Many of today's entrepreneurs, managers and executives do not have the formal training needed to keep pace with an ever-changing work environment. Executive coaching can be extremely effective in the personal and professional development needed for high level management effectiveness. Executive coaching serves a variety of functions including helping business leaders to:

• identify personal strengths and weaknesses
• enhance communication skills
• develop interpersonal relationship-building skills
• build self-esteem and resolve job (role) insecurities and inadequacies
• identify short and long-term goals for career advancement
• overcome self-destructive behavior patterns
• cope with the ramifications of success and failure on self-esteem and family functioning

The greatest barrier to effective organizational functioning is unresolved conflict.An executive coach functions as a neutral facilitator to help identify and assist in the constructive "airing" of interpersonal conflicts in contexts constructed to reduce anxiety and maximize win:win negotiations. Depending on the specific needs of a business leader, Dr. Berglas will:

• utilize diagnostic interviews to identify both the source and content of unarticulated or poorly articulated conflict and develop step-by-step plans to target its resolution
• train leaders to identify conflict and the techniques that will enable them to manage it "in the open" in a healthy manner
• provide strategies for keeping lines of communication wide-open during times of stress

A highly trained observer in human dynamics and diagnostics like Dr. Berglas has the ability to cut through the surface issues to quickly and effectively diagnose the "real issues" negatively impacting organizations. Typically, an evaluation can be completed in one day via individual and The evaluation parameters will vary depending on the specific needs and background of the group. For instance, in evaluating a group that is not functioning to its greatest potential, Dr. Berglas would identify and develop plans to address:

• specific problem areas that lie beneath the surface "symptoms" affecting group functioning
• identify the cause(s) of ongoing (repetitive) conflicts between two or more valuable group members
• identify the factors motivating talented-but-disruptive individuals whose behavior has upset the organization
• assess the level of open and honest communication within a group
• assess levels of cohesiveness or competitiveness within a group
• identify those factors that may be causing burnout among a business's most talented executives

Dr. Berglas has spent the last 20 years devoted to the study and treatment of highly successful individuals who have fallen victim to the downside of success. This "downside" precipitates disorders ranging from absenteeism due to depression to alcoholism and white collar crime. The damage caused by success must be treated at both an individual and a group level since any and all people working with a "casualty of success" suffer concomitant damage. The psychological instability caused by such situations can be significantly reduced through the programmatic interventions that Dr. Berglas has conducted for over twenty years. A typical intervention may include one or more of the following:

• programmatic plans to "inoculate" an organization against resistances to psychological interventions targeted at successful "problem" leaders
• psychological "damage control" designed to allay fears evoked by having a business leader endure psychological distress
• interventions to prevent "prized" employees from falling victim to the "stress of success"

[ RP8 ]   The Bloomberg Forum - "Interview with Dr. Steven Berglas" (1999)