Leadership Coaching - Our Approach

The UPwords Inc. “straight talk” is an essential ingredient in our coaching process. We ask tough questions, provide honest feedback, share insightful observations, and interact in a way that surfaces the “aha” clients need to progress. This can get messy - digging deeper usually does…and it can get uncomfortable. The good news is our straight talk approach produces comments like: “Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of that”, “That is so not what I intended”, “Wow, I’m going to have to give that some thought.” We employ straight talk to help clients get below the surface, exposing underlying issues.

Through assessments, observation, and feedback, we get a high-level view of the client’s “layers” - better understanding who they are, their motivations, how they process information, and how they learn. The intensity of our straight talk approach and methodology varies based on the client’s individual capacity and capability. Our objective is to motivate clients toward “transformational growth and discovery” and away from tunnel vision and stagnation.

The client’s agenda, not the coach’s, is the focal point in our process. It is important for the coach to get out of the way and allow the leader being coached to grow, develop, and expand in way that is meaningful to them. Some Executive & Leadership Coaches use the coaching session to manage the client’s agenda, expectations, and to-do list to achieve quick results. Giving the client “the right answer” does speed up the process, but this coaching approach hinders the client from “figuring it out” on their own, or “owning” the changes. This is not our approach. We make it about the client - their agenda, their growth, their development.