional Intelligence, 1995, Working with Emotional Intelligence, 1998), managers in organizations everywhere nodded their heads in agreement. Finally, what they knew to be true about dealing with people had a name and was clearly articulated. For the past decade, important research has been done in organizations to show that feelings and emotions have a direct impact on effectiveness, efficiency and ultimately the bottom line.

Most importantly, this concept has great potential for creating positive change. Instead of feeling stuck, people can now take steps to enhance their emotional intelligence and increase their effectiveness in both their work and personal lives. Currently, the concept is being applied to teams. The emotional intelligence of teams is important because most of the work in organizations today is done by teams. Leaders have a pressing need for teams to work together better.

Teams are the most common business unit for high performance. Although the word gets used loosely and not always appropriately, there is universal acceptance that effective teamwork creates opportunities for high performance results. A team’s performance includes both individual results and collective work products, yielding sums greater than its parts.

Effective team communication skills promote individual and collective performance. Effective teamwork values listening and communicating, sharing work responsibilities, providing support and can make work more social and enjoyable. Members are supportive of one another and recognize the interests and achievements of each other. When they are working the way they should, they are incredibly effective in achieving high performance results.

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• Emotionally Intelligent Team Building

Feeling Good – Creating EI Teams Article click here

»Purpose

When Daniel Goleman wrote his landmark books on emotional intelligence (Emotional Intelligence, 1995, Working with Emotional Intelligence, 1998), managers in organizations everywhere nodded their heads in agreement. Finally, what they knew to be true about dealing with people had a name and was clearly articulated. For the past decade, important research has been done in organizations to show that feelings and emotions have a direct impact on effectiveness, efficiency and ultimately the bottom line.

This concept has great potential for creating positive change. Instead of feeling stuck, people can now take steps to enhance their emotional intelligence and increase their effectiveness in both their work and personal lives. Currently, the concept is being applied to effective teamwork. The emotional intelligence of teams is important because most of the work in organizations today is done by teams. Leaders have a pressing need for teams to develop effective team communication skills and work together better.

»Purpose

A number of successful companies have consistently produced the most innovative products under intense deadline and budget pressures by focusing on team emotional intelligence. Many executives realize that emotional intelligence is often more crucial than IQ to an individual’s effectiveness. But team emotional intelligence may be even more important, since most work gets done in teams.

A group’s effectiveness isn’t simply the sum of its members’ individual competencies. Instead, it comes from the synergism of members’ capacities for awareness and regulation of emotions within and outside the team. These competencies build trust, group identity and a sense of group efficacy. Members feel that they work better together than individually.

To build a foundation for emotional intelligence, a group must be aware of and constructively regulate the emotions of individual team members, the whole team, and other key groups with whom it interacts. Team building exercises can help develop effective team communication skills and create effective teamwork.

»Results

Creating emotionally intelligent employees may be even more important than previously thought. It is common sense to see that workers who feel upbeat will go the extra mile to please customers and therefore improve the bottom line. There is research to show that for every 1 percent improvement in the service climate, there’s a 2 percent increase in revenue. New research from a range of industries now reaffirms the link between leadership qualities and climate to business performance. According to Goleman in Primal Leadership (2002), how people feel about working at a company can account for 20 to 30 percent of business performance.

Everyone extols the value of teamwork. The need to build effective teams is increasing and the available time to do is decreasing. How do you increase team effectiveness in a climate of rapid change with limited resources? Here is an excellent team-building exercise developed by Marshall Goldsmith (Team Building without Time Wasting, Keilty, Goldsmith & Company, 1998.)

Research with thousands of participants has shown that focused feedback and follow-up can increase leadership qualities and customer service effectiveness. A parallel approach has been shown to help leaders build effective teamwork without wasting time. It requires that team members courageously ask for feedback, have the discipline to develop a behavioral change strategy, to follow-up and to “stick with it.”

To implement this process, the leader will have to coach or facilitate rather than be the boss of the project. Members should develop their own behavioral changes, rather than have them imposed upon them.

