My dear colleague, Lee Salmon, used to run the Federal Consulting Group, which provided coaches to leaders of several key agencies in the Federal Government. When the economy collapsed, the financial institutions of the Federal Government turned to coaches to help build resiliency and develop leadership skills regarding adapting to change. Lee details the applications of leadership coaching in the Federal financial agencies from 2005 to 2010 in his article on the Library of Professional Coaching.
Over the past two years the United States has faced an economic crisis of historic proportion not seen since the stock market collapse in 1929. Bank failures and bailouts have led to criticism and review of existing bank regulations, policies and regulatory structure. Combined, these forces create a stressful environment for people working in the financial oversight community, particularly those in leadership roles at the various regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Department of Treasury, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Organizational performance, cohesion, and morale at all of these regulatory agencies often rely on the ability of leaders to manage stress, maintain their own health, sustain a psychologically healthy workplace for the people they supervise, and have a balanced family life outside of their job demands. Achieving this resiliency is an ongoing leadership challenge.
To help leaders develop resiliency and other leadership competencies, most of these organizations have used executive coaching programs over the past five years. The executive coaches help their clients with the leadership challenges of stress management, adaptability, agility, and flexibility in managing change. This article explores how independent executive coaches and those within the Department of Interior’s Federal Consulting Group work with financial institution executives during times of crises and help build their clients’ resiliency in adapting to change.
The full article is 20 pages long, and you can access it and download it from the above link to the Library. Enjoy!