I haven’t written for a very long time. There is a reason. I was motivated to write this blog after a grocery store experience I had a few weeks ago.

My colleagues and I are pleased to announce a new 60-hour ICF accredited program on Resiliency Coaching.

I admit it has been hard to write during, and about the COVID 19 virus. My primary thoughts have centered around our interpretations of what it means to live in a democracy. Democracy as a concept is about governance by the whole. I’m struck at the persistent cries of those who assert their individual rights – “you can’t tell me to wear a mask.” True, being forced to wear a mask is called an autocracy, not a democracy. In an autocracy, if you are told to wear a mask, you do it or risk the consequences for non-compliance. It’s in a democracy where we have the luxury of acting for the good of the whole. I’m sad that many elected officials have veered away from the notion of acting for the good of the whole. OK, enough said.

On another subject, how has this pandemic tapped your resiliency? I’ve reintroduced myself to cross-stitching (it really can pass the time), zoom calls with friends, actually reading most of The New Yorkers I am accumulating, and taking long walks listening to audible. I’ve spent time doing absolutely nothing; binge watched Homeland – working on Ozark. I’ve made some complicated recipes with success. I’ve sat with my emotions and let them wash over me. I’ve missed hanging with my friends. I’ve enjoyed my time with Steve – a surprise. I love just sitting in the morning with a good cup of coffee and watching Morning Joe. And yes, I’m dealing with my restless soul that wants to see Baby Bailey, drive the Alcan with Wendy, and visit our VT. home and friends.

As we all continue to navigate this ongoing challenge, let us be mindful of the gifts we have, the challenges we face, and the choices we can make to care for our communities. In our most stressful time, pause and remember that kindness is contagious; kindness helps soothe a fearful heart; kindness is about all of us, not me and them. By caring for ourselves and others, we can be the leaders who guide us through this time of uncertainty.

For the first time in a long time, I am taking a break to talk about gratitude and letting go. I won’t bore you with all the details but suffice to say that the past few months of my life have thrown me some real challenges and some fantastic opportunities.

A big one was the heart attack my husband suffered this past Tuesday. Yes. And he is one very humbled and lucky person. Almost 15 years ago, my husband, Steve, went through a seven-way by-pass surgery. You read correctly – Seven! He was 59 and asymptomatic. He was “doing me a favor,” establishing a baseline as he turned 60. His lifestyle choices and a job requiring sensitive and expert navigation were indeed contributors to his health stressors. Whew, no heart damage, a little intricate plumbing, and off we go to our optimistic future.

This past Tuesday, we are both older and perhaps a bit wiser. Steve paid attention to the discomfort in his left chest. Rather than pushing through to his intended goal of playing pickleball that morning, he drove himself to the emergency room. Their doctors quickly administered nitroglycerin that mitigated a much more horrific outcome. An angiogram and other tests gave us the best possible outcome, and he left the hospital a few days later with new medications, including nitroglycerine, a new travel companion for us both.

These past few days, I have ramped up my practice of gratitude. I have stopped the car and looked at the sun coming up over the Green Mountains. I have told my friends that I love them. I have been generous with time and resources. And mostly, I have extended my gratitude for health professionals and their humor, tenderness, and seriousness.

Steve and I will readjust and reframe how we move forward together. One thing that Steve has agreed will help him accomplish his goals is his work with a coach and other professionals. My most enormous gratitude is the opportunity to rely on the talents of others, allowing me to go back to my most cherished role, being Steve’s wife, friend, and love.

As you think of closing out 2019 and moving into 2020, what goals do you have for your life, and who can help you achieve them?

Greetings. As I was setting up my new office in Boise, Idaho, I came across this document. Although this document came from a leaderhship training I attended almost 20 years ago, it's relevance and importance seems even greater for today's leaders.

The Highly Developed Person

Our recent resiliency coach training held in Singapore demonstrates the need for enhancing skills and strategies for responding to this fast-paced world.

