February 2010

This Month's Features

+	Leadership Book Series
+	FMI's 360 Feedback
Leadership Videos Online
+	Introduction to the Leadership Institute
+	An In-depth Look at the Leadership Institute
+	Leadership Institute Testimonials

FMI's Executive Coaching

Just as the best athletes have coaches, strong leaders often have coaches as well. In tough times, the need for coaching is even greater. Our FMI coaches bring more than 100 years of combined coaching experience, coupled with specialized industry knowledge, that can help you through these turbulent times.

Click here to learn more about FMI's Executive Coaching.

What FMI Executive Coaching clients are saying:

• "When you have the ability to make change and improvement to someone who affects your business, affects the growth of team members and affects your image – can you afford not to complete something like this? My answer is no!"

• "I already have made a greater contribution to this company as a result of coaching – both from a performance and a supervisory standpoint. In working with my group of a dozen people, they have their subordinates as well; I think it’s important how the impact transcends my group."

The "Practical Tools for Exceptional Leaders" booklet series is designed to help you learn and apply best-of-class leadership principles in your life and within your organization.
Click here to purchase

A Letter From Ron Magnus, Managing Director

This month welcomed one of the most watched sporting events in the world — the Winter Olympics. The finest winter athletes traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia, to compete against their elite worldwide peers. Those who win are honored by hearing their national anthem playing while standing on the podium and receiving an Olympic gold medal. Looking back on their accomplishment, many of these athletes will reflect on a lifetime of dedicated practice, discipline and sacrifice. And the more grateful Olympic champions will undoubtedly reflect on all the people who helped them along the way. In fact, behind every successful performer, you are likely to find a great coach.

Just like Olympic athletes, modern leaders are expected to consistently deliver outstanding results. Until recently however, few leaders have the luxury of leveraging the support of a coach to accelerate their personal development. The emergence of executive coaching has proven to be one of the most effective means of capturing a competitive talent advantage in the marketplace. This issue of the Leadership e-News examines executive coaching in depth and describes both the individual and organizational benefits.

Ron Magnus

Are You Riding a Dead Horse?

Grant Thayer

Avoiding bad economic news for the past year would require separation from all media. While the economy is now showing green shoots that may indicate a recovery, the nonresidential construction industry's economic behavior usually lags 12 to 18 months behind the rest of the economy. This lagging effect is no surprise; on an upswing, increased economic activity takes time to result in unmet construction needs, and even then, projects must pass through architecture, engineering and bidding before job signs go up.

As an industry, construction's lag behind the greater economy can result in swings of optimism and pessimism. When times are good, contractors tend to grow too fast and have issues with structure, process and talent. During economic contractions, contractors typically turn to operational efficiency and cost cutting with the aim of winning enough work to survive. Unfortunately, refocusing on operational efficiency is not the same as having an appropriate strategy. In fact, the resultant focus on operations often comes at the expense of neglecting a company's overall strategy.

Read on to learn if your strategic plan is still appropriate in the current economic environment.

Strategic Leadership Transitions: Passing the Torch

Steven J. Isaacs and Cheryl May

The economic crisis has thrown both the retirement and leadership-development plans of many design-firm professionals into disarray, but now that the shock is over and recovery strategies are in place, it is time to put leadership transition plans back on track.

The leadership transition process is a key component of a design firm's leadership-development plan and the firm's overall strategic plan. Yet the transition from one leadership or management position in the firm to a higher level is often difficult. Leaders- or managers-in-transition often find that their fondness for familiar duties, perspectives and work habits are hard to let go, hampering their ability to assume new responsibilities.

Read on to learn more about facilitating leadership transition.