Business Adviser Moves Consulting Firm to Valley

By Eileen Mattei

Published in Rio Grande Valley Business Journal; November 15/22, 2004

Sharon Golden has advised Fortune 100 and 500 companies during her 20 year career as a business consultant and change leader. Earlier this year, the president and principal of Golden Performance Solutions, which provides change management, executive coaching and leader development, transplanted her company to the Valley. Golden uses her skills to ignite the potential in people --to have them accept change, to listen, to guide them to lead stress-free, but successful lives.

"I start with the organization, where they are and help them move to greater productivity and their goals. What people think they need or want may not help them reach their goals," Golden said. She gave the example of a business that tells her they need to improve customer service, but they may be looking at a symptom rather than the problem. Treating the symptom doesn't really change the culture of an organization and its unspoken rules. "From the top down, if the CEO and top leadership don't work collaboratively and don't get along, that flows over the rest of the organization," Golden said. If the role models for company behavior don't show respect for their colleagues or subordinates that is reflected in how in how customers are treated. The mood of leaders and their behavior was cited as the most significant factor affecting the bottom line in a Harvard Business Review article.

Golden Performance Solutions, in fact, functions like a doctor, assessing where a business has stymied itself, usually by resistance to change and to not allowing individuals to develop their potential. People are happier and more productive when using their skills and when they have opportunities to develop them further, she said. "The intellectual and creative capital of organizations is their most important asset. Organizations lose a tremendous amount of money by not using their employees to their potential."

Golden specializes in executive coaching and fosters listening as a core business skill. According to research by Manchester Consulting, the return on investment in leadership coaching is significant, as executives who received individual coaching estimated the dollar value of business outcomes to be nearly six times their investment.

People are living and working in frenzied states, so caught up in getting things done that they are cut off from their creativity, Golden said. "I've seen the impact on people during mergers and acquisitions, when things are not handled well," said Golden, who has worked as both an external and internal consultant. "When people don't know what's going on in an organization, it drains productivity and creates insecurity and fear."

"We need to slow down and get present because as technology has speeded up, people's minds have speeded up," Golden said. Pointing out that we need to get quiet and understand that stress comes from within, she said the object is not to learn to manage stress or develop a tolerance for it. "It's about preventing it by developing presence," which means tapping into wisdom and creativity. It's similar to athletes who describe being in the zone, a place of peak performance.

Golden provides professional development programs, on-site and off-site.