1. Begin by asking each member of the team to confidentially answer two questions:

A. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well are we working together as a team?

B. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do we need to be working together as a team?

Calculate and discuss the results. Research involving several hundred teams in multinational corporations showed that the “average” team member believed that his/her team was currently at a “5.8" level of effectiveness but needed to be at a “8.7.”

2. Ask the team, “If every team member could change two key behaviors to help close the gap between where we are and where we want to be, which two behaviors, should we all try to change?” Prioritize the behaviors and determine the two most important behaviors to change for all team members.

3. The team members also choose two behaviors for personal change that will help close the gap. Then they ask for brief progress reports from each other monthly.

Progress can be charted. Results have clearly shown that if team members have regularly followed up with their colleagues, they will invariably be seen as increasing their effectiveness and developing good leadership skills in their selected individual “areas for improvement.” The process works because it encourages team members to primarily focus on changing their own behaviors.

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Executive Coaching and Career Coaching

Effective executive coaching is a major key to improving business performance. Leadership coaching focuses on good leadership qualities developing good leadership skills and improving business results. The Working Resources Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Program  comprises a series of one-on-one face to face meetings between executive coach and leader aimed at personal and organizational performance improvement. We coach executives, corporate leaders, senior professionals, entrepreneurs, accountants, attorneys, and business owners in a broad range of industries.

Career Coaching

Are you uncertain about your next career choice? Most of our lives today are accented by series of career changes with little time for self-renewal. We will help you become more career resilient. We coach you in discovering your identity and core purpose in the world of work. Uncovering your strengths and talents, we will help you design a meaningful career aligned with your deepest values and vision. In today’s world of work true success requires an entrepreneurial business mindset to think of You, Inc.

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• Executive Coaching
  8 Keys to Picking the Right Executive Coach Article click here 

»Purpose

Effective executive coaching is a major key to improving business performance. Leadership coaching focuses on the qualities of good leadership and improved business results. It is comprised of a series of structured, one-on-one interactions between a leadership coach and an executive, aimed at enhancing the executive's performance in two areas:

• Individual personal performance
• Individual organizational performance

»Purpose

Executive coaching is designed for an individual's unique needs and circumstances. The process, however, usually has five major steps.

    1: Contracting

Initially, a contracting meeting for the purpose of clarifying expectations   takes place. Typically, the meeting may include a human resources manager, the executive coach, and the executive coaching client. The objectives of the contracting meeting include:

• Identification of desired competencies
• Agreement regarding confidentiality boundaries
• Identification of measurable outcomes
• Confirmation of good chemistry
• Clarity of roles and responsibilities
• Agreement regarding milestones and timelines
• Conceptual agreement regarding fees

A mutual understanding of the coaching process, expected results, specific issues and time frame of the coaching is developed. The Executive Coaching process typically spans a minimum of six months.

2: Comprehensive Assessment 

A structured interview, data collection and relevant assessment instruments to clarify emotional intelligence competencies, leadership skills, values, interests, work styles and other key factors are utilized.  Executive coach and client engage in an in-depth dialogue of relevant issues focused on performance improvement.  A 360 degree feedback performance appraisal informs the process. 

3: Feedback and Action Planning

The first order of business is a feedback dialogue between executive coach and client. The focus is on relevant data from leadership, personality and emotional intelligence assessments and 360 feedback performance appraisals. Executive coach and client collaboratively create a Leadership Development Action Plan that includes strengths, developmental targets and effective strategies for change. The focus is on self- insight, motivation, problem solving, skill acquisition, and leadership development. Interventions are aligned with client's vision and the business strategy. The Leadership Development Action Plan focuses on behaviors that contribute to specific business results. Weekly executive coaching meetings are one to two hours.

4: Action Learning

The leadership coach guides and reinforces the development of leadership competencies outlined in the Leadership Development Action Plan.  Techniques include action learning, role play, and shadowing.

5: Follow-up and Sustaining Success

Approximately six months after the initial feedback session, an abridged version of the 360 degree feedback performance appraisal is conducted. The results of the assessment assist in evaluating the effectiveness of the leadership coaching process. Further development of the executive is determined and aligned with business goals.

