Coaching Philosophy
Coach Barbara subscribes to the coaching philosophy that all clients have the solutions to their issues and goals within themselves. The coach’s job is to provide a safe environment where the client is encouraged to explore their current reality and their desired future state, and then accompanies them on their journey to get there — celebrating all gains along the way!
Developing a trusted relationship and listening to the client are of foremost importance, followed by deep, probing questions that allow the client to explore, visualize, and identify actions that will move them towards their stated goal. From the coach’s perspective though, the ultimate goal is client growth, which may take many different forms, but all enhance the client’s understanding and ability to positively affect their life and relationships.
Coach Barbara’s Skill Set
While there are many skilled and credentialed coaches well-prepared to provide coaching services, Coach Barbara has had a unique preparation across multiple fields which allows her to blend her academic background, including course development and teaching K-through college, with her years in management positions and her firm grounding in ethics. Additionally, her work in both coaching teams and individuals enhances her existing skill set. Along with attending to her current clients, Coach Barbara was selected by Coaching.com to serve as an Implementation Mastery (IM) Facilitator for their annual 2022-23 and 2023-24.
In terms of coaching research, Barbara continues her work as a Co-Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation grant. Her area of focus is to provide coaching skills training to the mentor-coach cohort. Coach Barbara’s involvement with this grant will continue until the fall of 2024.
Skill Summary:
- Author – “Coaching for Everyday Life” seminar; Information Technology textbook exercises; Users Guides for software products
- Editor – Publications, technical books, grant submissions
- Facilitator – Coaching.com 2022-24
- Certified ICF Coach – Sample of clients: grant recipients, business owners, clergy, college faculty teams
- Educator – K-8 and college
- Management – software development companies, education groups, consulting cohorts
- Community Leader – Non-profit Board President; Rotary International District Governor
What’s New …
During the first quarter of 2023, Coach Barbara worked with Ms. Cory Newman, Executive Director of the Evangelical Lutheran Educators Association (ELEA) and with Ms. Jill Beverlin, Director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Coaching Ministry to offer coaching packages that allow faculty and staff of ELEA schools to experience coaching. Just as C-level executives seek out coaches and the safe environment that they offer for visualizing and verbally processing issues, both school management and individual classroom teachers are in need of a “trusted ear” and a coach-partner that can accompany them as they navigate dealing with multiple students and colleagues. Coach Barbara presented two separate sessions at the ELEA’s March 2023 conference, one on the benefits of having a personal coach and the other topic on how to construct powerful questions to enhance their classroom discussions.
The second quarter of 2023 brought a new academic research engagement with the National CyberWatch Resource Center, located at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, MD. Under the direction of Dr. David Tobey, Barbara was tasked with developing a coaching program for college students that were poised to enter the workforce. In combination with an online application developed by Accenture, Barbara’s team of ICF-certified coaches were paired with students for a two-month pilot. Additionally, Coach Barbara and fell0w ICF Coach Carlton Rodgers co-presented the essentials of coaching at the April 1st 3CS mid-Atlantic region conference at PGCC. This pilot project will wrap up in mid-May, after which the data will be analyzed and plans made for a fall delivery.
