IN THIS ISSUE:

Product in Depth. Sage Portfolio Group's Team “Two-for-One”. Tired of training that delivers unison when you're really looking for harmony? Our integrated knowledge and relationship-based training will have your team singing a different tune. Read article

Frog Pond: Reflections from a Values-Based Organization. How We Hire. We're growing again, which means we're hiring again. Learn how each of our company values fit into the process. Read article

What’s Out There. Portfolio Profile: Ileana Vassiliou. One of Sage Portfolio Group's coaches and trainers shares her story.  Read article

The Culinary Coach. Spicy Stir-fry with Shrimp. This dish is real soul food. Read recipe

If you would like a printable version of this newsletter, please visit www.sageportfoliogroup.com/archives.html

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Sage Portfolio Group's Team Two-for-One
By Jennifer Dawson

Teams exist to produce results more efficiently and effectively than is possible when individuals work alone. In order to maximize productivity over the long term, teams need training and skill development in two key areas: thinking and feeling. Since this isn't really the place to wade into the ocean-deep Cartesian dualism debate (are the mind and the body really separate?), suffice it to say that Sage Portfolio Group offers a unique, integrated training product that is able to simultaneously strengthen a team's head and heart.

Thinking (or head) skills are information-based: the knowledge and application of the objective steps, tools, resources, disciplinary underpinnings, and paradigms that constitute the work that is being done. These skills are in continual need of updating, thanks to changing local or global context, research findings, process innovations and more. Feeling (or heart) skills are relationship-based: the ability to understand and enhance the team's purpose, norms, roles, and processes and to create a team environment of trust, constructive interaction and respect for diversity, among other qualities. The innovative combination of training and coaching, offered in the same engagement with the team, allows team members to learn and practise the thinking and feeling skills of greatest relevance to their success.

Sage Portfolio Group's team training “two-for-one” begins with a culture survey, to establish existing strengths and weaknesses and take a “before” shot of the team. Then comes a one or two day event that concurrently provides knowledge-based skill development to individuals (for example, “the difference between blame and accountability” or  “identifying your leadership strengths” or “creating a coaching relationship with your direct reports”) and relationship-based skill development (for example, “eliminating silos in an international company” or “emphasizing collaboration instead of competition in product development”). Activities are designed to meet the specific needs of the team as identified in the culture survey. Learning is interactive and experiential, particularly in the case of the “feeling” skills.

All sessions are co-facilitated, with one facilitator in charge of the delivery of knowledge-based exercises and the second responsible for introducing and de-briefing exercises designed to improve team behaviour and relationships. The “feeling” facilitator--who is trained as an Organization and Relationship Systems coach--teaches the team to regard itself as a system and is able to name and reflect back to the team what he or she sees as the day progresses. Thus learning is flexible and meets the needs of team members as they evolve through the engagement with the coaches.

Sage Portfolio Group has employed this model of training delivery in the manufacturing, health care and non-profit sectors with organizations that are both local and international in scope.

Our experience is consistent with the findings of management consultants and coaches everywhere: the hallmark of a great leader or team is the ability to simultaneously demonstrate superior skill in both relationships and knowledge. Shouldn't training reflect the same balance and integration of head and heart? To learn more about Sage Portfolio Group's team building and training products, visit our website here, call 1-800-592-2303 or email melanie@sageportfoliogroup.com.

 

How We Hire
By Melanie Parish

Although we typically have low turnover as a company, because we are growing we are currently adding to our team. For a fairly small company this feels big. Will we hire the right person to do the job? Will they fit with our existing team, a group that is currently functioning so well?