From The New York Times:

Putting Down Your Phone May Help You Live Longer

By raising levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol, our phone time may also be threatening our long-term health.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/well/mind/putting-down-your-phone-may-help-you-live-longer.html

Simply put, words do matter. In the words of the late Dr. Judith Glaser, “Words create Worlds.”

This past weekend Steve and I were fortunate to spend time with two young college students. Shyann, a student at John Jay College, and Jana, a student at Sarah Lawrence College and the daughter of my dear friend Hadeel. Their visit left Steve and me feeling more optimistic about the future of this country. I hope you enjoy the article from Guest Author, Shyann Cooks. 

We believe that individuals can examine their thoughts and actions; we have confidence that individuals are capable of change; we believe that we all want to be the best we can be, regardless of the challenges. We trust in the human spirit and our inherent goodness. We are the Justice Coaching Center.

The Justice Coaching Center is pleased to announce that our education program Professional to Professional: A Model for Support and Development has received 12 core competency hours of CCE’s (continuing coach education) approval from ICF. Contact Dr. Bouch to learn how to bring foundational coaching skills to your organization.

Below is the preface to an article by Alexandra Natapoff. I have attached a link to the full article. Why should we care about this subject? An acquaintance of mine recently contested her traffic violation with the Vermont Traffic Bureau. Her only avenue to fight the ticket was to appear in court. There are no other options.

Leaders making difficult choices should learn whether to listen to their head, heart or gut feeling says Karlien Vanderheyden.

My father was a politician most of my childhood. The right AND responsibility to vote was part of my upbringing.

Yesterday at yoga, our teacher read us this passage from A Writing Life, by Annie Dillard. It was thought provoking for me – hope it is for you as well. Happy Reading!

        One day a highly credentialed and experienced attorney, the next, a novice judge. It is a transition marked by paradox-elation and anxiety, excitement and frustration, self-assurance and insecurity, certainty and disconcerting revelation.

  I took my car to the dealership where we purchased it for an oil change and routine maintenance.  The dealership owners keep a refrigerator full of 4-ounce water bottles – very considerate of them. I finished one and, and getting ready for my second, asked an employee if they had a recycle for the empty plastic bottle. He said no and told me to toss it in the wastebasket.

I love road trips. As I write (and Steve drives), we are 40 miles outside Flint, MI. I didn’t know much about Flint until Michael Moore shone attention on the horrible water situation and the significant poor population affected. As we move toward Flint, I think about water and its lifeline to keeping us alive. Yesterday Scott Pruitt resigned as EPA director. I’m glad he is gone; he is unlikeable in so many ways. Still, following in his limited tenure are individuals who will likely continue the policy reversals of Pruitt. Who speaks for Flint and its residents? 

I love road trips because the landscapes of this country and the many others I have visited are a story, unfolding the plot and opening my creativity as I fill in the storylines. I imagine the peaceful pond with young lovers getting to know each other as they canoe along the edges, out of sight of interstate 69 with cars and trucks roaring close by.

I assume the black Lexus SUV, proudly displaying the notice that one or both inhabitants were graduates of Michigan State University, are proud of their alum and the comfortable life it afforded them. 

Although I love road trips, I have disdain (getting worse) for GPS. GPS follows a logical path to help you get from point A to point B. GPS doesn’t tell a story. GPS doesn’t point out the unknowable, unexplainable. GPS didn’t tell me to look in the cornfield at the deer. GPS hasn’t commented on the thunderstorm that roared through Ajax, Canada last night and cleared both the sky and humidity for the glorious travel day we are enjoying.

My eyes appreciate the different greens of the landscape, almost as if they were intentionally sequenced. And then my eyes meet that of the long haul trucker we just passed. I wonder what the trucker thinks as he drives through state after state, sometimes indistinguishable except for the GPS proudly welcoming you to Michigan. 

I ponder the stories he could tell, and likely won’t. Perhaps collecting secrets is part of the allure of driving truck.  

