A hardy perennial of management consulting is that if you don’t have a plan to win, you will probably lose. Art Boulay and Bill Maloney of the Organizational Productivity Institute will not only make sure that you do not embark on an enterprise without a plan, they will also meet with you weekly to hold your feet to the fire. “Coaching can take you to the next level, even if you are already at the top” insists Boulay, “how often does a company president get feedback and encouragement to improve his performance?”

OPI has been providing one-on-one coaching for four years as part of its on-going follow-up and implementation agreements stemming from management consulting. Given the trendy nature of “coaching,” they have been reluctant use this term for their “individual consulting.” However their own terminology was also open to misinterpretation and images of high-ticket consultants in expensive suits with slide shows from out of town. In taking a look at the individual work that they did with individuals and small groups of managers, to implement picture changes in companies, they discovered that this is the area in which they have experienced the most success.

The coaching role can be seen as an outgrowth of Boulay’s key concern, and borderline obsession, with implementation and follow-through of organizational change. As a systems manager with L. L. Bean he was at the receiving end of too much expensive fly-by-night or hit-and-run consulting.

Even excellent training presentations were forgotten after a few days, back in the normal work environment with its set patterns of behavior. Meeting with key personnel in one-on-one sessions over a period of months provides a long-term strategy to support individual and corporate change.

Boulay and Maloney both come from business backgrounds in systems, and are proud of the lack of formal preparation to organizational behavior to clutter their approach. Their concern over implementation and long-term relationship with the client to monitor this process, stems from the failures that they have seen with token adoption of new programs. Art Boulay talks of the lip-service paid to waves of new methodologies such as Management By Objective, Quality Circles and Total Quality Management. He sees any new program failing if the CEO and all employees are not fully on board and return to business-as-usual. Everyone in the company must be willing to explore their own attitudes and be willing to make the necessary changes to make programs work. This self examination starts at the top, as the leader must look at his own attitudes and conscious and unconscious signals are being communicated throughout the company.

Many of OPI’s clients are not from large corporations but are small business men and women who want to be challenged to set better goals and reach them. Having a coach often challenges them to set higher goals and keeps them focused and on track. The mirroring process enables clients to see their own blind-spots and attitudinal or behavioral obstacles that come in the way of setting high goals and pursuing them to completion. OPI specializes in working with clients to overcome obstacles created by miscommunication or personality conflicts. Coaching can also provide disciplined and goal-oriented behavior in the work place as well as in the client’s personal life.