»Results

     What are the Benefits?
     The Business Case for Coaching Article click here

• Achieve more business and personal goals
• Clarify causes of behavior and create a strategy for long term change
• Create good leadership skills
• Demonstrate more effective interpersonal communication skills
• Develop emotional intelligence competencies
• Enhance leadership qualities
• Improve job performance 
• Improve interaction and influence skills
• Learn skills to manage conflict and change
• Maximize control over career path
• Prevent derailment
• Realize more effective team communication skills
• Resolve problems that impede job performance
• Support succession planning
• Unleash high-potential capacity

»Research

• The research of Goleman and Boyatzis shows that the key indicator of failure for young executives is their inability to develop empathy.

• The research of the Gartner group shows that the key factor in retaining high quality employees is having a favorable relationship with their supervisor where they experience the opportunity being treated like an adult and given the chance to grow and develop.

• The research of Metrix Global shows that leadership coaching generated improvements in retention, cost savings, productivity, work output and sales and 69% of improvements were attributed to leadership coaching.

• From a study of 100 executives from Fortune 1000 companies conducted by the Manchester Group:

• 5.7 times the initial investment in leadership coaching is recaptured through leadership coaching
• 53% improvements in productivity in executives receiving leadership coaching
• 48% improvements in quality from executives receiving leadership coaching

Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States.  He is continually sought by other executive coaches to provide counsel on important business and leadership issues.

He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. Dr. Brusman is also highly skilled in the areas of personnel selection and assessment, and multi-rater 360-degree feedback.

As a workshop leader, Dr. Brusman brings exceptional creativity and enthusiasm to his presentations.  He has a unique way of connecting with everyone in the group. His workshops are lively, interactive and practical.

As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.

Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

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• Career Coaching

Secrets of Successful Careers – Finding Your Core Purpose & Strengths Article click here

»Purpose

Abraham Maslow, the renowned psychologist, defined the human     “hierarchy of needs” on four main levels: security, relationship, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Career coaching can help you satisfy your need for fulfilling work and help you realize your full potential.

Work consumes so much of our lives that we have to question sometimes whether we are married to our jobs. Indeed, we often spend more time with our colleagues at work than we spend with our families and friends.

Work is a reflection of what we are able to do in the world. If we are emotionally, mentally, and physically sound...and if we are engaged in work compatible with our basic abilities...our work can be a way of feeling alive, productive, and helpful to others and ourselves.

Work can feel exciting and challenging. But we need to do the “right” work...work which is consistent with what we love doing. If our work is wrong for us, it can be a source of endless frustration and unhappiness for us and those in our lives.

Sometimes finding your right work means finding the right job or discovering a career where you can be fulfilled and happy. Alternatively, you might be entrepreneurial wanting to start your own business.

Career coaching can help you become more career resilient. Most of our lives today are accented by series of career changes with little time for self-renewal. Keeping you energized, optimistic and inspired in the face of career transition demands specific skills. Career coaching will help you learn powerful strategies to master and respond quickly and flexibly to new challenges.

»Process

Are you uncertain about your next career choice? Career coaching starts with an extensive assessment interview to determine your career goals. We incorporate a battery of career and personality assessments including the Myers-Briggs personality test and an emotional intelligence test.  We then set up regular in-person career coaching meetings or by phone if necessary.

We will collaborate on discovering your true purpose in the world of work. Uncovering your strengths and talents, we will help you design a meaningful career aligned with your deepest values and vision. In today’s workplace success requires a business mindset to think of You, Inc.

Career transition often involves ending something or “closing the door” on a job or work you no longer desire. You then experience the “middle zone” which can be a place of uncertainty and confusion as you are in a transformative stage of self-exploration and discovery. Learning about what matters to you most, you emerge from the process “opening the door” excited to pursue new career possibilities.

»Results

Our career coaching will help you create meaningful work you love that is aligned with your deepest values. Life will be a lot richer when you know your identity, purpose, interests and values. We specialize in individual lawyer coaching for attorneys who want to find more passion in their legal career or leave the law.

