Personnel Decisions International Enhances Global Coaching Practice With Customized Leadership Modules

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Personnel Decisions International (PDI) today announced that its global leadership coaching practice now features modules designed to address the unique needs executives face at specific levels within an organization and during transition into a new role. These customized modules offer coaching to senior level executives, business unit leaders and leaders new to a position or organization.

In 1981, PDI was the first organization to introduce a formal executive coaching program. The group is led by Senior Vice President David B. Peterson, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in the coaching field and author of the best-selling books Leader As Coach and Development FIRST.

"We have studied data from nearly 100,000 leaders around the globe and understand the competencies that differentiate success at every level," said Peterson. "Our coaches offer leaders straight feedback, objective data and practical tools to be successful. Our expertise allows us to customize a coaching program for a variety of people, such as the new leader, high potential, C-suite executive, and board member." More detail on specific modules is included below.

FS100(TM) Coaching: For a fast start in 100 days

When a leader transitions into a new role, the first 100 days are crucial for establishing a foundation for long-term success. Leaders new to a position must rapidly identify what is most critical for the early days while simultaneously laying the foundation for long-term success. Using its FS100(TM) Coaching method, a PDI coach meets with the leader several times during the first 100 days to ensure a rapid, successful transition into their new role.

FS100(TM) Coaching is customized to each new leader to meet challenges such as setting a leadership and business agenda, securing positive work and networking relationships, maintaining a positive work-life balance and building their own capabilities while identifying strengths and weaknesses in their new role. A review session is scheduled at the 100-day point to prioritize actions for the next three months and coaches continue to be available for ongoing support. FS100(TM) Coaching is best suited for leaders promoted from within or new to an organization, managers working with new teams and those with expatriate or repatriate assignments.

The FS100(TM) Coaching benefited Jed, who was an employee at a privately held company for more than 20 years when he assumed the role of president and chief operating officer. Although Jed was a collaborative leader, the board of directors had concerns that Jed's casual style and appearance could be perceived as lacking sufficient executive impact and poise. The board feared his consensus-oriented style could get in the way of his need to be strategic and decisive. Jed worked with a PDI coach to maximize his effectiveness in the first 100 days in his new role. Nine months after his appointment, feedback about Jed was remarkable. With the help of his coach, Jed restructured his leadership team, made better than expected progress against the organization's financial goals, and laid out a plan for accelerating innovation and new product development. The board expressed their confidence in Jed as president and COO.

Senior Executive Coaching: Fully leveraging the senior executive role

With fierce global competition and a high demand for innovation, achieving success as a senior executive can be harder than ever. PDI's senior-level coaching allows senior executives to face challenges head on, with more intention and strategy. In addition to CEOs, CFOs and COOs, the senior executives module is designed to address the needs of executive, senior, and group vice presidents. Challenges senior executives encounter can include leading globally while balancing short-term and long-term issues, projecting credibility and poise, developing leadership versatility to meet organizational needs, and creating impact to diverse stakeholders.

Coaches understand these challenges and recognize what makes leaders at this level successful. PDI customizes its coaching process to the needs of each individual and is best suited for executives that desire a more proactive leadership style, new senior leaders, high potentials, leaders facing new challenges, or executives with specific developmental needs. Coaches give feedback, skill building specifics, advice, and reflection and can serve as a source of perspective in today's ever changing business world.

The Chief Financial Officer of a major North American pharmaceutical company said of PDI, "In my career, I've had tens of thousands of dollars spent on my training, but PDI's coaching has been the only thing that has had a profound, long-term effect on my personal and professional life."

Business Unit Leader Coaching: Taking on new challenges

Like leaders new to a position and senior executives, business unit leaders are expected to deliver performance and results while maintaining strategy and direction. Few business unit leaders are prepared to face the vast array of challenges their position encounters. Examples are managing disparate functions, thinking holistically about the entire business, dealing with an expanded network of internal and external stakeholders and building a unified team of leaders -- often with conflicting priorities. This coaching is not intended for CEOs, CFOs, and COOs.

Working with business leaders to analyze a leader's approach to situations, coaches strategize how to handle situations directly, at the same time building skills to handle those situations. This translates into concrete action plans to create real-world results. Coaches bring new insights, ideas and resources that help business unit leaders achieve immediate results. This module is best suited for high potentials that are slated to eventually move up, leaders promoted to a position for the first time, current leaders who are struggling and solid performers ready for the next level of complexity.

After two years in her role, the general manager of a $3 billion division of a major technology company faced a rapidly shifting competitive environment. She needed to get her organization to be more customer focused and more agile while simultaneously building a leaner, lower-cost organization. Her coach helped her strategize her approach and served as a sounding board for some of her tougher decisions. They worked together to identify her communication plan, practice and prepare for some of the more difficult conversations she needed to have, and determine the best influence techniques for moving the organization ahead quickly. After six months of coaching, she described her coach as someone who consistently provided an insightful and objective perspective on her toughest challenges. She went on to further note that her coach was a person she could trust to provide straight feedback, as well as suggest useful tips or new ways of framing an issue to help her figure out the most effective approach.

PDI Coaching Services

With its network of 29 worldwide offices, PDI offers global reach and a consistent approach. As a provider of scalable coaching solutions, PDI can uniquely offer central coordination and a single point of contact for managing a large group of coaches. For enterprise-wide coaching projects, PDI provides program design expertise, project management, world-class coaches, and ongoing consulting for evaluation and continuous improvement. Eighty percent of the 2007 Fortune 100 companies use PDI coaches.

About Personnel Decisions International

Personnel Decisions International (PDI) is a global human resources consulting firm with distinctive expertise in building leadership talent that provides real, competitive advantage. With more than 700 team members in 29 offices around the globe, we partner with the world's leading organizations, enabling them to make consistently effective decisions about leaders.

Using field-tested strategies, systems, and tools that are unique in the industry -- we help clients identify, develop, and deploy superior leaders. Our aim is simple -- the well placed confidence that your current and future leaders are distinctively stronger than the competition, resulting in sustained, superior performance.

For more information, contact PDI client relations at 920-997-6995 (or toll-free in the United States at 800-633-4410) or visit PDI's Web site at http://www.personneldecisions.com.