Our Clients Come First
We approach every coaching engagement with a one question – how can we best aid our clients to resolve the issue they’re currently facing?
To reach that aim, the first thing we do is build a personalized plan that becomes our guidepost. We work collaboratively to progress the plan using the best tools, ideas and methods available. We draw on the career experience of our staff and insights from the scholarly world of career development, leadership training and team performance.
The key to our success is appreciating that every client and their current challenge is unique.
Each of us embodies unique perspective, goals, life aspirations and way of thinking and working. Our goal is to help our clients connect with their own internal wisdom in a way that best supports the resolution of their current challenge, in a manner that works best for them.
Through sequential coaching sessions we work collaboratively to build with a roadmap, explore and narrow options and generate frameworks for decision making. Along the way we offer fresh perspective, new resources, structure and motivational support.
Regardless of the issue, it typically takes a minimum of 2-3 coaching sessions to provide meaningful insights on core vision, 5-7 to explore and narrow options, and 9–11 to explore more advanced aspects of search support like branding, networking strategy and sustained execution.
A Structured Approach
Regardless of your starting point, we use a structured approach to progress our engagements.
Too often significant life transitions, including those that try to grapple with optimizing our life experience, can be overwhelming when viewed in entirety. We tend to get stuck, or settle into a kick-the-can approach as the flow of life continues to come our way. We can trick ourselves into thinking that the future will ‘take care of itself’ and everything will ‘work our fine’ if we just wait a little longer, steering away from the disease the transition is causing and using hope as our guide. In most cases this is wishful thinking.
In our engagements, we work to remove both real and perceived barriers to progress. We do this by breaking bigger issues in to smaller, more manageable, components working to resolve, position or frame each in the context of the large goal.
We apply this modus regardless of where our clients are in their career or company process.
If you’re struggling with career direction, we’ll work with you to clarify your purpose in the context of your larger interests, with this understanding we will them move in a step-wise manner through option building, planning and detailed goal setting for next steps.
If you are initiating a search we work step-by-step to assure you are fully prepared so your search is memorable and you are positioned for success.
Although it sounds obvious, studies have shown that one of the greatest predictors of transition success is creating and implementing a focused plan. We apply this truism to all that we do.
Connecting ‘Purpose’ to Career Decisions
We understand how difficult it can be to clarify one’s ‘purpose’, ‘calling’ or ‘mission’ in life. And yet not developing this important self-awareness is one of the primary reasons people struggle with job satisfaction and career indecision. This can lead to feelings of being ‘stuck’, career ‘stagnation’ and a sense of lost direction.
We use an integrated approach to discern and reveal your interests, personality profile, preferred working styles and aspirations, all with the goal of discovering and developing a self-portrait that allows purposeful decision making.
We call this process ‘visioning’ and as a foundation draw on the latest scholarly thinking from the fields of career development theory, personality profiling, interest testing, and work-style profiling.
Depending on the engagement plan, we may use ‘life design for career construction’, which follows the work of Dr. Mark Savickas (Kent State University), personality profiling, including the well-established HEXACO model, Holland’s vocational profiling theory, which includes the RIASEC framework, and working styles and values assessments.
And while the greatest value of this work is the discovery and development of client self-awareness, our additional goal is the completion of a written mission statement that can become a guiding and evolving resource over time.
A Focus On Outcomes
If discovering your vision is the foundation, building and implementing a roadmap is the keystone for success.
Drawing on the experience of our coaches and vocational resources, we work collaboratively to develop plans that guide decision making regardless of your transition. This includes pressure testing ideas, building 2-5 year plans and defining immediate next steps.
If you’re initiating a search, we guide you through a step-by-step process to build skills. The goal is not only to develop these skills, but to engender self-confidence – a core belief – that you have everything it takes to achieve your search goal and the success your desire in your next role.
Our approach includes framing search beliefs, which includes building a ‘this is a marathon – not a sprint’ outlook, defining prototypical roles and target institutions, deepening your understanding of your core skills and aptitudes, building an integrated career story & pitch, branding services to assure you are presenting yourself in the best possible way, and identifying key references – your fans – and search support.
