Greater Positivity, Better Productivity - Mission impossible, thought Greg Kimbell, director of computer systems for Cornell's Office of Alumni Affairs and Development: Convert a billion rows of data from an old mainframe to a new system in 18 months and, within the same timeframe, impose a new reporting structure so that staffers could more easily retrieve information about donors, pledges, and gifts. "All of us felt so overwhelmed we didn't know where to begin," Greg recalls.

So he called in the coaches. Over the course of several sessions, we taught the group how to stay focused, productive, and positive under duress. And right after the initial session, there was shift in attitude from, It can't be done to, Just you watch.

"That's the first benefit of the coaching process," says Greg." It helps you dial in on specific things, come up with an action plan, and change your perspective on what's possible."

Mission Accomplished - The new system went live on schedule, to rave reviews. More importantly, however, the team found they had acquired new and powerfully productive reflexes.

"I see it in the way we listen to each other--starting with me!" Greg notes. "In the past, if someone came to me with a problem and suggested a possible solution, I might have said, 'That's wrong, don't do it that way.' Now I say, 'What else do you think could work?' and sure enough, he knows a better way. We've learned we all have the right answer within ourselves, if only someone will just coax it out of us."

Greg's department is one of six whose leaders are now working with us to achieve, as a services organization, the kind of cooperation that characterized the original computer systems team.

"We trust each other a lot better now," says Greg. "We share knowledge, because it doesn't matter who's right. We don't waste time playing the blame game, because it doesn't matter who was wrong, either. I don't have people coming to my office anymore making cutting remarks, or sending emails where they trash my idea in front of everybody.

"The coaching has made us better people," Greg concludes. "We treat others now with a lot of respect and positivity, and they react accordingly."