Lifework is being who you are doing what you love. It is awakening and fulfilling your highest potential as an essential offering to the world. It is offering the gift that you are, following your bliss—answering your true calling. It is the work that finds you, guides you, inspires, fulfills, challenges, and sustains you as you are meant to be. It is the work that you’d do for free if you didn’t need the money.

Lifework is the work that makes you feel most alive. It is the convergence of passion and purpose, meaning and mastery, grit and grace. It is the ever-evolving, dynamic process of integrating your attitudes and aptitudes to reach altitudes beyond your wildest imagination. It is the work that allows you to soar while standing firmly on the ground.

Lifework is why you were born. And if you’re lucky, it is how you will live and die. It is the work that makes life worth living; the work that you’d like to die doing. It is the work that defines who you are over the course of your life and how others remember you after you’re gone. It is the work that answers the question, why am I here? It is your reason for being.

Lifework is the work that you have no choice but to do—not because you should or because you can or because it pays the bills, but because it’s a vital expression of who you are. Every day you do anything less is a day that you die a little more without fully experiencing the life you were meant to live—and the life that you are meant to give.

Those of us with the good fortune to have the opportunity, have the responsibility to live up to our full potential—to discover our calling, master our offering, and leave a legacy that honors our ancestors and enriches our descendants. To do anything less is to waste the life we are given.

“…At times the journey feels awkward or perilous: you’re asking questions that everyone wishes would go away; you don’t know how to put into words what you’re searching for; you’re wondering just how big an idiot you really are for leaving what felt sure and safe and comfortable.”
Paul H. Ray, PH.D. & Sherry Ruth Anderson, PH.D., The Cultural Creatives

“…Following your bliss is not always blissful. Your professional identity can be challenged, defeated, crushed but you learn that life becomes serene and enjoyable precisely when you have become detached from a professional identity defined by others, precisely when you have left selfish pleasure and personal success behind as self-defining goals.”
Robert Jay Ginn, Jr., Radcliffe Career Services 80th Anniversary Lecture

For some of us being who we are doing what we love is blessedly easy…some have known from the beginning and followed the yellow brick road all the way home with only a few pesky monkeys and a wicked witch in our path.

But sometimes following our bliss isn’t so blissful. At various points along the way, a companion familiar with the territory is welcome and necessary. Whether you’re just beginning to hear the call or have been offering your gifts for years, if you find yourself at a point where you’d like some additional support in unfolding your lifework, we would be honored.

Realize "The Gift"

Discover your life purpose--the gift that you are…
Are you living up to your full potential at work? Do you feel like you could be doing something more with your life? Would you like to learn more about who you are and what you have to offer? Some of us spend our whole lives searching, uncertain as to why we are here, but certain that this is worth knowing. Through a custom combination of individual assessments, skillful inquiry, and reflective exercises, we work with you to:

• Generate greater self-understanding... 
• Clarify what really matters to you...
• Discover your life purpose...
• Give voice to your mission, vision, values...
• Explore potential opportunities and obstacles...

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Make “The Offer”
Do you know what you’d love to do, but need some help figuring out how? Some of us know who we are and why we are here, but for various reasons, we’re unable to translate this knowledge into a sustainable way of life. We know what makes life worth living, but don’t know how to make a living doing what’s worthwhile. We help you appreciate all that you have to offer and translate that into "The Offer" that allows you to receive the greatest good and make the greatest contribution.  Depending on your needs, we help you:

• Manage career transitions and change with greater confidence...
• Bring your intentions and actions into alignment...
• Access all available resources within and around you to develop what truly matters...
• Refine your profile and resume to maximize the desired response...
• Have a life that lives up to your values ...

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Business Coaching

"All men [and women] dream; but not equally.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses
of their minds,
Awake to find that it was vanity;
But the dreamers of day are dangerous [ones]
That they may act their dreams with open
eyes to make it possible."

                           T.E. Lawrence

Working for yourself starting and sustaining a small business can be liberating, challenging, and exciting.  After all, being your own boss has its benefits—flexible hours, fulfilling work, continuous learning, authority commensurate with responsibility—the power to say yes or no as you see fit.  But, if you’re like most entrepreneurs, there is a downside in the form of never-ending work, constant self-motivation, and multi-tasking madness. 

When you are solely responsible for your business, it can be challenging.  It’s often hard to quit working—and sometimes, it’s hard to keep going—stay motivated in the absence of external accountability factors.  Being your own boss frequently means being your own healthcare provider, tech support, executive assistant, and accountant.  And if you have employees, it often means being your own HR professional.  It means saying “no” to a lot of things that you’d like to say “yes” to because there’s no-one else to “mind the store,” and saying “yes” to a lot of things that you’d like to say “no” to because you have to pay the bills. 