I have been in the midst of a kind of “career crisis” for a couple of years and felt the need for professional assistance.  Dr. Brusman attracted me because he specializes in working with lawyers who are in career transition. 

Dr. Brusman has been counseling and guiding me for the better part of a year.  Through a combination of testing, questioning, gentle encouragement and practical suggestions, he has helped me to identify and articulate my personal and career goals and to take steps to achieve them.  He is not afraid to challenge my assumptions or to push me to think “bigger.”  Notably, he has not focused narrowly on “job searches” or mere tinkering with my law practice.  Instead, he has encouraged me to think both broadly and in depth about my personal and professional needs, with an eye to bringing the two into harmony.  I have greatly appreciated and benefited from my time spent with Dr. Brusman and would strongly recommend him.

Martin H. Dodd, Attorney

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Leadership Development

The business community has embraced the concept of emotional intelligence (EQ) competencies for leadership development. Up to 90% of the difference between outstanding and average leaders is linked to emotional intelligence. Research by the Center for Creative Leadership has found that the primary causes of derailment in executives involve deficits in emotional competency including difficulty managing change, not being able to work well as a team member, and poor interpersonal relationships. Our Emotional Intelligence-Based Leadership Development Program can help you become a more inspiring and emotionally intelligent leader. The program includes leadership surveys, personality assessments and emotional intelligence tests including the BarOn EQi and executive coaching meetings.

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• Emotional Intelligence-Based Leadership Development

Managing with Emotional Intelligence - The Power of Empathy Article

Click here

»Purpose

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the set of skills leaders use to achieve optimal   performance. Thoughts and emotions are the building blocks of performance. Emotions provide the energy to execute our best thinking.

When thoughts and feelings are integrated intelligently, we maximize our self-understanding and potential to influence others. Emotional intelligence helps us to:

Figure out what others want and need

Determine what we really want and need

Find ways to align what we and others want

Stay calm under pressure

Be the kind of person others want to be around

Emotional intelligence (EQ) competencies have been proven to enhance leadership effectiveness and company profitability. Like many organizations today, an Emotional Intelligence-Based Leadership Development program for its leaders can help your organization thrive in a challenging global economy.

Emotional intelligence cannot substitute for business acumen or technical knowledge. Emotional intelligence helps you leverage this knowledge for greater impact. Many executives have found that improvement in emotional intelligence has helped them to overcome hidden barriers to their success.

»Process

The Emotional Intelligence-Based Leadership Development Program Overview

The Emotional Intelligence-Based Leadership Development Program—a systematic assessment and executive coaching program to build emotional intelligence and social intelligence.

Assessment

An interview to help you learn about your current business issues, a bit about past history, and something about you as a person.

Take the BarOn EQ-i^®:

approximately 15 minutes.

your scores are private—you own the information.

Feedback

Written reports:

computer generated report from test publisher.

personalized report integrating your EQ-i^® scores with interview information.

Private executive coaching feedback sessions to:

ensure accurate understanding of the reports.

identify strengths and development areas.

review meaning of relationships among your scores on key elements of emotional intelligence.

examine impact of strengths and development areas on current goals.

select area(s) you may want to strengthen.

brainstorm initial ideas about how to plan development.

Emotional Intelligence Development

Ten-Step Developmental Planning Process: Create a plan to build the emotional intelligence competencies that are the most essential for your success.

Step One: Select the skill you want to improve.

Step Two: Test your selection to ensure sustainable motivation.

Step Three: Carefully define behaviors to change.

Step Four: Create a plan to get to your goal.

Step Five: Force field analysis to identify factors that will support and
hinder your change.

Step Six: Develop self-monitoring systems to assess progress.

Step Seven: Identify potential sources of additional training, experience,  
and infor­mation.  

Step Eight: Develop feedback systems.

Step Nine: Develop self-reward systems.

Step Ten: Develop time lines.

The Fifteen BarOn EQ-i® Emotional Intelligence Competencies

Self-Regard: The ability to respect and accept yourself as basically good and to like who you are “warts and all.”

