Professional coaches offer new management skills to nonprofits

Frank Sietzen, The Examiner
Dec 11, 2006 2:00 AM

WASHINGTON - At this time of the year, the coaches that get the most attention are in front of a football team. But there's a new breed of coach largely hidden from view that's helping to transform non-profits. With real world experience and day-to-day advice, professional business coaches help nonprofit leaders improve their on-the-job performance.

They usually work closely with a single executive, listen to their travails, and tailor advice specifically to their needs

We've learned that often what a nonprofit executive needs most can best be addressed by a coach, said Rick Moyers, program officer at the D.C.-based Meyer Foundation.

The foundation provides grants to nonprofits to pay the cost of the coach's service.

We are looking for other ways to help executive directors, and this seemed to be effective, Moyers said.

I used a coach for about a year during my ramp-up as executive director, said Darin McKeever, executive director of Heads Up in Washington. The coach helped more than a traditional business consultant, McKeever said, because he worked on a narrow set of issues McKeever identified. It was focused on what I needed individually, as opposed to the needs of the larger organization.

I needed that time one on one for someone to work with me, said coaching client Lindsey Buss, president of Martha's Table Inc. We [executive directors] wear many hats and are stretched pretty thin. What was useful was it allowed me to get the support in dealing with issues with staff below you and the board above you.

The coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills and existing expertise and creativity that the client already has, said Hilary Weston Joel of WJ Consulting, a firm serving nonprofits and for-profits in the region.

Joel has a business background and worked as a consultant for 20 years before moving into coaching.

We don't come at this as if we have all the answers, said coach Lynne Grodzky, who has both nonprofit and commercial clients.

Both Joel and Grodzky said their typical assignment lasts a few months or a year at most. The job usually requires just a few hours per week by phone or in person allowing coaches to serve several clients at the same time in different fields.

Coaching is more rewarding, because you work directly with one person on a specific issue or skill needs, said Joel an approach that produces easily identifiable results. You are working on the same level as the leader, not acting as an expert.

Have information about area nonprofits? Contact Frank Sietzen at fsietzen@yahoo.com.

Examiner