We use our values to hire. In support of our “science and technology” value, we use a hiring tool that helps us consider the potential candidate’s thought preferences and their “fit” with our existing team. We use behaviour-based questions to try to really understand our prospective employee’s background, education and experience. To support our “quality” value, we test the competency of the candidate: we administer a coaching test to coaches, check references for administrative help, and, wherever possible, observe trainers at work. We use group interviews to make sure everyone is onboard with the hiring decision, which supports our value of “teamwork and collaboration”. We probe to try to understand whether the candidate will fit with our value of “absolute integrity.” (People sometimes tell us some crazy stuff in interviews!)  But the most important value of all is our “frog pond” value—this is the one that for me encompasses so many things. It is the right fit so that the person will be fulfilled in the work he or she is doing at Sage Portfolio Group. It is the understanding that we really care deeply for our clients and need every team member to carry that forward. It is the blend of self-care and passion for the company that our employees share. This is the intangible part of hiring. We have done well so far, and I will hold the vision that we will continue finding amazing people to build Sage Portfolio Group.

Frog Pond: Reflections from a values-based organization is a monthly column that explores our development as a company, with particular emphasis on how we express, honour, model and grapple with our organizational values. The title for the column comes from the last, but perhaps most profound, of the five values upon which Sage Portfolio Group has been built. We call it “frog pond”. Sitting beside the frog pond at Sage Portfolio Group’s head office in Dundas, Ontario on a warm summer evening with a glass of wine and meal made from locally grown organic produce has taught us to value local roots and global consciousness, quiet contemplation and sharing with others, dreaming big and common sense. Articles written for this column take the abstract principles of Sage Portfolio Group’s “frog pond” value and make them both real and useful. Dip your toe to test the water … or dive right in!

Portfolio Profile: Ileana Vassiliou
By Jennifer Dawson

We have devoted so much time in this column to communicating the ideas of well-known thought leaders and management gurus who have published best sellers that we've started to wonder: maybe it's time to toot our own horn in our own newsletter. This month we're profiling Ileana Vassiliou, a certified professional co-active coach and member of the International Coaches Federation with over 25 years of progressively complex leadership experience with a range of US-based and global Fortune 500 corporations. Ileana, we're very proud to say, is one of Sage Portfolio Group's coaches. She works one-on-one with executives and helps to develop and deliver team training.

Ileana is one of those people who keeps you on your toes. Perhaps it has something to do with her first career as a professional ballet dancer, a formative experience which she states best prepared her for a coaching career. “I learned early on how to be a champion and bring out the greatest potential in people,” Ileana explains.

Ileana jumped from the stage to school, completing her MBA and then working for 25 years in a range of corporate roles and fields including  manufacturing, distribution, materials management, quality control, organizational development and training. She discovered a passion for seeing organizations and leaders move to the next level, a revelation that led to her decision to expand the number of organizations she could assist. “I had a personal thirst to assist individuals and organizations,” she says. “But I also realized there is a thirst out there in the world to experience the benefits and impact of leadership development and coaching.”

She founded her own company in Reno, Nevada and has clients in India, the UK, Argentina, Canada and the US. She was born in Venezuela, moved to the US when she was a child, and is fluent in Spanish, English and Romanian. Ileana's commitment to lifelong learning means she is a master certified coach and is certified in the Emergenetics Profile instrument, EQ assessments, Myers-Briggs, Achieve Global's customer service and leadership program and can administer all of the assessments of the Center for Creative Leadership, including the 360 instrument.

Ileana prefers to work with both the executives in an organization and the organization itself. This unique approach recognizes the interface between leader and company which must be strengthened in order for sustainable improvement to occur. In addition to her work with a number of Fortune 100 companies, she has been working for the past three years with a high profile government client in Nevada providing individual coaching and training.

In addition to her coaching and training work with corporations and the public sector, Ileana teaches an 18 month management certification program for Nevada's government leaders. We are honoured to have Ileana as a member of the Sage Portfolio Group team. Our organization and clients have  benefited from her experience, skills and grace. Perhaps someday we'll get her to sidle up to the barre and teach us a few moves. Plié anyone?

What's Out There is a monthly column highlighting thought leaders and trail blazers in the business world today -- people, organizations or subjects that push boundaries, break down barriers or build bridges in novel or unexpected ways.

