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Executive and Professional Development:

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Executive and Professional Development

Transformation: A Program for Integrating Career and Personal Lives During Midlife

Midlife is a period of potential new growth and development in all areas of life. Its key challenge is to identify one's core values, talents, and unfulfilled goals, both personally and professionally; and integrate them into new action. This enables the person to undertake a lifelong path of growth and evolution, emotionally, creatively, and spiritually.

Transformation is a program of both discovery and new learning in these areas. It is for individual senior-level executives and professionals who are contemplating or currently seeking transition and/or new development within their careers and life path.

Based on Dr. LaBier's pioneering work on the relationship between human development and career, this program for senior executives in transition builds a foundation for determining what next step will best integrate the client's talents, experiences, values, and career/life goals and desires. The objective is to determine the most fulfilling next path, both personally and professionally. The program consists of a unique, four-part process which clients typically find both illuminating and enjoyable to experience. It derives from Dr. LaBier's pioneering work on the relationship between human development and career transition, including the developmental needs of men and women of the current midlife generation, whose members comprise senior leadership in today's organizations.

The components include, first, a detailed review and exploration of the senior executive's career and personal history, through a structured interview. This identifies both the key internal "value drivers" and external experiences that have shaped the client's personal and career path, to date. It identifies accrued strengths, both as a worker and a leader; as well as the mutual influence of personal and career choices and decisions.

Next, a series of exercises identifies:

As part of the process, Dr. LaBier provides the client with selected readings about state-of-the-art knowledge concerning positive midlife development. These are linked with a visual-aid presentation of current knowledge about the interplay between organizational cultures and different kinds of personal orientations to work; and how this interplay supports either positive, high-functioning environments, or those which create leadership dilemmas and negative career environments. The client is taught the four parts of "Relational Competency," a set of skills vital for senior leadership success in today's organizations.

A final exercise enables the client to establish a set of goals and action steps in six major facets of life. These demonstrate and underscore the relationship between career and other individual developmental needs at midlife.

Dr. LaBier's program culminates in identifying the client's "Needs and Requirements" regarding the next career step, along a number of dimensions. They include:

The client takes away specific knowledge and increased clarity about what direction to pursue. This serves as the vehicle for the actual job search, which includes resume construction, directed networking, screening of possible positions, interviewing, and other elements of the process of selecting a new career position.

Coaching for Leadership and Personal Development

For Senior Executives: Developmental Coaching to Enhance Leadership Skills

Dr. LaBier's coaching work with senior executives is based on his unique combination of expertise which combines, on the one hand, extensive clinical experience with individuals; and, on the other, consultation regarding business and organizational leadership issues.

The objective of Developmental Coaching is to learn and apply new skills that create more effective and successful leadership relationships with superiors, peers, subordinates and others. Such development provides for a more effective and successful fit between the executive and the organization's needs and culture. This, in turn, contributes to ongoing success of the organization.

Senior leadership of today's organizations increasingly recognizes that building and maintaining success requires a high degree of teamwork, collegiality and mutually-supportive interactions at all levels of staff. It also requires positive, supportive leadership from those with senior-level responsibilities.

Dr. LaBier's Developmental Coaching supports new learning and development in key areas affecting staff and client/customer relations. Specifically, it emphasizes personal development in areas which have particular relevance for work-related behavior, together with building team-oriented relational skills necessary for senior leadership roles. The coaching assists the client to integrate and apply the new learning in the above areas, so as to enhance his/her leadership effectiveness and teamwork with the range of individuals which whom he/she interacts -- direct reports, peers, senior management, and clients/customers where relevant.

The components of Dr. LaBier's Developmental Coaching Program are:

Increasing Self-Awareness

This component focuses on how the person affects and is affected by interactions with others who are a part of an overall leadership team or network within the organization -- both formal and informal. The coaching helps the person increase awareness of how these interactions affect his or her own effectiveness and success, as well as that of others within the larger network of staff relationships. This process identifies both existing strengths and areas in need of additional development. This component also helps the person build awareness of how career and personal values, decisions, and choices over his/her career history have contributed to the current situation, particularly those involving conflict or new challenges; and how this awareness can be used to stimulate positive change from this point forward.

Learning "Relational Competency"

Based upon increased self-awareness, this component identifies the four elements of relational competency that are essential for effective working relationships; particularly crucial to leadership success within today's team-oriented work culture. Examples are used to aid learning how to utilize and apply these four elements to both present and future situations.

Integration Of Learning

This component helps the client incorporate increased self-awareness and relational competency into daily, work-related behavior with all levels of staff. The focus here is upon ongoing integration and application of new learning as a leadership "practice" which improves with continued effort and self-monitoring.

Evaluation

The effectiveness of the coaching program is evaluated by obtaining periodic feedback from key individuals within the organization. Part of the objective of the evaluation component is for the person to recognize that the individuals providing feedback are "stakeholders" in his/her success. Feedback is used to reinforce positive change and assist further change in problem areas.

General Structure Of The Coaching Program:

  1. The initial phase occurs during three to five meetings of two hour blocks each. Here, the client and Dr. LaBier establish a working relationship and "buy-in" regarding the overall objectives; and then focus on enhancing self-awareness and building relational competency. Selected exercises are used for this purpose to enhance learning and development. Ideally, the initial two meetings are conducted within approximately a two-week period, to establish continuity.
  2. One-two hours per week of follow-up coaching for four to six weeks. This phase of the coaching is focused on assisting the client to review, assess, and integrate the new learning into daily behavior, including new situations and problems that may arise. During this part of the coaching, the client learns to consolidate and apply the new learning. Difficulties which may occur within this process will be addressed, as needed.
  3. One-half hour of coaching, via telephone, every other week, for approximately 3-4 months. Additional follow-up via E-mail or telephone can be available, as needed, over a longer period of time.
  4. As the coaching program progresses, feedback is obtained by telephone from relevant individuals regarding perceptions of the client's efforts to put new learning into practice. This feedback helps the client address areas in need of continued or additional development in support of ongoing strengthening of leadership skills.

The above format is modified as needed to address particular organizational and client circumstances.

For Newly-Appointed Leaders:

Dr. LaBier helps the executive address the mixture of personal and organizational forces that can either undermine or ensure success in his or her new position. Here, the components of Dr. LaBier's coaching enable the executive to gain a clear understanding of the new organization's culture, human resource issues, and political dynamics; how they impact the man or woman in the new leadership position; and how to apply this understanding to create personal and organizational strategies which support success in the new position.

Senior Executive Assessment:

For companies contemplating new hires at senior-level positions, Dr. LaBier conducts senior executive assessments, through which he helps both the company and the candidate determine whether both represent the best match. Dr. LaBier helps identify the personal factors, career strengths and experiences, and organizational culture and needs which determine successful outcome for the candidate. In addition, he helps identify areas in need of support and new learning, should the candidate be appointed to the position.