Respect. Action. Results.

A career coach is a discipline comprised of two similar but distinct tracks: coaching and counseling. The goal is to support people in making informed decisions about their career development and trajectory, as well as offer various tools that they can use—résumés, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles—to meet those goals. Although not all career coaches have clinical training, as I do, definitions of the field—and the work—may still vary among more conventionally trained coaches. In general, “coaching" tends to be a solution-oriented approach, which involves working with clients to see what concrete steps they can take to achieve career objectives. “Counseling,” however, is more process driven—you look at whether there are any behavioral, emotional or psychological issues that could be impeding a person's desired career ambitions. But the core virtue of career coaching is to help people assess their professional situations with a greater degree of honesty, curiosity, empathy and compassion.

The top three? That a well-done résumé is all you need to conduct an effective job search—and that career coaches will actually find you a job. There's also the popular notion that you only have to attend a single career-coaching session ... and your job challenges will be resolved. It actually takes about eight to ten hours of counseling for the typical client to begin internalizing the key benefits of coaching.

You should expect these simple things:

• Honesty
• Realism
• Genuineness
• Compassion
• Empathy
• Professional and Personal Connection

Sometimes, there are only so many self-help books to buy, career inquires to Google and U.S. News articles to read – as helpful as they are – before you need reinforcements. You know you need outside help from a career coach when you're stuck in any phase of the pipeline of bettering your career or changing it. Career coach can help you find a job or, more broadly, a career. They can support you while transitioning industries, starting a business, honing specific skills or performing better at work. But here's the thing: Some coaches are great at helping you, and others are totally winging it by Googling exactly what you're Googling. That's why you need to know how to find a quality coach, what to pay and what to expect from sessions – before you invest your time and money.

Literally anyone can call themselves a coach and that's why the most important thing is to do your research ahead of time to find the right coach. Start with recommendations from friends and colleagues, and do some Google searching to find the career coach who's right for you. From there, consider these factors:

• Online Presence: Look for coaches who've built their online brand. If they're not on social media and LinkedIn, they're not very relevant as a coach. Coaches should also have a slick website that shows client testimonials, rates and credentials from professional organizations. Another must on the career coach's website: information about his or her experience and specialization.
• Experience and Specialization: Several years of experience as a coach are a major plus. Think of it as any professional service – a doctor, a lawyer, a financial consultant – do you want to start with someone who's two months into it? Also consider the coach's experience in successfully helping people with your specific need. (To continue the comparison, would you rather get bypass surgery from a doctor who's done the procedure hundreds of times or a resident who's giving it his first try?) You should be able to tell a coach's specialization from her website, whether it's job searching, advancing to the C-suite, starting a business and so on.
• Red Flags: Beware of coaches who promise you a dream job, make you pay a substantial fee upfront or have you sign long contracts.

"Good coaches aren't cheap." Coaching rates – – whether by hour, session or comprehensive program – vary dramatically and depend on the coach. Rates can vary from $90 to $200 (in person) per hour long session. Think of career coaching as an investment in yourself and your career. If the price tag for the investment concerns you, consider it all the more reason to research various coaches and choose the one who is right for you.

Workforce planning is grounded in its contribution to organizational performance. It provides management with a way to align the workforce with the business plan, and address current and future workforce issues. Workforce planning helps employers better:

• Project and respond to organization-wide staffing needs.
• Influence development of job classes, rules, and collective bargaining agreements.
• Deploy staff and organize work.
• Manage organizational culture.
• Anticipate and manage risk.

The terms workforce planning and succession planning are often used interchangeably. Many books and articles also use the terms human capital plan and talent management.

• Workforce Planning: The overall process of linking workforce strategies to desired business outcomes.
• Staffing Plans: The specific workforce strategies for recruiting, retaining, developing, and managing employees.
• Succession Programs: The specific staffing strategies designed to develop an internal pool for anticipated vacancies.

Workforce planning requires cooperation and commitment from leadership.  A workforce planning consultant can help all stakeholders within the organization work together to ensure overall success.

Strategic workforce planning looks at system-wide issues and strategies to:

• Support the organization’s strategic plan (e.g., reorganization and redeployment).
• Address external workforce factors that affect the entire business (e.g., succession planning for retirement bubbles, or staff reduction planning for budget cuts).
• Maintain organizational capacity (e.g., in-service training).
• Mitigate risk exposure (e.g., safety planning and Equal Employment Opportunity training).

The right management level at which to conduct strategic workforce planning depends on the size of the organization, how it is structured, and how programs are managed and budgeted. Most strategic planning occurs at the senior-leadership level. However, employers may also plan at the division, region, or program level. Employers should plan in a way that makes sense for their business.

Diversity means accepting, understanding and valuing differences among individuals. Having a diverse workplace gives your business ideas and innovations from a variety of backgrounds and cultures.  Developing a diversity strategic plan for the workplace helps your company operate in a global marketplace. Setting diversity goals for your organization is the first step toward developing a strategic plan. The primary goal is your diversity mission statement, which should clearly communicate your commitment to diversity.

Objectives describe the measurable or observable results an organization expects to achieve related to a goal. They should also tell the organization how well its strategies and action plans are working.

For example, if the goal is to prepare the workforce for implementation of a centralized claims management model, the objectives may include:

• Maintain a 97% staffing level during the transition.
• Design and implement a new training program for claims managers by (date).
• Decrease the average claims processing time to 21 days by (date).

Employers should test each objective against the following SMART criteria:

• Specific – Does it address a clear and precise element of success?
• Measurable – Is it either quantifiable or clearly observable?
• Action-oriented – Does it address the results of a specific action?
• Realistic – Can the organization realistically influence the desired result?
• Time-oriented – Is there a time limit within which the objective must be achieved?