 

Spicy Stir-Fry with Shrimp

This is food for my soul! I have been making variations of it since I made it the first time to impress a guest while I was at university. It nourishes my spirit and my body; whenever I attempt to eat healthier, it is the first food that comes to mind.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. spicy szechuan or sesame oil 1 tbsp. fresh chopped ginger 1 clove garlic, minced ½ medium red onion ½ red bell pepper ½ bunch broccoli (about 1 lb.) 2 large carrots

1 lb. fresh shrimp, peeled and de-veined 1 cup water 1 tbsp. corn starch 2 tbsp. tamari sauce 20 snow peas 5 medium shitake mushrooms, sliced 1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts

Preparation time: 1 hour (30 mins. chopping time, 30 mins. cooking time).

Chop the vegetables and place them in rows in the order they are listed above in a large baking dish or platter. Make different “cuts” of the vegetables for variety in your presentation. I cut the onions in small slices, the carrots into rounds, the red pepper into squares and the snow peas into three pieces.  Mix the water, corn starch and tamari and stir briskly with a fork. Make sure your shrimp is peeled and de-veined. Set everything beside the stove. 

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan on medium to medium high. When the oil is hot, add the ginger and garlic. Stir vigorously and watch carefully so that the garlic does not burn. As these start to brown, add the onion, bell pepper, broccoli and carrots one at a time about a minute apart. Continue to stir vigorously. If you don’t feel your wrist is getting a work-out, turn up the heat. As the vegetables start to cook and soften with the oil, add the shrimp and cover. Stir it every couple of minutes. When the shrimp is bright pink (approximately 7 to 10 minutes), add the cornstarch mixture, the snow peas and the mushrooms. Cover and cook until the mushrooms are still firm but darker in colour. When you have your plates out, throw the bean sprouts into the pan and toss for about 15 to 30 seconds. Serve immediately with rice. I use basmati rice for company and long-grained brown rice for soul food.

Alternatives: You can add almost any vegetable to this dish, just consider whether it is a long cooking or short cooking vegetable and add it to the pan or wok at the appropriate time. For example, zucchini is a short cooking vegetable and cauliflower is a long cooking vegetable. I sometimes add baby corn just because it looks pretty and my kids chant, “baby corn, baby corn!” as if I have created a masterpiece.

The Culinary Coach is Melanie Parish, founder and CEO of Sage Portfolio Group. Good food is about culture, community, family, physiology and fun. Each month we share one of Melanie's tried-and-true recipes, or some of her kitchen wisdom, in celebration of the power of food to strengthen, nurture and inspire. Cheers!

This month's contributors:

Melanie Parish, CPCC, PCC, is an accomplished speaker; executive and team coach; entrepreneur; and is the founder of Sage Portfolio Group. She has a 20 year background in sales, marketing and business development. Melanie regularly works with business owners who want to create incredible, profitable businesses. She has been a coach since 1999. Melanie is certified through the International Coach Federation and The Coaches Training Institute.

Jennifer Dawson is a cultural anthropologist, researcher and writer for Sage Portfolio Group.

About The Leading Edge:
The Leading Edge is published monthly by Sage Portfolio Group and written for a readership that includes coaching clients, human resource professionals, business leaders, fellow coaches and the occasional aspiring gourmand. Our goal is to offer a combination of wisdom and wit--sourced from our own in-house experts and other respected leaders in the field--in an easy-to-access e-zine format. A hard copy version is published bi-annually. We welcome editorial questions, comments and story ideas; please direct these to the editor, Jennifer Dawson, at jen(at)sageportfoliogroup.com. If you find value in the articles we invite you to pass them on to a friend with the recommendation to sign up directly for The Leading Edge at www.sageportfoliogroup.com. Articles from The Leading Edge can be reproduced in an in-house publication provided that Sage Portfolio Group is credited for the article.