And for all I love about road trips, I long for days where a map was all you had available for navigation. Maps teach us scale, direction, shape, population, connection, landscape, and how to find the off the interstate roads that take you to such places as Cawker, Kansas, - home to the biggest ball of twine. And yes, I have been there.

Over many years as a consultant, trainer, and educator, I have been asked to provide training to build teamwork among employees. I’ve done lots of these training over the years. Recently I had the unexpected experience of working as a team, and this blog will share my surprising learning’s from experience.

ABC has a television show that presents situations that require an onlooker’s decision. From my comfortable seat watching television, I know exactly what I will do. But do we really know? 

At some point in our lives, we all likely think about what we would do if we had a do-over opportunity. I’m no exception.

Donald Trump recently and publicly tweeted that he is against domestic violence. Since the opposite of against is approval, this position seems like a logical no-brainer. It is also a perfect example of binary thinking.

So much of our time can be caught up in the mundane  - just staying current on daily living with work and chores can be enough. My husband Steve and I decided to break our routine and head to Washington D.C. for the march. We were two among thousands of people who came out to protect our democracy.

Hypothetically, let’s say you go to your medical facility and they advise you that the medical professional you will see today is through medical school (accredited) and has decided not to take the licensing exam. The new medical practitioner will reduce the cost of your visit by 50%. What do you do?

Merriam –Webster dictionary defines context as 

1:          the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning         

2:         the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs (e.g.) environment, setting

Lately, it seems that context is increasingly important

Today, the 12th of November, I along with hundreds of others celebrated and grieved the life and death of Neil Taylor.

Misogyny: Looking Back

Alyssa Milano decided to elevate the Weinstein misogyny to a broader discussion of serial misogyny that has existed, and continues to exist, in what many of us hoped was a more enlightened society. Sadly, looking back,

Water symbolizes many things connected with healing. Pouring forth from within the depths of the earth, it represents life and regeneration. - Wilbert M. Gesler, Healing Places

In February I attended my mBIT (multiple brain integration techniques) certification training. On our last day, our group was treated to a conversation with Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, a research scientist, and author of the book Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at what you do.

On a recent trip to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Williamsburg, Virginia, Steve and I navigated the perils of I-95 through NYC, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. The infamous hazards include texting drivers, constant roadwork, and more than a handful of multiple car accidents.

I was listening recently to a podcast and was struck by the statement, “compassion is good for business.” Over the subsequent days, I thought about compassion, how to access it, its role in leadership, and in general, compassion’s value when deeply rooted in our overall humanity.

Neil Taylor is an amazing young man. He is also our massage therapist. And he is blind.

The 2007 movie “Bucket List,” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson and written by Justin Zackham, popularized the term. In the movie, two terminally ill cancer patients race around to experience things they have always dreamed of doing and had never done.

Last week April Armstrong (one of our Justice Coaching Center coaches and consultants) and I attended four-day coach certification training on mBIT (multiple Brain Integration Techniques). Over the past two years, I became drawn to the notion (and subsequent research) that our complex neural networks operate in the heart and the gut as well as the brain.

As we head into a new and surprising presidency, we are experiencing more tumult than usually accompanies the traditionally peaceful transition of power in our democracy. We are witnessing the appointment of “business” people to cabinet positions who have little or no experience in running governmental organizations.  This has led to widespread concerns about the difference between running an organization focused on profit for those who own a piece of the corporation (stockholder) and those who have no stake in its success.  

Recently my husband Steve celebrated his 71st birthday. In 1995, my father died at the age of 71. I have a choice here – which filter will I use to live my life to its fullest? I could certainly choose to worry that my husband’s age has some weird correlation to my father, my father’s health issues, and my father’s genetics. Or, I could clean that filter and see my husband for who he is today. A robust, funny, cognitively sharp, energetic husband, father, and grandfather. I choose the later.