Being in business for yourself can be tough.  Often, the hardest part is not having someone with whom to think through ideas—someone with whom to brainstorm, strategize, and problem-solve on a regular basis.  Most of us have good friends and family who support us in our endeavors, but many of them don’t necessarily get what running a business is like.  If we’re lucky, they listen, but they can’t always help, and even if they do, they usually don’t have the time and attention to consistently support us in the way that we need to be supported.

Our business is supporting you and your business.

We give you our undivided time and attention…

Starting and sustaining an independent business venture can be overwhelming and downright lonesome at times.  Even when you are fortunate enough to have the support of people who love you, live with you, or work for you, they don’t always have the time or ability to support you when you need it most.  We’ve all been there—those times when we could really use someone’s support and advice, and the response we are given, though well-intended, falls short of what we need.  Worse yet, are those times when there’s simply no one available. 

Part of being successfully independent is knowing when to depend on others to help you succeed.  And of course, knowing who to depend on also helps.  Because the sole purpose of our coaching relationship is to support you and your business, we’re here for you when you need us for as long as you need us.  Plus, because supporting you is what we do, you get the added benefit of never having to worry about taxing our relationship.

We provide a non-judgmental and confidential place to explore what matters…

Who do you turn to when you have a great idea or a serious problem?  Who do you trust to share your mistakes and help you learn from these?  Where can you go to explore silly and serious alike without being judged?  Sometimes it’s hard to know who to trust with the important stuff.  Revealing innovative ideas, nagging doubts, or serious problems to the wrong person can result in unintended and unfortunate consequences.  You can rest assured that what you share during our coaching together is kept in confidence.

We offer relevant experience and expertise…

Unlike your spouse, housemate, sleep-mate, friends, family or employees who may not understand what it’s like to be in business for yourself, we get it.  Not only do we have first-hand experience and expertise, but we have a wealth of client experience and expertise from which to draw.  We know the joys and challenges of starting and sustaining a business through various stages of growth. 

Focus on the big picture…

How much time are you currently spending improving your business?  Is your value proposition keeping pace with your market?  When was the last time that you stood back and really looked at the big picture?  If you’re like most small business owners, the time you thought you were going to spend really thinking strategically about your business is frequently diverted as soon as anyone else asks for your time. You sacrifice the time that you need to think about your business to meet the needs of customers, employees, and family.

Sometimes, in the busy-ness of running your business and serving your clients, it’s easy to lose sight of how you got here in the first place and where it is you’re intending to go.  You’re so busy doing business that you don’t have time to develop your business.  Of course, this is a good problem to have—but it really is a problem because all businesses need strategic oversight and direction. 

Effective strategy combines the values you hold with the vision—hindsight, foresight, and most importantly, insight—you need to realize your ventures. It is the difference between the actual and potential value of your business—the difference between what is and what could be.  Setting aside regular, committed time to focus on the big picture and sustain that strategic conversation is a great investment in you and your business that will produce results long after our work together is complete.

• Engage in strategic conversations that challenge and inspire you…
• Enhance your value proposition...
• Prioritize your responsibilities, projects, relationships...
• Expand your networks and spheres of influence...
• Make better decisions and implement needed changes…
• Stay focused on priorities…

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Turn breakdowns into breakthroughs…

Has your business taken a turn for the worse?  Are you in the midst of a major transition?  Do you feel stuck and uncertain?  When things aren’t going as well as they could, it’s hard to know who to trust and easy to think that we should or can handle everything ourselves.  Sometimes, we resist seeking the help we need for fear of appearing weak or ineffective, but asking for help when we need it actually shows maturity and strength.  And even when we can handle it all ourselves, we frequently benefit from a fresh perspective, gaining unexpected insights and discovering creative solutions. 

Whatever your situation, we can help you:

• Re-examine the obvious…
• Challenge your assumptions…
• Clarify your priorities…
• Identify and evaluate your options…
• Plan a course of action…
• Stay the course…

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Resolve workplace tensions without workplace repercussions… 

Say what you really think without having to edit.  Sometimes we all just need to blow off steam, but blowing off steam with colleagues, employees—or worse, clients, can damage your business.  Likewise, venting at home can strain your personal relationships.  The coaching relationship offers a place to air your frustrations and concerns without repercussions.  We listen with more objectivity and offer constructive feedback as desired to help you determine if and how best to address workplace tensions productively.  We provide fresh perspectives, thought-provoking inquiry, and role-play.  We’re also available to work with you and anyone involved on- or off-site if it would be helpful.

