Penn State Executive Programs Takes Executive Coaching To The National Institutes of Health

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (January 21, 2009) – When the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sought an external partner to help develop the leadership competencies of its managers and supervisors to enhance employee performance, it turned to Penn State Executive Programs.

Since the fall of last year, Penn State Executive Programs, the executive education department of the Smeal College of Business, has conducted numerous executive coaching programs tailored to the specific needs of NIH centers and institutes, and additional sessions are in the works for 2009.

NIH, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Development, consists of 27 centers and institutes focused on conducting and funding medical research. The agency, which is funded by nearly $28 billion in congressional appropriations, supports medical and behavioral research around the world that seeks to extend healthy life and reduce the effects of illnesses and disabilities.

To help the NIH leadership in its mission, Penn State Executive Programs, in conjunction with Sherpa Coaching, customized its coaching program for managers and supervisors in the National Cancer Institute (NCI)—the largest of the NIH's centers and institutes—and the National Human Genome Research Institute. Penn State and Sherpa have been certifying executive coaches and teaching coaching skills to corporate and nonprofit leaders since 2006.

At both NIH institutes, Penn State Executive Programs offers an introductory course and an advanced course in coaching skills. Both programs are designed to provide managers and supervisors with the skills and competencies they need to maximize employee performance through effective coaching. The programs teach managers and supervisors how to communicate more effectively with their staff and make accountability a positive force in their work environment. The courses also fulfill internal NIH employee development requirements to gain additional management and leadership education.

"In today's economy, organizations are requiring more fiscal accountability and looking for efficient ways to better implement their strategies, improve communication and cooperation, and enhance leadership competencies of their key employees," says Patrick Cataldo, associate dean for executive education at Smeal. "The Sherpa coaching model is helping NIH provide additional skills to its managers to bridge any gaps between strategy and execution."

The NIH programs, like all of the executive coaching programs offered by Penn State Executive Programs, are led by Judith Colemon and Brenda Corbett, authors of The Sherpa Guide: Process-Driven Executive Coaching. The Sherpa Guide is used in the introductory coaching course.

More details and registration information for Penn State Executive Programs' open-enrollment executive coaching certification programs can be found online at www.smeal.psu.edu/psep/ecc.html.

About Penn State Executive Programs
Penn State Executive Programs, the executive education division of Penn State's Smeal College of Business, has been serving the development needs of the world's business leaders since 1954, providing both open-enrollment and custom programs. Nearly 42,000 executives from 43 different nations have participated in programs on topics ranging from strategic leadership to supply chain management.

Penn State Executive Programs was recently ranked as the No. 1 provider in the world of customized executive education programs by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of The Economist magazine publisher. The EIU also awarded Penn State Executive Programs its Award of Excellence for open-enrollment programs, making Smeal the only U.S. provider to be rated excellent in both categories.

For more on all the offerings of Penn State Executive Programs, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/psep.