Organization Development Leader Coaching Employee Retention Cenek Report Bios Contact Us
Back Home

The Importance of Coaching Leaders


"Leadership is not magnetic personality-that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people"-that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."
Peter Drucker


"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him.... But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, "We did it ourselves."

Lao Tzu


"Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning."
Warren Bennis


"Perspective/Strong Relationship-Building Skills = +50 IQ points"
Michael Porter
Harvard Business School


Leader Coaching


At the Cenek Company, we believe that coaching is a process of personal discovery by a leader to build his or her level of understanding, awareness and commitment for change.

Coaching, by definition, must provide the leader with structure, support and feedback. Business coaches perform the same role that sport coaches do - helping the talented individual achieve to best of their ability. Most executive coaching interventions center on helping an individual to use new behaviors, or to actually reduce the over-use of a particular strength.

Our experience is that the most effective coaches tend to be individuals who are external to the firm, as opposed to employees or supervisors who may be affected by previous history and relationships. And, like Robert Cenek, they tend to be former executives with high-level business experience who understand the political and organizational dynamics surrounding coaching interventions.

We only enter into coaching assignments with emotionally healthy clients; therefore, we do not employ, nor are we licensed to perform, psychological therapy.

In short, we approach coaching as a development process; not a psychological counseling endeavor.

We offer four different types of coaching assistance:
  1. Helping a client improve a particular competency area - e.g., team leadership
  2. Enabling a client to become better in their current job, which may be the result of motivational or interpersonal issues
  3. Coaching to help a client prepare for a future job or advancement by discovering current strengths and development areas
  4. Self-directed coaching by the executive on a topic or issue of their choosing
We employ a four-step coaching methodology:
  1. Establishing agreement on the respective roles of the coach and client
  2. Contracting with the organization and the client on the nature of the assignment, the timeline and the commitment for change
  3. Assessing or identifying areas that will be the focus of the coaching activities
  4. Establishing an action plan for the desired changes by the client.
Our approach centers on helping the client to create a development or action plan that includes specific activities designed to learn new habits or behaviors
Builder of Strong Leaders and Organizations Since 1979
Copyright © 2006 Cenek Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.