Approach
Many perspectives,
like leader and coach,
blend together with play
to make my approach
Here are the key perspectives I bring to my work with you:
Coaching Leadership Improv Social Justice Play
A Coaching Perspective
Asks: “Who are you, and who are you becoming?”
A coaching perspective takes as a given that you are already whole and that there's nothing to "fix." That you have a tremendous amount of wisdom that can be accessed to move forward in a way that is powerfully, uniquely you. To get there, coaching creates a growth-oriented space to reveal and challenge underlying beliefs and mindsets, and shifts into what else could be possible.
This perspective has been sharpened through my completion of iPEC’s ICF-accredited 200-hour coach training program and over 500 sessions with clients.
A Leadership Perspective
Asks: “What impact do you want to make?”
A leadership perspective uncovers your power, responsibility, and agency in a situation, regardless of your title or official role. Leadership asks you to navigate ambiguity, appreciate complexity, and hold multiple perspectives. It recognizes that how you show up in the world impacts others in a profound way.
This perspective is supported by my experience leading multi-disciplinary, hybrid teams as the Vice President of Education at Code.org, as well as leading product teams on Microsoft OneDrive.
An Improv Perspective
Asks: “How can we build with that?”
An improv perspective is being present to what is happening in the moment and building with it, no matter what it is. If anger is present, how can we build with that passion? If an impossible-sounding idea is present, what if we accepted that it could become reality? It’s not about trying to be funny, though humor is often found in life’s weirdnesses. My work with you takes skills that improvisers practice onstage, and helps apply them to offstage contexts.
My improv perspective comes from my experience as a student, cast member, and instructor at CSz Boston.
A Social Justice Perspective
Asks: “How can we support the creation of a just and equitable world?”
A social justice perspective helps reveal the oppressive belief systems we inherited from our society, communities, and families that we know as ‘The Truth’ about how the world works and who we are in that world. For people with more privilege, those beliefs often get challenged much later in life, and we need to make the conscious choice to do hard and lifelong work to dismantle and rebuild our belief systems and behaviors.
I’m particularly passionate about exploring the intersection of social justice and play. How can play help us practice the antidotes to white supremacy culture? Practicing sitting in discomfort, embracing mistakes, not knowing, accepting and building on what others share, and listening deeply are crucial skills if we are to have the types of conversations we need to be having to undo racism.
This perspective has been informed by learning in community (both white-affinity and mixed-race spaces), books, and learning from peers and mentors who have shared their lived experiences and wisdom around anti-racism/anti-oppression work. I share this not because I am a professional or expert in this space (I am not!), but because I value being held accountable for this work and working with others who share that commitment.
A Playful Perspective
Asks: "How can we play with that?”
A playful perspective embraces experimentation and lowers the stakes of trying something new. It assumes that there's never one right answer and delights in the mystery of not knowing. It seeks to find joy and pleasure in the process, not just the outcome.
This perspective is shaped by having experienced chronic anxiety for decades and discovering purpose, growth, and aliveness in embracing play. Becoming a brigadier with the Global Play Brigade expanded my definition of play.
FAQs
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This is a really important question, because seeking the appropriate form of support for your needs and situation is essential.
Therapy: Traditional psychoanalytic therapy works in an illness model and is focused on healing. It’s diagnostic and the process tends to spend more time in the client’s past. Coaching works in a wellness model and is not diagnostic. Coaching work tends to focus more on the present and future, and uses a process to help you achieve personal and professional goals. While coaching can often feel therapeutic, it is not therapy, nor an appropriate substitute for therapy.
Mentoring: A mentor is someone you can engage formally or informally who has “been there, done that.” They tend to provide advice and wisdom based on their experience, and are positioned as the expert within the relationship. In a coaching relationship, the coach and client are more like professional peers. The coach is expert in the process of coaching, and the client is an expert in themselves. The coaching process reveals the client’s own wisdom and expertise to identify meaningful next steps. -
Coaching is a creative collaboration between a coach and a client to support the client making progress, whatever that means to them.
A lot of coaching stays at the surface and asks “What do you want to do?” and “What actions do you need to take to make it happen?” It is deeply goal, action, and accountability oriented. The type of coaching I practice more frequently asks the question “Who do you want to be?”, and “How do you want to experience this situation?”. These deeper shifts get to the root of what’s getting in your way and have an impact on not just the one goal that’s top of mind, but the way you approach all goals and situations in your life.
The ICF-accredited coaching program I completed, iPEC, called this transformative coaching process Core Energy Coaching (Learn more). Using that framework as a foundation, I offer applied improvisation exercises where appropriate to help clients “try on” a new way of being in the moment that we can unpack and learn from in the moment.
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Applied improvisation takes skills that improvisers practice onstage, and brings them into offstage contexts, such as personal development, leadership development, and conflict meditation. What kinds of skills do improvisers have that benefit leadership?
Identify the possibilities in any situation
Productively build on the ideas of others
Reframe mistakes as opportunities
Embrace failure as part of the process
Self-awareness of emotions and behaviors
Notice dynamics around power and status
Release the need to be right
Be mindfully present in the moment
Take bold risks
Trust themselves and others
Weaving together coaching, leadership experience, and applied improvisation, I help individual leaders and teams strengthen these skills & mindsets.