People often call me for coaching on organizational issues, how to handle conflict effectively in a specific situation, and to ask me to work with them on creating better partnerships, great teams, and inspirational leaders.
Please write or call to discuss how I can be of service.
Senior leaders who want to accomplish big things often seek the counsel of individual advisers who can create the conditions for authentic reflection and competent action. I assist senior leaders in getting clear on their intention as a leader, assessing their current impact, and helping to identify and support the behavior and mind-set shifts needed to close the gap between intention and impact. Anyone can learn to be an effective leader with strong intention and persistent practice.
Patrick Noonan, author, consultant
I work with senior teams on all aspects of their work together; assuring that they get accurate feedback and coaching on being the most effective leaders and peers possible. I help team members to build more constructive relationships with each other, their leaders, and with the people who report to them, and with clients, when appropriate. I also help leadership teams intentionally build an appreciative culture that brings out the best in the people who work there.
Adam Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Partners
Founders, partners, and family business owners often reach a transition point about many aspects of their business: whether to grow, how to grow, taking on new partners, staying together as business partners or moving on. I help partners to make decisions that keep the emphasis on the health and success of the business they have worked so hard to create, while strengthening the quality of their relationship in making these key decisions together.
I work with leaders and teams to help them more effectively navigate the changing external and internal demands that naturally occur in leading an organization. I help them to identify the mind-sets and behaviors needed to make the impending change a reality. I partner with change agents to increase participation and reduce resistance as they steer the organization effectively through the expansion and contraction that is inevitable in the life cycle of an organization.
Joy Marini, Director, Johnson & Johnson
As part of my on-going work with organizations, I often design and conduct interactive strategic planning and retreat sessions with senior leadership teams, often including feedback and requests from clients, so that a common vision and an action plan is created and understood by all participants. This greatly increases business results, as each team member understands the needs of their clients, the direction of the organization, and their role in achieving that direction.
I am often called into conflict situations where partners/leaders have tried to make an organizational change, and it didn’t work as expected. Symptoms of an incomplete transition include leaders who can’t make decisions together and can’t move forward. The organization is stuck and unable to function well.
The two key elements in re-doing a transition to a successful outcome are skill and will. If those involved in the conflict have the will, I can help provide the skills needed to navigate their way back into enough relationship to make new decisions and move forward.
I work with partners, teams, leaders, founders and family business owners when they have reached the point of breakdown, and are willing to do something positive to improve the situation.
Difficult situations can almost always be repaired, and it is always worth the effort.
If we decide to move forward, these are the steps I will recommend:
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I specialize in helping organizations of all kinds create the business relationships they need to achieve successful results. I help clients create an environment for mutual understanding and creative action that increases internal organization satisfaction and external success. I combine psychological sophistication with a quest for practical outcomes.
I also help senior leaders navigate personal and organization transitions, and provide time for reflection about their impact, their place in their career, and what steps they can take to increase their effectiveness and personal satisfaction.
In my 30-year career, I have worked with both non-profit and corporate organizations. I conduct retreats for boards and executive staff of non-profit and for-profit organizations. I also work with family-owned and closely-held businesses, to ensure effective and successful partnerships.
I am especially adept at helping partners resolve long- standing differences, and to repair and restore working relationships based on trust, communication and respect. I am often called in to situations that require this particular skill set, where breakdowns have occurred, and forward motion is not currently possible.
My clients include: several major consulting firms, an innovative mentor mother program in South Africa, a public/private partnership, a large consumer/pharma company, a private equity company and a health care distribution company.
I also work with for-profit and non-profit boards in designing and facilitating planning sessions and retreats. I help to clarify board-staff relationships, and the unique role each plays in successful strategy development.
Previous to starting WHWest Inc, I worked at Levi Strauss & Co. as the Director of Executive Development, using innovative learning technology for developing the top 100 leaders in the company. As Director of Training I was responsible for the design and implementation of leading-edge leadership programs. I held several positions with Digital Equipment Corporation, consulting to plant management, engineering leaders and cross-functional leadership teams.
I have an MS in Organization Development from American University, a BS in Education from the University of Michigan and am certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and I have in-depth training in team dynamics and executive coaching.
I provide on-going executive coaching to senior leaders in a management consulting firm. Topics I cover include:
I was asked to help founders manage serious conflict arising from meteoric growth of their project. The founders did not have distinct, agreed upon roles, and had different pictures for what continuing growth looked like. They very successfully resolved those differences, took on distinct roles, and agreed upon a clear direction for the future. I now work with the leadership team and founders on organization change and transition, and on individual and team impact and effectiveness.
I designed and facilitated a start-up retreat for a newly formed public/private partnership; during the interview phase I discovered underlying differences coming from different organizations’ points of view. I was able to get participants to consider each others views, and the retreat exceeded expectations. I have an on-going executive coaching relationship with key members of the partnership, and we are headed for our next retreat session.
I partnered with a vice president to successfully integrate two different teams into one effective internal services group. Through a series of interviews, coaching sessions, team meetings and a few team member changes, the two teams started to form one culture and let go of previous antipathy. I now support the new team, and the leader on an on-going basis with team sessions and individual executive coaching.
Partners in a private equity firm needed a tune up in defining distinct roles that allowed each of them to use their unique talents effectively. Once role development was accomplished, the partners decided to create an extended team with the next level of leadership, and I have been working with them on successful goal setting and expanded responsibilities for the greater team.