{"id":13120,"date":"2013-03-07T17:16:31","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T22:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan.html"},"modified":"2017-11-08T11:10:47","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:10:47","slug":"gretchen-steffan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/","title":{"rendered":"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"gretchen\n<\/div>\n
Gretchen Steffan is a partner in Grove Associates with her husband, Paul.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Barbara Brewer La Mere<\/p>\n

Gretchen Steffan, partner in Grove Associates, a human resources, organizational development, and training firm based in Glens Falls for 24 years, loves the work she and her husband, Pete Steffan, do with their company.<\/p>\n

Gretchen and Pete are both senior professionals in human resources, certified through the Human Resource Certification Institute. Gretchen teaches courses to prepare people to take the exams for HRCI’s Professionals in Human Resources and Senior Professionals in Human Resources certifications for the College of St. Rose.
\nGretchen enjoys working with her husband, employing, as they are working together, the communication techniques that they teach to students in the client companies and college classrooms where they work. As they teach delegation, conflict management, and managing change as coursework for new managers and those seeking to improve their leadership skills, “We use our own stuff. Problems are on the table,” she said. “Not talking is not an option.”<\/p>\n

Because they work together all day, there’s no “download” of issues encountered at work at the supper table. It’s worked for a happy 23-year marriage.<\/p>\n

Gretchen and Pete had both been working in corporate human resources for a few years when it became clear that companies in the area needed leadership development training. Grove Associates started out teaching Survival Skills for New Managers at then-Adirondack Community College, found that local companies wanted more, expanded that course into the Learning to Lead leadership development program, and then began doing contract custom training for individual businesses.<\/p>\n

Grove Associates has also taught courses for Penn State University, Empire State College and Excelsior College. Gretchen is currently teaching a class for Paul Smith’s College on the SUNY Adirondack campus in “Dispute Management and Negotiation.” Gretchen notes that companies tend to promote their “worker bees,” the people really qualified and good at producing their company’s’ particular products or providing their specific services. She used Albany Molecular Research, a long-standing Grove Associates client, as an example. It is a small company staffed largely by scientists well versed in synthetic organic chemistry. Promote one of these scientists to a leadership position and there is a brand new set of skills to be learned that has little to do with organic chemistry. Those skills are: communication, delegation, conflict management, managing change, motivation and productivity, work style assessment, performance evaluation, and coaching. Albany Molecular’s President Tom D’ Ambra now requires that anyone in his company in a leadership role receive leadership training from Grove Associates.<\/p>\n

Most of Grove Associates’ referrals are word-of-mouth, from one company to another. Companies often begin by inviting the company in for training, then for work in organizational development, and later for human resources support. Grove Associates has been known to involve themselves in providing team skills training to all employees across all three of a company’s manufacturing shifts, fostering a cohesiveness that proved valuable in a period of ownership transition.<\/p>\n

Gretchen speaks much of the role of “balance” in human resources and in life in general. She said she loves the field of human resources as it serves the role of being that department in a company that focuses on balancing the needs of the company with those of its employees. She values the social impact human resources work creates in finding the right people for the right positions. The people have jobs. That makes them happy and able to support their families. The company gets competent new employees. Good training is provided. The company flourishes. They and their employees pay taxes. Community and society are strengthened.<\/p>\n

Gretchen also speaks of the role of balance in everyday life, especially for women who are trying to keep many “balls in the air” as they strive to keep their “ducks in a row.” She loves staying busy with activities that serve her community. She is president of the Adirondack Human Resources Association, serves on the board of Fort Hudson Health Systems, and recently completed seven years with the Queensbury Planning Board.<\/p>\n

She is a member of both the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and the and Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, and facilitated the Leadership Adirondack retreat held in September. True to what she teaches Leadership Adirondack participants, she manages her time allocation by coming to terms with what she truly values to also address her personal interests—kayaking, piano lessons, and, very importantly, sharing responsibilities with her spouse to address the needs of her 89-year-old mother.<\/p>\n

She said good time management for any person depends on saying “yes” to what fits with one’s considered values and sense of purpose and “no” to those things that don’t fit or leave one feeling overwhelmed. Clearly understanding what one truly values is key to staying happy and productive as choices must be made and changes weathered, she said.<\/p>\n

Grove Associates’ website address is www.groveassociates.com. The phone number is 792-1039. Their e-mail address is mail@groveassociates.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gretchen Steffan is a partner in Grove Associates with her husband, Paul. By Barbara Brewer La Mere Gretchen Steffan, partner in Grove Associates, a human resources, organizational development, and training firm based in Glens Falls for 24 years, loves…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[66,91],"yoast_head":"\r\nGretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gretchen Steffan is a partner in Grove Associates with her husband, Paul. By Barbara Brewer La Mere Gretchen Steffan, partner in Grove Associates, a human resources, organizational development, and training firm based in Glens Falls for 24 years, loves...\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-07T22:16:31+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-08T16:10:47+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2013\/08\/gretchen20steffan.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samantha Racine\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samantha Racine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/\",\"name\":\"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General - Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-07T22:16:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-08T16:10:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/100cc5ceca9cabb541936a3e206710bf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/100cc5ceca9cabb541936a3e206710bf\",\"name\":\"Samantha Racine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/962df49f4fa16cf3d217ee785bbacc0f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/962df49f4fa16cf3d217ee785bbacc0f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Samantha Racine\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/samanthar\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General - Glens Falls Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General - Glens Falls Business Journal","og_description":"Gretchen Steffan is a partner in Grove Associates with her husband, Paul. By Barbara Brewer La Mere Gretchen Steffan, partner in Grove Associates, a human resources, organizational development, and training firm based in Glens Falls for 24 years, loves...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/","og_site_name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","article_published_time":"2013-03-07T22:16:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-08T16:10:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2013\/08\/gretchen20steffan.jpg"}],"author":"Samantha Racine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Samantha Racine","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/","name":"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General - Glens Falls Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-03-07T22:16:31+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-08T16:10:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/100cc5ceca9cabb541936a3e206710bf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2013\/03\/gretchen-steffan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gretchen Steffan Strives To Keep Balance In Her Work, As Well As In Life In General"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/","name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/100cc5ceca9cabb541936a3e206710bf","name":"Samantha Racine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/962df49f4fa16cf3d217ee785bbacc0f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/962df49f4fa16cf3d217ee785bbacc0f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Samantha Racine"},"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/samanthar\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29856,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13120\/revisions\/29856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}