Leadership Coaching for Better Work
Good leadership creates the conditions for people to do their best work.
Leadership coaching helps you create those conditions more intentionally.
I approach leadership through a productivity lens. I help professionals and nonprofit leaders think through challenges, make better decisions, communicate more effectively, and create productive environments for themselves and their teams.
Our work may focus on your leadership approach, the systems and processes that support your team, or the habits and expectations you model every day. We may also look at how to help individual team members work more effectively based on their roles, responsibilities, strengths, and ways of working.
Together, we look at what is working, what is getting in the way, and what will help you lead more intentionally, effectively, and productively.
“It doesn’t matter what someone’s title is, how much they are paid, or how much authority they have. If they don’t influence change, drive progress, or inspire others, they are not a leader. Leadership is not a title or assigned authority. Leadership is a behavior.” Ellen Faye
Why Work With a Leadership Coach?
There is no playbook for how to lead. Leadership challenges rarely have one right answer, and the more responsibility you have, the more complicated the decisions can become. Having a safe, objective place to think out loud can help you sort through the complexity and find the best way forward.
As a leadership coach, I help you step back far enough to see what may be hard to see when you’re in the middle of it. We might work through:
- A difficult decision or situation that has no obvious answer.
- A team member who is struggling and what may help that person work more effectively.
- Communication, delegation, or accountability that isn’t getting the results you need.
- Habits or leadership behaviors that may be getting in your way.
- A new role, promotion, or transition that requires you to lead differently.
- The systems, expectations, or working conditions that may be affecting your team’s productivity.
You don’t have to have all the answers. Coaching gives you a place to organize your thoughts, consider what matters, and determine the actions that will best support you and your team.
Productive Leadership
Productive leadership is about more than your own effectiveness. It’s about creating the systems, relationships, and working conditions that help people and teams succeed.
My leadership work draws on several core areas:
- Creating Team Flow — clear priorities, useful systems, healthy communication, and the conditions for people to do their best work.
- Leading from Essence — building trust, empowering rather than controlling, putting mission ahead of ego, and creating space for meaningful dialogue.
- Human-Centered Productivity — understanding motivation, psychological safety, individual working styles, and what helps different people work effectively.
- Productive Leadership Practices — better decisions, delegation and accountability, collaboration, communication, meetings, feedback, and navigating conflict and change.
Great leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating the conditions for people to do their best work — yourself included.
Now that we are on the same page we are making so much progress.
Your recommendation for me to stay focused on our mission made all the difference. Now that the Board and Executive Team are on the same page, we are making so much progress. I'm looking forward to what's next!
K. R. - General Manager
Reaching out to Ellen was a great decision…
Ellen is my safe space to talk. She brings a toolkit of useful techniques, planning tools & research informed advice to our sessions. She's a supportive & careful listener, who listens for & reflects back to her clients their own wisdom, with new clarity.
A.S., Nonprofit Executive Director
She gets leadership…
Ellen is great at helping me think though the pros and cons of a situation, what my role might be, and how I can best resolve challenges. She understands how to motivate people with different personalities and agendas, and knows how to support me in guiding them to reach our goals.
Laura Neuman-Howe, Director
You exemplify outstanding leadership in many ways…
One of them is recognizing it in others & telling them so. Not just me. I see you doing it all the time, now that I am paying attention. It’s contagious! I find myself handing out compliments more readily, too, under your influence.
Hazel Thornton, NAPO 2017 President's Award Recipient