Emotional Awareness: The ability to recognize your feelings and to know why you are feeling a certain way.

Assertiveness: The ability to express feelings, beliefs, and thoughts and to defend your rights without threatening others.

Self-Actualization: The ability to realize your potential capacities through involvement in pursuits that have meaning for you.

Independence: The ability to be self-reliant in your thinking and actions; to be free of emotional dependency.

Empathy: The ability to be aware of, to understand, and to care about the feelings of others; to be able to read other people.

Social Responsibility: The ability to be a cooperative, contributing, and constructive member of your social groups.

Interpersonal Relationship: The ability to create and maintain mutually satisfying relationships that are characterized by intimacy and affection.

Problem Solving: The ability to methodically confront, identify and define problems as well as to generate and implement potentially effective solutions.

Reality Testing: The ability to see things as they are, rather than as we wish or fear them to be; to keep feelings from overwhelming our perception of objective facts.

Flexibility: The ability to adjust our emotions, thoughts, and behavior to changing situations.

Stress Tolerance: The ability to handle bad events and stressful situations without “falling apart”; to manage through active and positive coping techniques.

Impulse Control: The ability to resist or delay an impulse or temptation to act; to be able to tolerate frustration without loss of control.

Happiness: The ability to feel satisfied with your present life, to enjoy yourself and others, and to have fun.

Optimism: The ability to look at the brighter side of life and to maintain a positive attitude, even in the face of adversity; to have hope.

Review Leadership Development Goals with Manager: Ensure manager’s agreement and support.

Emotional Intelligence-Based Leadership Development Action Plan Execution: Executive coaching and other learning methods to build emotional intelligence.

»Results

Business Case for Emotional Intelligence

Peak job performance requires

Strong technical skills

Strong emotional and interpersonal skills (emotional intelligence)

Abundant studies demonstrate the performance edge emotional intelligence provides over technical skills alone:

Profitability

Star Executives add 127% more to bottom line than Average Executives. Star computer programmers add 300% more.

equal on technical skills

higher in emotional intelligence

High emotionally intelligent CEO’s outperform lower emotionally intelligent CEO’s on profitability

Climate and leadership: study of 3,871 leaders

Climate controls 30% of profitability

Leadership style controls 50–70% of climate

High emotional intelligence styles, e.g. Visionary, increase profit

Low emotional intelligence  styles, e.g. Coercive, decrease profit

Retention

Air Force Recruiters selected for technical skills and emotional intelligence

Retention increased from 50% (when selected on technical skills only) to 96% (when selected for both technical skills and emotional intelligence)

Savings of $3M/year

Division presidents selected for technical skills and emotional intelligence

Turnover reduced from 50% to 6%

Performance beat target by 20%

Sales

MetLife: sales success in first two years

Stronger sales people higher in Optimism achieved 37% higher sales

Equal training in other sales skills

National insurance company

Higher emotionally intelligent sales staff +211% in sales

Equal in technical skill and training

Productivity

Manufacturing superintendents trained in two emotional intelligence factors

Lost time accidents down 50%

Productivity goals exceeded by $250,00

Production increase 17%

Career Derailment

Center for Creative Leadership—study on executive career derailment

Inflexible

Poor team skills

Poor relationship skills

I want to thank you for your contributions to my success this past year.  Our discussions of leadership attributes, modeling behaviors, dealing with conflict and influencing others have provided me with tools to achieve my goals.  I really appreciate that in each session you challenge me to focus on the real issues and provide suggestions for reacting differently to given situations.

Your ability to understand the dynamics of relationships I have with people you have only briefly met enables me to discuss issues and strategies freely. With your constant encouragement, I have come to understand and appreciate my role in these relationships.

I’ll also point to our discussion of bringing the passion of the ball field to all I do.  That was a great eye-opener for me and has created an energy in my daily efforts.

I look forward to a continued relationship as we move on to greater heights.