Every situation is different. Every person is different. Every organization and culture is different. Supervisors, managers and leaders need to be able to assess and determine the correct mode of intervention or support to effectively address the complex issues and relationships within an organization.  Supervision, mentoring and coaching are three divergent methods of support; each has value when applied in appropriate situations.

Monday, December 12th I woke up to a beautiful, light, and ski inviting snowfall. My usual snow glee kicked in and soon I was bundled up and outside clearing snow and experiencing the fresh falling snowflakes as they brushed by my face.

For the past three months, I have experienced living at warp speed. For a variety of causes - family, work, gardening, and company, my treadmill has been on 4.0 mph, only occasionally slowing to 3.6. mph.

Now that I have a few minutes to take a deep breath, I am curious about the impact on leaders who are in constant motion, attending the urgent and setting aside the necessary.

Put More Play in your Labor Days

By April Armstrong

I am recently back from a weekend “workcation” in Vermont, with my amazing colleagues at the Justice Coaching Center. Our mission? To devise a tactical approach to help hundreds of judicial officers in large court transition smoothly to new information systems with no disruption to the Court’s productivity. By Monday we had the plan.

What's Next?

Finding hope in chaos seems an appropriate exploration of the world that has me pondering, “what’s next?” I admit that recent national and global events have left me feeling somewhat down.

What comes to mind for you when you think about your community? Lately, I’ve been thinking of my community and how I would describe its essential characteristics. My community has never been a specific location. For the most part, I’ve loved most all of

What does walking have to do with leadership? Plenty!

Having vision, being able to move forward, creating connections and exchanging ideas are all facets of effective leadership. One simple way to advance these assets is to walk.

Anyone who has ever owned and loved a pet is likely to believe that there is something unique and special about his or her pet. My husband and I are no exceptions. Yesterday we had a seemingly happy and ornery Shih Tzu, who, with advanced age was becoming just a bit bossier and righteous. And then bam, just like that she took a horrific turn for the worse. Bella was into her 14th year and became part of our family when she was eight weeks old. After an incredibly rough night trying to comfort both her pain and labored breathing, Bella left our care, our home, and our life.

Grieving is something none of us escapes in this life. It can strike us at any time and for any reason that has meaning, significance, and value to us. Kübler-Ross gave us a roadmap for the stages of loss including

My trifecta happens December 25th through December 31st – Christmas, my birthday, and New Years Eve. This year instead of speeding through a whirlwind of activities, I decided to slow down, take a breath, and to coach... myself.I was determined to ask and answer some important questions about my 2015 and upcoming 2016.

As I stepped back and thought about my year, the overwhelming sense of gratitude for my good health struck me as I considered the vulnerable events that occasionally popped up to remind me of the brevity of life.

Marshall Goldsmith’s new book is titled Triggers (2015). The timing of its publication is particularly meaningful for me as I had an upfront and still resonating experience with one of my triggers. Goldsmith defines a behavioral trigger as any stimulus that impacts our behavior. It can be direct or indirect; internal or external; anticipated or unexpected; encouraging or discouraging, and productive and counter-productive.

I belong to an online professional community. Recently a member put forth an interesting question –

She asked, “if there were one piece of advice you could go back in time and give yourself at an earlier point in your career, what would it be?”

I waited and read the responses wanting to see if anyone would mention hiring a coach. Not altogether surprising, no one did (well, I did, finally). Thinking more about both the question and responses, I remembered having a conversation with a high-level executive who casually suggested that

Recently, my husband and I received some unsettling news. As we attempted to find a focus for the remainder of that day, we both wandered about aimlessly. Finally, over dinner at one of our favorite restaurants we explored our day of living with a foggy brain. I’m quite certain we cannot claim ownership of the name “foggy brain,” but we knew what it felt like to live with the foggy brain's unguided and seemingly unconcerned welfare for our outcomes.

