Services

Mark partners with his clients in three primary ways – coaching, workshops and speaking. With any of these options Mark’s clients gain greater clarity, self-awareness and understanding of themselves, others and the environments in which they immerse themselves. This clarity, coupled with a commitment to new practice on their part, starts to create the new habits that literally begin to change their lives. Trained as an ontological coach, Mark’s expertise in the areas of language, emotions and the body initially helps his clients transform their “way of being” in the world– who they ARE. This transformation naturally leads to more powerful action on their part – what they DO, which dramatically increases the likelihood of them attaining the long-desired results that have previously been out of their reach.

Coaching

Mark builds a learning partnership with his clients where they work together to identify areas in need of change and create habits that will achieve the desired results. This process enables clients to see and then design their lives differently. Individuals often come to Mark not knowing clearly what they need, but with a sense that something’s not working and a hope that things can be better. Mark works with people who are open and ready for change, and committed to doing the work needed to make those changes. He partners with them on a learning journey that often lasts 6 – 12 months and typically culminates in clients feeling more engaged, with a deep sense of satisfaction in having transformed their life for the better.

The Process

Executive Coaching is an ongoing conversation between Mark and his client(s), often in their office, that takes place typically over a 6 – 12 month period. Each session generally lasts an hour, with 2 to 3 sessions occurring per month. The first few months of coaching typically focus on building client awareness, with the final few months focusing on repetitive practice through committed daily or weekly action.

The awareness-building part involves exploratory questions to examine the issue(s) from multiple angles, teaching new leadership concepts based on these answers, and often culminating in an “aha” experience for the client as s/he gains clarity on the issue(s) that are posing a struggle.

The practice part involves collaboratively designing new practices for the client that, when taken repetitively, start to build new, more effective habits that are sustainable when coaching is completed.

Both the coach and client often intuitively know when the coaching engagement is complete as the conversation comes to a natural end.

Craig Tangeman

Senior Director, Clinical Non-Labor Practice at Huron Healthcare

"As I advanced in my career I found it difficult to make the transition from tactical to strategic and transition into a leadership role. Working with Mark helped me prioritize and manage through these changes by focusing on what matters most. More importantly I have a greater understanding of how communicating priorities and articulating expectations of others has a huge impact on any working relationships."

Workshops

Mark's workshops are a fun, engaging, enlightening learning experience for participants that open their eyes to new possibilities. He offers a powerful set of ideas around what it means to be human in today’s world, along with how to better communicate and build trusting relationships with those who see the world differently. He takes participants through processes to “try these ideas on”, and then engages them in powerful conversations about how they might apply them in their lives to create meaningful change. Individuals leave seeing themselves and their lives differently and feeling energized to take new action.

The PROCESS

Mark offers workshops for intact teams or groups of typically up to 25 people that last anywhere from 2 hours to 2 – 3 full days. Workshops cover content that most people have never seen before, yet they often experience a sense of “I already knew this somehow." Participants are asked to make a commitment to at least one new action going forward at the end of workshops in order to increase the likelihood of change.

Teams frequently utilize workshops on the front end of a more in depth individual or group coaching process. Once everyone has an understanding of the same concepts it’s much easier for all of them to begin applying them together,  while individuals continue to move forward with their own unique learning needs. 

 Mark offers custom designed workshops on the following topics:

  •  Powerful Leadership
  • Capacity Management
  • Cultures of Commitment and Accountability
  • Restoring and Building Trust in Teams
  • Impeccable Coordination of Action

Testimonial

Michael Drescher

Director of Provider Engagement at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

“With new managers in a freshly restructured department inside a company and industry undergoing a variety of changes, I needed a professional resource to help support these new leaders and their teams through this transition. Mark worked with me and my managers in several venues -- small group sessions, multiple one-on-one conversations, full-team engagements -- to help us become more comfortable with the changes happening around us. Mark has a gift of teaching individuals and groups how to view themselves from a different perspective so they can be more successful. He teaches people how to hold themselves and others accountable for the key behaviors that are needed for teams to succeed."

Speaking

Those who have heard my speaking have often said they feel really motivated afterwards, but I think there’s more happening to them. The motivation people are speaking about is the emotional experience they have when they take in and entertain the ideas I have to offer because they see their lives in fresh, new ways. Simply put, I believe many of the ideas that are out there in our world about how to live and act as human beings are weak! The ideas I offer resonate with people in a deeper way, waking them up to ways they see themselves and their world that are too small for them to have the lives they truly want.

The Process

Speaking engagements typically range from 30 minutes to 1 hour. Rather than talking to, or at the audience, Mark engages with them. His speeches are interactive, educational and engaging, leaving participants feeling motivated and wanting more.

Mark speaks on the following critical topics:

  • Trust: The often overlooked key to organizational success
  •  Impeccable Coordination of Action: Why execution failures are conversational failures, not action failures
  • Leadership: It really is all about the soft skills
  • Time Management is a Myth!
  • The importance of Emotions: Why “let’s get emotions out of the way” is impossible

Testimonial

Mary J. Beatty

Director, Sales Operations at Franke Foodservice Systems, Inc.

"One of the most valuable concepts I've learned through Mark is that all relationships are built around the conversations that we have with people. My favorite quote from Mark is 'we are paid to have conversations and through conversations relationships are built.' Mark helped me to clearly identify and understand the different types of conversations which were necessary for me to have and who I needed to have them with in order to begin to rebuild the relationships which were bringing me and my department down."