Conversations with Coaches

Hosted by Brandon Mergard

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Oct 2024

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About the show

MGSCC cherishes its mission every day : To enable and promote better leadership everywhere . And to become even more involved in the coaching community, Brandon Mergard and the team are proud to present “Conversations with Coaches”. In this new podcast, every 2 weeks, you will meet an unmasked leadership hero who will, via their professional career, successes, and errors, offer a real-life, practical, hopeful illustration of what Stakeholder Centered Coaching has done for them and can do for you.

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41 recent

October 18, 20241 hr 1 min

CWC | S4 | Pilot | The Challenges Leaders are Facing as the Hybrid Era Comes to an End

Welcome to the new season! This time, you drive the conversation. Our pilot episode featured Nancy Burger and Jathan Janove, who brought their unique perspectives and expertise to the table. We explored key topics such as generational differences and the skills leaders need to navigate today’s challenges. Plus, the audience had a chance to chime in with their real-world experiences of adapting to remote work. Don’t miss this episode, and stay tuned for the rest of the season—your participation shapes where the conversation goes! Links: https://knowledgebank.mgscc.net/the-ear-cheat-sheet/ https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/humanity-hr-compliance/hybrid-onsite-remote-work-leaders https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/humanity-hr-compliance/instead-hybrid-remote-work-lets-call-strategic-flexibility https://link.mgscc.net/learnmore Connect with Nancy Burger! Website: http://nancyrburger.com/ Email: nancy@nancyrburger.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-burger-commstrategist/ Connect with Jathan Janove! Website: https://jathanjanove.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jathanjanove/ Connect with Brandon LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonjamesmergard/ To learn more about Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching® visit https://link.mgscc.net/learnmore

October 1, 202433 min

Leading Through Adversity | Kimberly Gonsalves | Conversations With Coaches - S03E20

This conversation discusses a coaching engagement with a CEO in a nonprofit organization. The client faced challenges related to emotional reactivity, accepting feedback, and providing accountability and support to change management teams. The engagement was initiated through a referral and involved assessing the leader's readiness for coaching. The coaching process included setting expectations, negotiating parameters, and adapting to new challenges. Over the course of three years, the leader made significant progress in emotion regulation, accountability, and leadership competencies. The coaching approach focused on building a culture of feedback and measuring results through stakeholder feedback. Key takeaways include the importance of aligning coaching with organizational values and using quantitative measures to assess leadership effectiveness.

September 17, 202435 min

When Selecting The Right Client Goes Very Wrong | Aaron Wheeler | Conversations With Coaches - S03E19

This conversation explores the challenges faced when selecting the right client for a coaching engagement. The coach shares a story of an engagement that went wrong due to various factors, including lack of clarity in the client's needs, lack of team accountability, communication issues, and challenges with completing the 360 assessment. The coach reflects on the importance of articulating the benefits of coaching and the impact of crises on engagement. Key learnings include the need for tough conversations, the importance of executive commitment and support, and the value of flexibility in the coaching process. The coach emphasizes the importance of selecting the right client and improving the client selection process.

September 3, 202449 min

Obstacles that Prevent Establishing Trust and Rapport | Jathan Janove | Conversations With Coaches - S03E18

In this conversation with Jathan Janove, we explore how Stakeholder-Centered Coaching transformed the behavior and perception of a highly successful CFO who was initially seen as abrasive and intimidating. We discuss the client's challenges, the initial contact, the introduction to stakeholder-centered coaching, and how we addressed apprehension and defensiveness. We also dive into the role of role-playing, the stakeholder-centered coaching process, the mini-survey, the after-action review, and the overall results of the engagement. Along the way, we highlight the skills and techniques, including the effective use of role plays, that contributed to this success.

August 20, 202440 min

CEO Succession Coaching | Brenda Bence | Conversations With Coaches - S03E17

Brenda Bence shares her experience working with a CEO and CFO in a publicly listed company on the New York Stock Exchange. The engagement focused on CEO succession planning and developing the CFO as a potential successor. Brenda emphasizes the need for coaches to watch for patterns among stakeholders and explore any outliers in feedback. She also discusses the importance of coachability and working with clients who are hungry for change

August 6, 202438 min

The Complexities of Leading Others For The First Time | Lillian Davenport | Conversations With Coaches - S03E16

In this episode of Conversations with Coaches, Lillian Davenport, a seasoned leadership and career development coach, shares her expertise on how to foster leadership excellence. Tune in to discover how targeted coaching strategies and assessments can unlock the potential of leaders, even those facing the unique challenges of rapid career advancement. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to enhance their leadership capabilities and drive organizational impact.