For clients seeking search support, our coaching plans include monthly and weekly goal setting, monitoring progress and adjusting tactics to find leads and opportunities. We provide fresh insights for clients who hit roadblocks and motivational support as you encounter, as all people do, both challenges and opportunities.
Studies have shown that having clear goals and maintaining sustained search intensity correlate with successful outcomes. We accept this premise and throughout our coaching engagements keep our focus on the ultimate goal – the outcome that you desire.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What follows is our list of frequently asked questions. Have a question not listed here? Feel free to call or drop us a note on our contact page. Our goal is to reply to all inquiries in 24 hrs.
Coaching sessions are typically 60 to 90 minutes.
The length of coaching engagement varies by plan. The ‘Jib’ plan 3 sessions, and typically runs three to four weeks, but can be accelerated as needed. The ‘MainSail’ plans is 10 sessions. The timing of these plans vary. During the first session we develop the personalized engagement plan, and then prefer to meet sequentially for 3 weeks to make progress. After that the spacing of meetings is adjusted to meet the needs of the client and his/her process. In all cases, we offer our offer services for no more than 6 months from the date of purchase. This time bounds engagements and is sufficient time to implement the engagement plan and complete any additional purchased services.
Yes, you can sign up for a one hour consult, or purchase hours in increments you prefer. You can purchase 1:1 consulting time => here.
Please note, in our experience, it typically takes 5 or more coaching sessions to connect core interests and purpose to a sound vocational plan and getting unstuck. As such, it is usually preferable to purchase one of our plans.
We serve most of the communities in the Charles River Watershed including, but not limited to: Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Waltham, Weston, Wellesley, Needham, Dover, Sherborn, Medfield, Natick, Norfolk, Franklin and Dedham.
This said, we also support clients regionally and nationally using video-coaching using a variety of platforms (i.e. Skype, Facetime, Facebook Video Chats and Zoom).
If you’re in Massachusetts or Rhode Island and don’t see your town listed, no worries, we’re happy to help.
If your outside the region or even international, we’re happy to support you through video.
Given our service geography, we meet with clients at a variety of locations in the Boston area. This includes co-location spaces, our main office, or should it be more convenient, by Skype or video conference.
For corporate clients we typically meet at their office, campus location or site.
If possible, we appreciate the opportunity to meet people 1:1 for the first few meetings. This said, we we appreciate that schedules and travel-times can make video conferencing preferable and often more convenient.
We use Skype, Facetime, Facebook Video Chats and Zoom conferencing for video coaching sessions. We’re open to using different platforms/tools that you may be more familiar with.
Once you have signed up for a plan you will recieve a welcome email with instructions on how to use our scheduling system. If you haven’t spoken to us already, we’ll invite you to a free information call to discuss engagement scope and any other logistical questions you may have.
No. Our services support individuals with career development, job search preparation, search execution, leadership training and team assessments & performance. We are not search firm nor do we work with any.
For a specific consult:
We ask our clients to notify us 48 hours in advance of any appointment. Cancellations after this time will be counted as ‘completed’.
Cancelling your plan before your first consult:
Prior to completing your first consult, you may cancel your entire plan and receive a full refund. Please see our policy about cancelling specific consults above.
Cancelling your plan after your first consult:
If you cancel you plans for personal or other reasons, including securing the job of your dreams, you will forfeit the fee. Please note that you can use our services for 6 months from the start of the engagement and in the event you find your dream job, we’re happy to apply any unused sessions towards professional coaching.
If for any reason you are dissatisfied with our services, consistent with our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee we will offer you a 100% refund. As an engagement represents a commitment on both sides, if you are not satisfied with our services, we ask that you inform us early in the engagement.
Cancelling optional services that have not been initiated:
You can cancel additional services (i.e. resume makeovers, portfolio development, interview training, etc.), and receive a full refund as long as they have not been initiated.
We designed a flexible approach to allow our clients to use our services during a 6 month period at a pace that best serves their needs. In some cases you might find you have enough guidance for the moment and want to set sessions aside for downstream or follow on support. As our services are bundled using a plan-based approach, any unused sessions will expire at the end of the 6 month period.
Plans are purchased using the checkout process and may be initiated using our pricing page. We accept credit cards, checks and most common payment methods. Payment methods are selectable from the checkout page.
Of course! You can sign up for a free 30 minute coaching session => here
