Certified Practitioner — Global Leadership Assessment
Stakeholder Centered Coaching (SCC) is a practice that is based upon the principles and practices of Marshall Goldsmith, a world authority in helping successful leaders get even better – by achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams.
In its simplest form, the SCC practice is about an understanding that we are all successful largely because of ourselves and also in spite of certain aspects of how we behave. A recurring theme is that we are successful because of certain beliefs and in spite of those same beliefs.
Consider for a moment, one of the natural beliefs of successful people – I am successful – in other words, they have a high degree of self-confidence. Now consider how self-confidence can be an aid – it gives you the courage to apply your ability and strengths – while at the same time, it may cause you to have difficulty accepting validity of feedback inconsistent with your self-image.
A CEO of one Fortune 100 Company (who has had many “ups and downs” on the admiration scale) says this:
“Success can lead to arrogance. When we become arrogant we quit listening. When we quit listening we stop changing. In today’s rapidly moving world, if we quit changing, we will ultimately fail.”
Equipped with this understanding, clients will employ a 7-Step process that offers dramatic results in developing themselves as leaders. To succeed you will have to follow a disciplined practice. While this practice is simple to understand, it is at the same time difficult to perform.
How is this method different from other coaching methodologies?
The fundamental principles of SCC – attention on the stakeholders, emphasis on the future, and parallel behavior/perception change – are distinguishing features of this process. The practical, and sometimes counter-intuitive, nature of involving the stakeholder allows the leader to turn these stakeholders into the true coaches, as they are the best “experts” in how the leader’s behavior can improve with them.
Additionally, most executive coaching and leadership development focuses on a process of feedback as the key to improving. While feedback is an important part of the 7-step process, we emphasize FeedForward – a very simple process focusing on suggestions for the future. A key aspect of improving as a leader is to change the perception of stakeholders regarding that behavior. People do not readily give up their prior assumptions, opinions, and beliefs. Long lasting behavior change occurs when a leader undergoes improvement in a specified behavior and those around that leader both recognize and support that change.
What are the beliefs and principles that underlie SCC?
Our approach is tailored to modify behaviors that take advantage of the positive aspects of successful people’s beliefs and to overcome the negative aspects that can interfere with development. The SCC methodology is based upon the combination of these beliefs and three underlying principles.
Key Beliefs of Successful People
I am successful – Successful people are self-confident.
I choose to succeed – Successful people believe that they are doing what they choose to do, because they choose to do it.
I will succeed – An unflappable sense of optimism is one of the most important characteristics of successful people.
Principles of SCC
Place the attention and focus on your stakeholders – The true leverage points in behavioral change are the people who are interdependent with, and work with you every day.
Emphasize FeedForward – Focusing on the future is much more effective than focusing on the past, which is something we cannot change.
Change behavior and perception in parallel – It is useful to work in parallel on changing a behavior and the perception of your behavior by your stakeholders.
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