Sincerely,

Edward M. Fahey

ED FAHEY, President
RINA accountancy corporation - "Your Future is Our Focus"
120 Montgomery Street, Suite 2075   San Francisco, CA 94104
phone: 415.765.1305    fax: 415.777.0680 
email: efahey@rina.com  web: www.rina.com 

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Succession Planning

Succession planning is the process of identifying long range needs and cultivating internal talent to meet those future needs. Used to anticipate the future needs of the organization and assist in finding, assessing and developing the human capital necessary to execute the strategy of the organization.

Enlightened organizations have a renewed interest in succession planning systems. While these systems functioned merely as replacement charts in the past and were HR executives’ function, there are two critical differences today, emphasizing leadership development at all levels (not just senior executives).

The responsibility and involvement for leadership development needs to be within the work group, with the person’s manager and team members.

Internal training, mentoring and other developmental programs aren’t keeping the talent pool  adequately full. What’s needed is an approach that develops people at all levels. Organizations must  promote people from within the organization to successive levels of leadership responsibility

Developing leadership competency models is the foundation of a strategic talent management program. We can help you design and manage your succession planning processes and leadership development programs to ensure a pipeline of high performing leaders to support business strategy. 

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• Strategic Succession Planning

Winning the War for Leadership Talent Article click here

»Purpose

Assess and develop high performance talent. Prepare future leaders for future roles and responsibilities.

The basic concept of succession planning is nothing new. Throughout history, every organization in the world has engaged in some type of succession planning for future talent needs, either actively or passively. Every entity who needs people to operate must replace people when they are gone. We see this in our daily lives and in the media -- it was well-known that Jay Leno was to be the successor for Johnny Carson and now Conan O’Brian will fill Jay’s shoes. Whether a company pays attention to it or not, the succession of people is often the difference in an organization’s sustainable success.

     Succession Planning vs. Replacement Planning

When asked if their organization has a succession plan, most HR professionals will say "yes". However, some organizations are engaged in a process closer to replacement planning then true succession planning. The goal of Replacement Planning is to identify a "back up" to fill the job when it is vacant. The focus is on past performance and demonstrating skills to fill a particular role. By contrast, the goal of Succession Planning is to identify a "talent pool" that can be developed in preparation for future responsibilities and considers not only past performance but the future potential of the individual. Additionally succession planning anticipates changing business needs and prepares the talent pool to meet these future needs rather than replicating what the organization has right now. Simply stated succession planning is "future focused".

»Purpose

1. Identify Critical Roles

Succession planning is not only for the top levels in the organization. Nor is it for every position in the organization. In defining your succession planning strategy, identify your most important positions – some of which may not be the most obvious.

• First, determine the importance of the role on the organization. What value does it have to the organization’s success? What is the business impact of having a top performer? What is the cost of mistakes?
• Next, determine the ease of replaceability. How easy is this role to fill? Is there an abundance of external talent? Can you easily train someone to fill the role?
• In your succession planning efforts, focus on positions that are both High Importance and Difficult to Replace.

2. Define People Requirements

Define the target. What competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics) must people exhibit to move the business forward today and in the foreseeable future?

• When developing competencies, begin with the business strategy. As a company, what must we accomplish to be successful? What must our people accomplish?
• Limit your models to 8-10 competencies per job family or level. To be useful, competency models should focus on "success factors" that distinguish top performance. Rid models of "nice to haves" or "minimum qualifiers" that add little value and take up space.
• Use competencies to differentiate levels. Competencies needed for your sales professionals should be substantively different than competencies for your sales managers.
• Use modeling processes that are agile and efficient. Do not waste 6-12 months defining competencies that can’t adapt with the changes in your business

3. Take Stock of Current Talent

Understanding the makeup of your current talent pool is essential. Do you have unrealized potential within the organization? Talent gaps? The goal is to evaluate the target group on a performance vs. potential matrix to pinpoint your talent pool. While categorizing performance is typically more straightforward, the greater challenge is evaluating a person’s potential, as you cannot observe it.