Work smarter, not harder...

Establish work habits that produce more meaningful results...

• Effectively focus your time, energy, and resources…
• Learn 3D Action Planning - do it, delegate it, or drop it…
• Accomplish your goals using more skillful means...
• Streamline work processes and systems…
• Grow your client base, increase your profits…
• Have a life…

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Team Coaching

What is Team Coaching? 

Team Coaching employs the same basic principles of individual coaching---assessing needs, clarifying priorities, and defining goals---to enhance a team's work process and work product, so that your team consistently experiences and delivers real value.  The coach's sole responsibility throughout is to help your team establish high-performing work habits that outlast the coaching relationship. 

How does Team Coaching work? 

Your coach begins by meeting with each team member individually and observing your team in action.  This is followed by a focused team coaching session in which your team as a whole is introduced to the coaching process and participates in defining your coaching goals as these relate to the work you need to accomplish together.  During this session, all team members engage in the essential process of clarifying primary goals, roles, expectations, and boundaries of confidentiality, setting the context for how you and your coach will work together.

Ongoing on-the job and off-site coaching is provided through the coach's regular participation in some of your existing team meetings and your team's participation in team coaching sessions.  The coach's role in these meetings is to fine-tune your team's work process, providing feedback, models, and methods as needed to help your team function at its highest level and get the job done with the most synergy possible. 

What are the benefits of Team Coaching?

Team coaching can help you and your team:

• cultivate high-performance beyond status-quo conformance
• ensure clarity and focus about what and how work gets done
• build on the experience and expertise of all team members
• generate shared commitment to and accountability for team goals
• enhance interpersonal and communicative competence
• create a reflective and adaptive learning environment in which less productive group dynamics are acknowledged and addressed to promote higher levels of performance

Leadership Coaching

What is Leadership Coaching? 

Leadership Coaching is a co-constructed relationship between a leader and coach designed to expand the leader's individual capacity to serve his or her greater constituency---organization, community, or world.

How does Leadership Coaching work?

We begin by developing a thorough understanding of your current situation and coaching needs. We help you evaluate how your inner experience, outer expression, central relationships and specific circumstances support or undermine your leadership goals.

Then, we work with you to design a strategy that is aligned with your primary goals, identifying practical steps that you can take to fulfill your goals.  One-and-a-half hour sessions may be held once weekly or twice monthly to discuss your progress, provide valuable feedback, and support your process. 

What are the benefits of Leadership Coaching?

Leadership Coaching can help you:

• generate knew knowledge and insight about yourself and your organization, as well as the greater market in which you operate
• understand how to use your strengths and mitigate your limitations as a leader
• increase your interpersonal and communicative competence
• manage stress and deal with conflict more effectively
• align your intentions and actions
• direct and support individual and organizational change more effectively
• enhance your capacity to think and act more strategically
• embody the vision, values, and competence that your organization aspires and espouses

Develop your dream team...

• Identify the players who can make it happen…
• Create a compelling invitation…
• Engage in mutually meaningful conversations…
• Transform conversations into commitments…

Build collective responsibility...

• Define your team's purpose and priorities---determine why what you're doing matters and how to go about doing it in the most meaningful way...
• Clarify roles and responsibilities of team members...
• Establish productive group norms—mutually agreed upon codes of conduct...
• Accomplish your goals using more skillful means...

Cultivate high-performance…

• Identify performance barriers—what they are, why they occur, and how to intervene...
• Examine team strengths and weaknesses as these relate to both process and progress...
• Bridge gaps between desired and actual performance...
• Acknowledge and address any “elephants”— those undiscussable issues everybody pretends not to see—and/or “sacred cows”—rigid loyalties to long-standing traditions that may inhibit innovation...

Improve communication within & without your team...

• Assess the strengths and limitations of your team’s communication style(s)
• Leverage the different communication styles within your team
• Improve your listening skills
• Learn how to ask valuable questions
• Enhance your ability to give and receive constructive feedback

Group Coaching
Group coaching is available for a minimum of four participants and a maximum of seven participants. Group sessions are offered to participants who have a common interest (e.g. interpersonal communication, teambuilding, or designing a spiritual practice) and a commitment to shared or related goals. Groups can be particularly effective for growth, since participants not only receive skillful facilitation and coaching, but also contribute their individual experience and expertise to each other's learning.

Facilitated two-hour sessions may be held once weekly or every other week. We generally recommend face-to-face sessions. However, depending on your needs, we can also work with your group to host teleconference sessions.

Please contact us if you would like to request a complimentary consultation.