Ok, now that I have your attention, I don’t hate golf. It is, however, a game I love to hate. Yesterday I made my first birdie (for those non-golfers, birdies are coveted). That alone will bring me back to the course where I will once again attempt to outdo my previous game.

 This blog is not about politics. It is a blog about leadership character. I am going to pose a question – What’s not to regard about President Obama’s leadership character? Unfortunately, many members of Congress have spent these past seven years trying to tear apart the core character of a man who has been steadfast in his service and stewardship. To date, he has shown up to work daily; been a present-day and loving father to his two daughters and, shared his respectful and enduring relationship with his wife for all of us to experience. Talk about leadership character.

I was in Kyiv, Ukraine when the BBC reported the news of the Charleston murders. I felt weak in my core and saddened beyond words. Later that evening my friend and I were processing the news and bemoaning the state of affairs. My friend said something very meaningful that continued to resonate with me. She says, “there is hate (the root of fear), and there is love – I always choose love."

On a recent stopover in London my husband and I finally had the opportunity to observe the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It got me thinking about rituals. According to freedictionary.com, a ritual is a ceremony in which the actions and wording follow a prescribed form and order. Rituals are often used in places of worship or by organizations – e.g. according to Catholic ritual.

Recently I was listening to a radio interview where the interviewee spoke about unfulfilled expectations. Expectations are interesting constructs.

Recently we were in NYC where we saw the play If Then. The play’s premise is that it follows the lives led, as well as the lives that might have been. So it got me thinking about my professional life and what it is and what it could have been if I had known about and secured a coach. 

This week marks the 50th anniversary of police brutality in Selma, Alabama. It seems an apropos time to bring forth the notion of justice. October 3, 1995, I can recall the exact moment when the public received the “not guilty” verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial. I was sitting in a dental chair having my teeth cleaned, and suddenly the entire office ceased what they were doing and openly and loudly shared their feelings as to whether justice was rendered or not. They offered up their opinions and emotions based on their experiences and perceptions about what should or should not amount to a just decision. Many people, me included, believe that O.J. Simpson was responsible for the murders of Nicole Smith Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

I recently received the gift of pausing and reflecting on authenticity. If you go to thesaurus.com and post the word authentic, you will be given a number of adjectives to describe its essence. Some of them are:

• Validity
• Factualness
• Realness
• Truthfulness

In early January, Steve and I were fortunate to escape the NE deep freeze to the warmth of Punta Gorda, Florida. One sunny afternoon our friend took us to The Navigator, a restaurant where the 1960’s and 1970’s stands still. Basking in the sun and listening to a live performance from singer/songwriter Jim Morris, a line from one of his songs resonated with me. It is …you’re a pothole in the road to cheerful living. In the context of the composer’s life, I believe this song lyric is from a song written about divorce. However, it resonated with me because I made an immediate connection to an adage about Insanity: that is, doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results.

Maggie was a hard-working CFO. While she was at the workplace for more than 40 hours a week, she also spent most evenings and weekends in her home office. Maggie’s life became increasingly sedentary and she gained weight – lots of it. She was spending less time in her community and with her family and friends. As the holidays approached, Maggie found she couldn’t fit into her dress clothes. She joined a “New Year New You” wellness challenge through her employer – which gave incentives for participation. This challenge primarily involved eating behavior changes with some small, closely-monitored, steps to activate and integrate fitness into Maggie’s life.

Perspective: A Point of View

I often use the analogy that gaining perspective means you must turn the beach ball to see other colors.  According to dictionary.com, one definition of perspective is: [t]he state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship.

Stages of Change Model and Coaching

Prochaska and DiClemente’s Stages of Change Model  is widely understood and used in the addictions and treatment community. I also find that the model has application to coaching in identifying areas where a coaching client may be stuck. I will attempt to demonstrate through coaching examples for each stage of the model.