• To make sound evaluations, distinguish between current performance and potential for future roles.
• Incorporate multiple data points, such competency-based interviews, simulations, relevant observed behaviors as well as validated assessments that evaluate a person’s innate tendencies.
• Especially in situations where the person has not been given the opportunity to display a competency -- for example, an individual contributor who is evaluated for a managerial role in which they must manage and create a vision – assessments can evaluate a person’s potential for exhibiting the competency behaviors, as well as highlight potential gaps that may need to be developed.

4. Proactively Develop People for Critical Positions

Many organizations create a succession plan, yet fail to develop, grow or retain the talent they have targeted.

• Communicate critical competencies for current and future roles
• Provide growth opportunities such as job rotation, mentoring, education or skill-building activities. Identify opportunities for the person to practice skills they will need in future roles. (Remember, Jay Leno was given multiple opportunities to guest host for Johnny Carson).
• Engage managers as accountable for the growth of their people.
• Create targeted retention programs for your identified successor pool.

Taking a pro-active approach to succession planning that incorporates these four imperatives is vital to an organization’s enduring success.

»Results

Developing a strategic succession planning process will allow your organization to achieve its goal of placing the right people in the right jobs with the right preparation, while producing targeted results both now and in the future.

I just wanted to thank you for your support and assistance for the executive development you provided for our two vice presidents who are CEO Succession candidates.  Both have expressed to me that they are very pleased with the work that has been completed during the last 16 months.

Stephen W. Dixon
Director of Human Resources
& Administrative Services
CAMICO Mutual Insurance Company
1235 Radio Road
Redwood City, CA 94065
(650) 802-2504
sdixon@camico.com

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Performance Improvement

We help people through powerful 360 degree feedback performance appraisals.  Improve employee performance by developing job-specific core-competencies. The 360 degree feedback process involves collecting perceptions about a person’s behavior from their boss, direct reports, colleagues, and customers. We prepare customized competency-based development reports. We provide follow-up self-insight executive coaching meetings that focus on self-awareness, personal strengths, areas for development, and effective strategies for behavior change.

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• Performance Improvement
  Survival of the Fittest – 360-Feedback Article click here

»Purpose

An exceedingly popular and powerful means for managers and employees to get information on their performance is the 360 degree feedback instrument. Used independently, or as part of a management development program, multi-rater 360 degree feedback can enhance self-awareness by highlighting what supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers see as an individual’s strengths and development needs. It is an exceptionally effective tool for change. No other organizational action strategy has more power for motivating employee behavior change than candid feedback from work associates. Multi-source assessment creates accountability and service to all stakeholders: supervisor, external and internal customers, including coworkers and direct reports. In recognition of the importance of human capital, organizations are spending billions of dollars to enhance human performance using multi-rater 360 degree feedback tools.

All of the available evidence suggests that the greatest power residing in 360 degree feedback is in development. However, its’ use in performance appraisals is increasing. A wide range of tasks are important in organizations, and some of them may be informed by the use of multi-rater feedback, including selection, performance appraisal, compensation, promotions, team assignments, transfers, downsizing, and succession planning.

The objective of a 360 degree feedback process is to improve the competencies, skills, and behaviors of a single person or group of individuals. Competencies have been called the DNA of organizations because they are the essence of a company’s competitive advantage. Organizational core competencies are those qualities that distinguish an organization’s products or services from those of its’ competitors and establish value in the minds of its customers. A customized set of competencies for a specific position is developed and individuals are assessed on how well they demonstrate the desired competencies. Individuals are evaluated both on how they do the job and the results or outcomes achieved. Using 360 degree feedback instruments, employees can compare their own perceptions of their skills, abilities, and styles with the perceptions of others.

Multi-rater 360 degree feedback is a powerful process for developing people, renewing organizations, supporting a cultural change, team building, promotion and succession planning, management development, building learning cultures, and implementing strategic initiatives.

Organizations are flattening hierarchies by eliminating unnecessary layers of management and putting increased emphasis on empowerment, teamwork, continuous learning, individual development, and self-management. The competency-based 360 degree feedback survey aligns with the organizations strategic vision to create opportunities for personal and career development and for aligning individual performance expectations with corporate values. As organizations change their culture to align with their vision and values, 360 degree feedback becomes a powerful method to communicate the new competencies required by the new values.

