Much of my work is surprisingly personal in nature, since personalities and relationships underlie human resources issues. I have been called a business shrink, a career therapist. I provide a safe, objective impartial professional point of view.
In last month’s NIBA Journal I told a personal story of when I refused a job offer. As the story continues…Remember I had refused a job offer because the president of the company was “rude” to me during the interview. As karma would have it, years later I ended up working with the same “rude” person….to be continued. But by then things had changed. He was building a new law practice and I was an independent Human Resources Consultant. We worked on his “rude” behavior, which turned out to be a profound shyness. His underlying problem was a discomfort with talking with a stranger one on one. While he was an excellent public speaker, he admitted that the prospect of being alone in a room with one other person “terrified” him. I was able to coach him on how to overcome his shyness. We used his public speaking talent and conversed so that he became comfortable in a meeting with one person.
Over time, I developed this line of work – coaching my executive buddies - into a substantial practice. Parkway now calls it; Executive Coaching services. The nature of my business is that I work with clients during very sensitive business times. Many of my projects involve working with executives on highly confidential, delicate subjects. Topics discussed have been:
- How to deal with difficult subordinates (and the inverse: How to work with a difficult boss)
- How to persuade someone to your point of view
- Creating a job search strategy
- Motivating employees to accept change
- Pros / cons of consulting
- How to self- promote
- How to mentor a great employee who is unhappy
- How to give bad news to staff
I have even guided executives in complete career changes. I was hired to do out-placement consulting for a futures firm, and one manager in particular declined the option, feeling that she could manage the transition herself. I reminded her that my services were available if she changed her mind, and she decided to at least have me review her resume. This led to conversations during which we explored options that included a different career direction. She confided that the real estate industry had always interested her, and we eventually plotted a course for her that now has her happily managing a real estate brokerage office in Wisconsin.
As I said, sometimes I’m even a business shrink. My perspective on the industry is unique. I look at industry changes and analyze how they affect the employed people in the industry.
Pat Lunkes / Parkway Consulting
Pat Lunkes is Founder and President of Parkway. Parkway is a Chicago-based human resources consulting firm, with a broad client base encompassing the financial services industry (including asset classes in futures, equities, options), FCM’s, Broker Dealers, Introducing Brokers, CTA’s, proprietary trading, venture capital, and exchanges. If you wish to contact Pat Lunkes please send an email to: pat@parkwayconsulting.com