In this newsletter, I would like to share an article from the New Yorker by Dr. Atul Gawande. He posits the question “should you have a coach?” Although highly skilled and expert in his medical career, Dr. Gawande is willing and open to coaching and asks a retired surgeon to go along with his experiment. We all have our blind spots; we all have great skill that has gotten us to where we are, and, we all need to continue the journey of navigating complex organizations and relationships to continue that success.

Coaching is a relationship. It isn’t always easy, and it isn’t always comfortable. In the right relationship it should be trusted, honest, and supportive.

Read on to experience Dr. Gawande’s journey through coaching. 

Ever sit around a table with your intra and interdependent partners and believe that the verbal consensus to a plan of action is equal to the commitment? Most leader’s have had this experience and scratched their heads when there was a failure to execute an agreed upon strategy and plan of action. We posit that consensus does not equal commitment and that many well-intended leaders fail to recognize the difference.

Our eight-phase model for achieving sustainability puts forth the belief that a leader’s investment at the front end will help ensure a lasting and sustainable outcome.

Round pegs in square holes. How do you know the fit?

Did You Know?

• 46% of new hires fail within 18 months
• Only 19% will achieve unequivocal success
• Technical skills are not the primary reason for failure.

 The Profile XT assessment measures how well an individual fits specific jobs in your organization. The “job matching” feature of the PXT is unique, and it enables you to evaluate an individual relative to the qualities required to successfully perform in a specific job. It is used throughout the employee life cycle for selection, on boarding, managing, and strategic workforce planning.

Assessments are a wonderful complement to hiring, talent development, and coaching.

Teach your staff to fish!

We can customize training for your organization to enhance and improve the skills of your supervisors, managers, and leaders by teaching and certifying skills – add to the toolbox and realize the benefits instantly.

Coaching is gift and training your supervisors, managers, and leaders will change the conversation.

UP is not the only way to develop talent. Is your organization a train station or a destination?

To keep star talent, organizations need to employ a variety of development opportunities and tools that stretch, risk, reflect and learn. Developing future potential is a key leadership responsibility and coaching is a gift that underpins an individual’s ability for the right forward movement aligned and supported by leadership.

Coaching is a gift and a great resource for keeping and growing your best staff.

Is your System Balkanized?

Complex systems are often comprised of groups with different goals and measures of success. And yet…you have to work collaboratively for a bigger purpose. At any given moment, the interests of one or more entities can challenge, stall, or simply sabotage desired changes or initiatives. Navigating complex systems with different interests, needs and goals are high wire work that can be aided by an outside coach.

The Coach holds the confidences of the group and yet works to challenge the operating assumptions.

Systems’ coaching confronts collective thinking and works to help complex groups to get clarity on the goals and issues, see the current and envision the desired state, explore options and ultimately build action and mutual accountability.

Coaching is a gift. What would it be worth if your system were at its optimal?

Leadership is Lonely

Whether you are new or seasoned in your leadership role, every day presents issues, options, possibilities and risks. Leaders with emotional intelligence work to build assets in staff, prepare them to be resilient and change ready in times of turbulence, and create environments that support work/life balance. These leaders care less about hierarchy and more about building a workplace where people bring their best selves each and every day.

If you are a leader who want to work with a coach in a confidential, focused and safe environment, contact us. A safe place to land doesn’t mean we won’t challenge you on your assumptions, ask you to think about and perhaps change or revise your mental models, push you to create innovative approaches and options. It doesn’t have to be a lonely journey.

Coaching is a gift. Give it to yourself or someone you care about.

Interviews alone are a poor indicator of future and sustained success. Organizations that use a proven tool to complement the interviewing process are more successful in finding, developing and keeping the right people in the right roles.

Justice systems are complex organizations comprised of interdependent entities that are often lead by independently elected or appointed leaders. The measures of success are often viewed differently by the entities involved and the case type. Assessment and evaluation in complex systems help define, align, and set metrics for system-wide success. 

Nobody is born a supervisor, manager, or executive. We may bring some inherent abilities that identify future potential. How to use and enhance those skills come through accurate assessment, intentional design, and focused support.