»Purpose

The multi-rater 360 degree feedback process typically consists of the following steps:

• Develop core-competencies for position.

• Select survey instrument that reflects organization’s vision of success, values and culture. Customize instrument to communicate competencies for effective performance.

• Select 360 degree feedback team. Feedback recipient chooses his/her own raters including colleagues, supervisor, direct reports, and customers.

• Conduct targeted competency interview with feedback recipient. Administer 360 degree feedback instrument.

• Train feedback raters on how to provide feedback to others. Administer 360 degree feedback instrument. Interview 6-8 individual raters face-to-face. Assure raters of absolute confidentiality of their responses.

6. Collect evaluations.

7. Score instruments. Conduct data interpretation & analysis.

8. Generate computer-assisted Developmental Feedback Report.

9. Coach feedback recipient on how to receive feedback.

10. Present the Developmental Feedback Report and identify strengths and      

improvement goals with feedback recipient.

11. Design and facilitate sharing and clarifying session with feedback recipient

and raters.

12. Create Developmental Plan that clarifies preferred learning techniques,

developmental targets, and effective strategies for change.

13. Design Planning Guide to include:

      A clear, written statement of the specific developmental goal

      The standards to be used for measuring when the target has beenreached                                         

      The change strategies that will be incorporated into the plan

      The action steps and learning techniques that correspond to each change strategy

      The people who will be resources in the implementation or monitoring of the plan

14. Incorporate Executive coaching sessions focused on insight, motivation,

problem solving, skill acquisition, career development, and performance improvement.

15. Re-administer feedback instruments in 6-12 months to measure behavior

      change.

While creating a high-involvement culture, multi-rater 360 degree feedback provides a proactive system that aligns employees’ behavior with organizational expectations. It promotes the corporate vision, improves employee interpersonal communication, and provides the constructive feedback most employees strongly desire.

»Results

     Multi-rater 360 degree feedback has many well-documented benefits:

• Defines corporate competencies. Identifies the critical factors that link job requirements with business objectives.
• Increases the focus on customer service.
• Creates a high-involvement workforce.
• Detects barriers to success.
• Gives employees, managers, and teams a clear understanding of personal strengths and areas for development.
• Increases employee retention
• Produces positive cultural change.
• Employees view feedback from different perspectives as fair, accurate, believable, and motivational
• The flexibility of the process makes it meaningful for people at all levels of the organization.
• Multi-rater 360 degree feedback enhances the effectiveness of individual and team development, continuous improvement, cultural diversity, change management, executive coaching, and other company initiatives. 

I have had the pleasure and the good fortune to have been able to work with Dr. Brusman and I would, without hesitation, highly and sincerely recommend him to any executive interested in growth for their organization as well as for maximizing their own effectiveness as a business leader. His skill in identifying and cultivating growth potential in the individual as well as in building cohesion among team members as they endeavor to set goals and paths for their company’s future has been clearly and impressively exhibited to me in my experience working with him. Dr. Brusman’s mastery of tact and his skill in assessing the nature of the interpersonal dynamic, in terms of the individual as well as the management team, are unquestionably two of his many strong suits.

I have worked with Dr. Brusman personally in his Executive Coaching program. Additionally, I have retained him for a similar program with other members of my senior staff. I have also worked with him on several crucial leadership issues and problems as well as retained him as a moderator in helping the management team devise and implement strategic and key mission objectives at a management retreat that was held during a critical time in the development of the company. His experience and professional focus was clearly evident and was an integral part in the success of the program. His follow-up as well as genuine concern can be credited with keeping the team on task and focused even after the retreat. Dr. Brusman’s approach and style is clearly unique and not like typical programs that quickly dissipate to the status quo within days of the conclusion of the program.

There is clearly no question in my mind that Dr. Brusman would be a valuable asset to any individual seeking to achieve his potential as an executive as he would be to any organization at any stage of their development.  My recommendation of Dr. Brusman could not be higher.

Jerome Pintar

CFO

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