“Coach Vickie has a very practical approach.
While she understands the theory and concepts, she consistently
works with her clients on simple, practical tools that can be
immediately applied for results. I have begun initiating a culture
change within my organization that focuses on employees strengths,
rather than only their developmental gaps. This culture change is
all because of Vickie. It all started when she worked with me, to
better understand my strenghts and those of my employees and boss!
We are now beginning to introduce this concept in the design and
implementation of our leadership development and career development
initiatives."
-Director, Leadership & Organizational Development, Blue Cross
Blue Shield of NC
“I was promoted from managing a small marketing
and bid response team to head a separate Business Unit with $12
million in revenue. To a degree, I felt like an entrepreneur. This
team had been through a massive upheaval the previous year. My task
was to rebuild the team and rejuvenate the staff so that we could
grow the business.
Enter Coach Vickie. I called her even before
assuming my new position because I knew that I could become quickly
overwhelmed in this job.
Coach Vickie helped me determine my short term and
long term areas of focus. She worked with me to identify and use my
strengths to change employees work habits and performance, while
allowing the employee to experience the self-realization that these
changes were needed. The employees’ confidence grew as they
created the new work environment for themselves. This entire process
had resulted in strong communication, trust and empowerment for the
entire team.
Coach Vickie’s ability to stay neutral on issues
and to focus on my progress has been invaluable to my success.
Specifically Vickie helps her Clients to:
- Understand themselves better – what inspires
and excites them.
- Get to the underlying, often hidden, issues
that can be so difficult to address.
- Ask open ended question to spark discussion,
then drill in on the key answers.
- Define what success should look like for any
given situation and create a plan to get there.
- Focus on the result, not the efforts.
It has been fantastic to have an outlet for the
frustrations, an ear to listen to my problems and a voice to help
devise the plan to move forward."
-Director, Business Unit, Global Software Company
“Coach Vickie, thank you so much for sharing
your time, insights and experiences with me. Through our time
together I have:
- Secured my first State Government contract
- Learned the value that I really bring to the
table
- Gotten bigger Clients and am finally charging
what I am worth!
- Helped empower me to take my business to the
next level
I know that every one of your clients will enjoy
the benefits of such an enriching experience.”
-Entrepreneur
“These are my thoughts about the benefits of
working with Coach Vickie:
- She listens to my goals (which are usually
conservative and within reach) and then she asks me to think
about them “Try this on …”, “How do you feel about
having another meeting with ________ before you __________”?
- She gets me out of my head and invites me to
think about other people’s communication styles. Vickie gave
me an assessment tool for use with my team. This assessment was
great for my Vice President because it was very
straightforward-easy for her to see herself.
- Vickie pushes me out of my comfort zone but in
a gentle, firm and progressive manner. I am able to achieve more
in difficult times than I thought was possible.
- I never considered myself to be intuitive; go
with my feelings. I’d always heard other people said that they
went with their gut feelings. I always second guessed mine. In
our coaching sessions, you asked me my feelings about certain
situations and I felt that this helped me practice and have
confidence in my intuition. Totally new.
- The way we talk, I’m able to not only talk
about ideas but we develop concrete action plans, which I like.
I like having written plans. I’ve read lots of self
improvement books but with coaching, I’m able to try things
out.”
-E-Learning Manager, Nursing Home Oversight Agency
“I thought coaching was very helpful to have an
“outsider’s” perspective. It helped me to take different
approaches to solving issues. Working with Coach Vickie made me more
motivated about doing my job and working with my Clients. She always
gave me a different perspective that I hadn’t thought about. By
review of my Disc assessment and my business goals, she was able to
direct me in areas I was less familiar and /or comfortable with, in
an effort to build new behaviors and adapt skills/traits to achieve
the desired outcome.”
-Regional Sales Manager, Cellular Communications
Company
“Vickie’s coaching has always been delivered
in a professional manner. She has helped me move forward both in my
business and personal life. As recently as eight months ago, I was
very unhappy in my professional life and felt that I could be
providing more strategic value within my organization. More
importantly, I felt frustrated by issues of work/life balance.
Vickie’s probing questions and the fact that she
held me accountable for making the changes—both mentally and
behaviorally—that I needed to make, have resulted in my being
significantly happier in my work life. Furthermore, I am providing
greater strategic value to my organization and being more productive
in fewer hours.
She has helped me create a strengths-based
organization that capitalizes on the individual strengths of my
employees, lending to both increased motivation and productivity on
an individual level and an increased sense of team spirit. She has
provided me with timely and relevant reading material that supports
the issues we discuss through our coaching discussions. Finally,
through Vickie’s example, she has encouraged me to step outside
the box of my job description to pursue an adjunct coaching role
within my own organization.
I would (and have) recommended Vickie as a coach
to friends, acquaintances and strangers! I will continue to work
with Vickie because I know the value she adds."
-Director, Proposal Center, Global Software
Development Company
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