The core business of every court is resolving the disputes that come before it. Caseflow management is the techniques used to define the business process and expectations for the participants in that process. Successful court systems engage the system partners in defining their caseflow management systems to reach mutually defined goals that provide fast, fair and reasonably priced justice.

Failure to plan is planning to fail. Because organizations involve many people, many people must know the plan to work successfully. All effective teams have game plans to win the competition they are engaged. They need to know the talent available, emerging trends, information needed, and whom they are up against.

Our Professional-to-Professional: A Model for Professional Development program has equipped highly successful professionals with the coaching skills to work with peers within their organization. 

Program Reviews

The coaching relationship itself was tremendously fulfilling in creating a special bond with a colleague and providing a broader framework within which to understand my own work. 

I believe firmly in the principle of continuous self-improvement, and I think this program supports that in a very effective way for both coach and coaching colleague.

I found it to e a very valuable program and believe I have developed a relationship with my colleague that will last forever. 

A two decades long senior leadership team member was assigned to a new strategically important position. The transfer was perceived as a demotion and a message to move on. Through the coaching conversations, the senior leader was able to see it as an opportunity rather than a threat. By accepting the challenge, she developed her role beyond anyone’s expectation and increased her value to the entire organization. 

Coaches improve individual and team performance. From the soccer field to the boardroom, coaches improve team chemistry and performance. Coaching skills should be part of all supervisor, manager, and executive toolboxes.

A large mid-western County sought an independent evaluation of multiple facets of the local justice system aimed at improving interagency collaboration and business processes. As a result of the assessment and evaluation, a number of recommendations were proffered and adopted by the County to improve justice system operations.

An Alaskan neighborhood health center leadership group was challenged with varying skills, divergent interests, and inconsistent accountability. Through team coaching, they were able to set aside individual interests and work on initiatives for long-term sustainability.

A group of elected officials experienced coaching through the use of a validated instrument that assesses learning index, behavioral characteristics, and motivators. Through this experience, they were able to recognize that some individuals perform better in certain roles than did others and could use this information to increase their effectiveness.

A west coast general jurisdiction court recognized the need for stronger collaboration among the justice system partners to reduce wasted effort, increase the quality of outcomes, and reduce the cycle time for people involved in litigation. 

A mid-level supervisor promoted to a deputy director position. Her promotion came after a highly competitive process.  There was a prevailing perception among the other candidates that the person selected was too young and had not served her time in grade. The director and the new candidate recognized the threat to her success. Through coaching, the new appointee successfully navigated her transition to the new role and was subsequently appointed as the assistant director with the support of her prior peers.

A group of elected officials experienced coaching through the use of a validated instrument that assesses learning index, behavioral characteristics, and motivators. Through this experience, they were able to recognize that some individuals perform better in certain roles than did others and use this information to increase their effectiveness.

A west coast county health and human services department provided leadership coaching to enhance collaborations with the justice system and other county departments dealing with child welfare, mental health and alcohol and substance abuse. 

A group of elected officials experienced coaching through the use of a validated instrument that assesses learning index, behavioral characteristics, and motivators. Through this experience, they were able to recognize that some individuals perform better in certain roles than did others and use this information to increase their effectiveness.

A New England medical care system asked for a presentation on the practice of coaching and adding coaching skills in a medical environment. The medical care system has recently engaged the Justice Coaching and Consulting to provide coach training medical supervisors and managers.

Leadership isn’t for the faint of heart. It is heavy lifting. Coaching provides leaders with supportive and confidential conversations to get clarity, identify and develop their options, and get the results they intend.  

Dysfunctional teams are costly, ineffective, and lead to employee dissatisfaction and turnover. Teams don’t just come together casually. Team member selection, structure, agreements, and accountability set the team’s foundation for success. 

Are you where you want to be? Are your employees where you want them to be? You can’t change what you don’t examine.