Our Differentiators
our developmental approach expands your capacity to BE with change
What Can You Expect from Us?
Our team was also carefully curated with the accounting profession in our hearts. We are in the business of transformation. We don’t offer transactional coaching services that spread a coach’s energy across a large number of clients. We believe the efficacy of coaching goes down dramatically when a coach works with too many people. We don’t just teach you how to grow your career without losing your soul- we live by this principal.
What INDIVIDUALS Can Expect from Our Approach
Our professional services go beyond competencies that fill your mind with more information; we will elevate your consciousness and expand your beliefs about what is possible. Our developmental approach assumes you are the expert on your life. The role of the coach is to co-create a safe space for you to:
- Go within
- (Re)discover your authentic self
- Get out of your head and into matters of the heart and soul
- Support you to take that inner knowing back out to the world
- Transform – the way you see yourself and the way you experience the world
Throughout the process, your coach will be fully conscious and present with you. Everything you discuss will be confidential (in accordance with pertinent laws). Your coach won’t bill you if you need more time. Your coach is your champion, your advocate, the personal trainer for your patterns of thoughts, a sounding board, a source of wisdom, and a trusted confidant. They might even become your friend for life.
What SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS Can Expect From Our Approach
We teach what it means to “act like a partner”
You know the regs. We know the key leadership behaviors and patterns of thinking that drive leadership effectiveness.
We reduce leadership liabilities
Ineffective behaviors are driven by unexamined limiting assumptions. By making the unconscious conscious, we remove internal barriers to behavioral change.
We can provide data and measure leadership behaviors
This methodology is well received by those in the accounting profession, who may be more comfortable relying on numbers than esoteric conversations about behavior change.
We are effective and efficient
We know your time is limited, so we handle all the admin. We align coaching goals with your existing performance management processes and/or strategic initiatives. Nothing a Coachee does will be superfluous. They are empowered to identify what they want to get out of each coaching session.
Professional coaching is the ultimate investment in YOU.
Your dreams and aspirations deserve the same amount of professionalism you’d expect when purchasing a home, saving for retirement, or creating an estate plan. If you want to yield the greatest return on the investment of your time and treasure, take the time to get to understand the background and experience of the coach.
We might not be the cheapest, but we might be the best.
Professional coaching is nascent and just coming into its own as a profession. In our experience, most consumers don’t know what to look for when hiring a coach. To support you in making an informed decision, consider what sets us apart:
- There are “coaches” and then there are professional coaches – There are many people who call themselves a coach, yet have little to no exposure to professional coach training. We bring the rigor of the ICF’s Core Competencies to our coaching.
- Ethical guidelines and professional standards – Our team consistently applies the ICF’s code of ethics and standards of coaching. These are not acquired in a two-day “coaching” seminar. Our training and experiences ensure we put the needs of the Coachee ahead of our P&L.
- Confidentiality – While we are on the topic of ICF ethics and standards, know you can count on us to maintain the strictest levels of confidentiality. CPAs and other financial advisors often deal with sensitive financial information; these professionals should feel safe to freely discuss any challenges with their Coach. Moreover, coaches who share secrets across Coachees can be detrimental to your firm culture. We can’t stress the importance of confidentiality enough.
- You aren’t H&R Block and neither are we – Our model is high expertise, low volume. This enables us to deliver the greatest service to our clients and the world. If you want something cheaper, check out a brokerage company like BetterUp. Last we heard they pay their coaches $55-70 per hour. Caveat emptor.
Who Is the International Coaching Federation?
The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the leading global organization for coaches and coaching. The ICF is dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high standards, providing independent certification, and has an established a code of ethics and professional standards.
The ICF Was Pioneered by Two Accountants –
Thomas Leonard and Laura Whitworth
Both shifted their professional endeavors to coaching after being exposed to Werner Erhard’s transformative est courses. In time, Laura and Thomas perceived a shadow side of est. (Such is the challenge of transformational leadership experiences; dependency can be created when one becomes loyal to ideals or authority figures and forgoes loyalty to their own self.) Both eventually left Werner Erhard & Associates and founded their own coach training programs that were designed to equip people to succeed on their own.
As for the creation of an association of coaches: Thomas saw ownership of the association as a business move; whereas Laura saw the development of an association as a community endeavor.
Thomas Leonard was openly gay and described himself as super sensitive. Others described him as a powerhouse who was always creating. In his later years, Thomas recognized he was bi-polar. After graduating from high school, he took distance courses to become a financial planner and accountant. He worked as the accountant for Werner Erhard, who founded est (the original Landmark Forum). This is where Thomas was exposed to the principles and ideals of the human growth movement. It was working with people on their finances that he experienced his clients had no idea what their core needs were, no clue about their values and standards and had only the vaguest idea about what was important to them and how to build a life to reflect that. Which is one of the big reasons he started coaching. He was asking all the questions and found that his financial planning clients were…stumped.
Thomas’ contributions to the coaching profession include:
- Founding the International Coach Federation
- Founding Coach U
- Viewing coaching from a business perspective and shaping the market perception of executive coaching
- Author of the Portable Coach- which ranked #9 on Amazon
- Media expertise that popularized coaching and brought it to major TV networks
Laura Whitworth viewed herself as a poor student and did not think of herself as smart. She joined the Peace Corps at age 20 and spent two years as a volunteer in Nepal. After that time, she enrolled in the College of Business and Management at the University of Maryland and graduated cum laude. After two successful years as a CPA with Arthur Andersen & Company, she got bored and returned to California. In 1987, she took Werner Erhard’s est courses (the original Landmark Forum). After this transformative experience,. Laura wanted to be around the work more so she set out for employment with Werner Erhard and Associates. According to Laura: “Thomas Leonard was the person who hired me…I was a recovering CPA.” From the beginning, Laura was interested in professionalizing coaching.
Laura’s unique contributions to the coaching profession are many:
- Development of the ICF core competencies and credentialing process
- The distinction between the coach giving answers and the coachee finding the answers inside them self
- Co-founder of the Co-Active Training Institute
- Co-author of Co-Active Coaching- one of the most recommended coaching books of all time
Sources: Coaching Pioneers: Laura Whitworth and Thomas Leonard and personal conversations with Madeleine Blanchard, MCC
