Business coaches help clients build skills, boost morale

Many people working toward the " American Dream" have experienced a rude awakening. The path to success is an uphill journey - blocked by layoffs, downsizing, increased competition and financial stress.

But some local business people have found a guide to help them navigate through the challenges. Business coaches, individuals trained in psychology and advisement techniques, motivate people to build careers - and have some fun while doing it.

"We are led to believe we cannot have joy in our work lives," said David Silberkleit-a coach who manages Empower in Stamford. "We put up with so much because we feel if we are not suffering, it's not work. We accept it because we are taught that is the way it is."People never feel accomplished enough," he added. "People become successful only to hunger to be more successful. They make$100,000 a year and immediately obsess to make $200,000."

For Silberkleit, such conventional thinking may hinder success and, in extreme cases, result in physical illness. His objective is to help clients free themselves of counterproductive thinking and recognize their accomplishments.

Silberkleit begins by instructing a client to develop a career mission statement based on individual talents and desires. The client then uses the statement as a daily guide to determine what steps he's taken to reach his goal. "When we begin to recognize accomplishments, it tends to accelerate more results. It is amazing how powerful people become the moment they begin to recognize their accomplishments."

Unresolved personal problems also tend to keep people from achieving goals. Silberkleit said. "No one has taught us the holistic approach of the importance of home life as it relates to professional life. It is time for us to recognize what happens in our personal lives directly bears upon our ability to succeed at work."

Prior to becoming a business coach, Silberkleit was a marketing executive for Archie Comic Publications in Mamaroneck, N.Y., a publication founded by his grandfather, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater.

Silberkleit developed programs to inspire employees to create story ideas for the characters Archie, Jughead, Betty, Reggie and Veronica. He also developed an anti- drug campaign featuring Archie's wholesome image on"1 billion milk cartons" worldwide, he said. Silberkleit left the company four years ago to launch Empower.

In January, he traveled to Vietnam and bicycled from Hanoi to Saigon. The experience helped him discover a renewed respect for life, he said. He described streets bustling with activity: merchants displaying fish and baskets of shrimp, tradesman hauling furniture and other goods on bicycles, and others transporting ill people on hammocks. "Many of the Vietnamese people earn just$20 a month. They still can find so much joy in their daily lives out of the most simplest experiences."

Several of Silberkleit's clients said his coaching has helped them not only enjoy their careers, but expand or improve their businesses as well. "I was not satisfied where I was. I've become too accustomed to the mediocrity of the daily job. To reach the next level I needed a different source of motivation," said Adam Westphalen, a managing partner of Nexus Financial Management in Greenwich.

Dr. Michael Hodish, a Norwalk dentist, said Silberkleit helped him reach what he thought was an unattainable goal - becoming, a public speaker. "I was always too mired down in the details. Silberkleit helped me keep the eye on the ball and get what I wanted."

Other local business coaches also help clients adopt a friendlier and more productive attitude towards work. "People need to simplify their lives and business. They need to learn to dump the to-do list and get focused on the present moment," said Michael Mendribil of Greenwich.

Working people are often so caught up in taking care of their jobs that they forget to take care of themselves, said Mendribil, who also is a naturopathic physician -- one who uses natural remedies and herbs to treat illnesses. Mendribil shares in the holistic approach to lifestyles. "You cannot separate one's business from the rest of their lives. You must focus on balancing personal life with professional life."

One of Mendribil's clients, David Besse, is seeking employment and said the coach has restored his confidence. Mendribil helped him realize the type of work for which he's best qualified - a business consultant position involving frequent public speaking, Besse said.

John Seiffer of John Seiffer Business and Executive Coach in Bethel, said he also helps clients advance their careers. "People have a vision where they want to go, but they are too busy with the day-to-day brush fires to know how to go there themselves." Seiffer said clients need to be reminded "how to take a breath and enjoy life."

In many cases, Seiffer said helping business owners restructure their companies so it is not totally dependent on them. One client, Robert Bedoukian, owner of Bedoukian Research Inc. in Danburv, said Seiffer "has been useful as an objective third party to help us identify problem areas and appropriate ways to deal with them."

Seiffer, who sits' on the board of directors for the Maryland-based International Coach Federation (ICF), said the business coaching profession was launched on a national level about five years ago as downsizing became a corporate trend. Many displaced workers reacted by launching their own businesses, thus needing coaching services, he said.