July 23, 202435 min

Developing Future Leaders | J.B. Adams | Conversations With Coaches - S03E15

This week's conversation explores the journey of executive coach J.B. Adams and his experience working with a public sector client to develop the next generation of leaders. Listen to gain valuable insights and practical strategies for building and repairing trust within teams, leveraging skeptics' feedback, effective succession planning, and developing executive presence. J.B. highlights the benefits of group coaching and shares personal anecdotes with actionable advice for enhancing coaching practices.

July 18, 202436 min

Maximizing Communication with Feedforward | Hana Ngo | Conversations With Coaches - S03E14

In this conversation, Hana Ngo discusses her engagement with an IT company struggling with effective communication channels. She emphasizes the importance of understanding stakeholder expectations and using live feed forward to improve communication. The engagement resulted in increased collaboration and improved communication between technical and business teams. The key takeaways include the need for stakeholder-centered habits and identifying the stakeholders involved in creating a bigger impact.

July 9, 202433 min

Knowing the Dynamics of Leadership | Elise Foster | Conversations With Coaches - S03E13

In this episode of "Conversations with Coaches," Elise Foster helped bring about a notable shift in a senior manager's leadership approach, creating a profound organizational impact. Elise Foster collaborated with a senior director at a prominent medical device company whose main challenge was connecting and engaging effectively with others. Despite performing tasks, their interactions often elicited a “suck it up and grin” response. Recognizing the need for a change in relational dynamics, Elise managed to transform the leader's approach, and thus advancement and success within the organization.Elise Foster, co-author and executive coach, integrates her engineering background with coaching methodologies learned at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Through her coaching practice, she empowers leaders to leverage their skills effectively. With a diverse background and experiences, including managing her family's pizzeria, she brings a unique perspective to coaching.Discover a detailed episode transcript, a brief summary, and the complete case study—all included in the MGSCC® Case Study.Download it at www.mgscc.net/case-studies.Learn to navigate the different dynamics of leadership and develop strong skills to successfully lead teams. Register now at http://mgscc.net/foundations-course to begin a path to effective leadership.Stay Connected on LinkedInConnect with the podcast host and guest here:Brandon Mergard: linkedin.com/in/brandonjamesmergardElise Foster: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisefoster/

July 2, 202438 min

Improving Responsiveness in Leadership | Paul Crick | Conversations With Coaches - S03E12

Discover how to improve leadership responsiveness with SCC®. In the twelfth episode of "Conversations with Coaches", Paul Crick explains how he helped the client experience improvements in skill development to boost their performance. In this episode, Paul Crick assisted a product management leader at an advanced electronic components manufacturing company. With ambitions to expand in specific sectors, the company hired coaching support to nurture its leaders. Using various methodologies, significant gains were made in leadership responsiveness, communication effectiveness, collaborative aptitude, and team cohesion. Paul Crick is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Elevate Partnership, with an extensive career in management consulting for IBM, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Capgemini. He's an accredited coach since 2007, assisting individuals and teams globally, earning recognition as a Top 50 Thought Leader in Coaching in 2023. Residing near Newark On Trent in Nottinghamshire, UK, Paul is also an Aikido enthusiast, musician, and avid Liverpool Football Club. Discover a detailed episode transcript, a brief summary, and the complete case study—all included in the MGSCC® Case Study. Download it at http://www.mgscc.net/case-studies Enroll in the free Foundations of SCC® course, where you will learn effective strategies to be more agile and responsive leaders to the challenges of the work environment. Go to http://mgscc.net/foundations-course to begin your journey toward more effective and dynamic leadership! Stay Connected on LinkedIn Connect with the podcast host and guest here: Brandon Mergard: https://linkedin.com/in/brandonjamesmergard Paul Crick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcrick/